WestEd's tools help build champions for students

Leadership, May, 2001 by Walter Buster

Even experienced administrators need to develop new skills in order to work in today's standards-based system. WestEd's many leadership initiatives can help.

Many of you have heard of WestEd and of Regional Educational Laboratories, but you have probably never been inside o one. I have, and here is what I have learned.

Two years ago I was asked to represent you, the members of ACSA, on WestEd's board of directors. At that time I was only somewhat aware of the agency's national scope of work in the area of educational leadership development, having participated in programs offered by the California School Leadership Academy -- now a part of WestEd -- and become a member of CSLA's Executive Leadership Center.

Now, after serving alongside more than 40 other citizens and educators on WestEd's board, I want to share my enthusiasm for the rich and varied range of the agency's initiatives to partner with school districts and foster leadership. We have so many tools right here in our own backyard to become better brokers of resources and more effective champions for our students.

Crisis in leadership

We all know how hard schools and districts are struggling to fill administrator jobs, and that process does not promise to become easier any time soon. Nationwide, almost 50 percent of superintendents are nearing retirement age (Wallace Readers Digest Foundation). In California, the numbers are just as alarming, with almost 50 percent of the state's administrators within two or three years of retirement eligibility.

The shortage of effective leaders is critical for many reasons, and yet good leadership is pivotal to bringing about real school change, particularly in low-performing schools where children are not achieving up to high standards and where the newest teachers usually work.

Even for experienced leaders, working in today's standards-based system demands that we develop new skills and learn to work in new ways. Right now the state is mandating high standards for math and language. Demanding high standards sounds simple, but how is it accomplished? I have learned that providing educational leaders with the tools for such implementation is among the work that WestEd does best.

Among many WestEd initiatives focused on leadership are the following:

* CSLA, a national model for how states can serve their educational administrators through regional training programs that prepare and sustain high quality leaders;

* The Western Assessment Collaborative, which works with leadership teams at schools and districts throughout the state to help establish standards, implement standardsbased instruction, and use data and assessments to inform decisions;

* WestEd's work on the national Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration Program, which helps leaders change the culture and practices at low-performing schools;

* The Institute for K-12 Leadership (headed by Rudy Crew, former Chancellor of the New York City Schools), a WestEd collaborative initiative with the University of Washington. The Institute is a national effort to create powerful learning communities among school superintendents, often the most isolated of education professionals;

* The California Urban Superintendent's Network, which has collaborated with the Association of California Urban School Districts since 1993 to bring superintendents of California's largest urban districts together; and

* WestEd's contracted Comprehensive Assistance Center for Northern California, which convened educational leaders and service providers to clarify needs and develop strategies for improving teaching and learning.

First-hand experience

In the mid-1980s, as a principal in Marin County, I participated in one of CSLA's leadership trainings. The session's emphasis was on authentic assessment and how to use data to choose appropriate curriculum.

The facilitator stressed the different cultures within every school and district. She indicated that it is up to each leader to understand how standards should be applied to his or her own site. I had known there was a body of knowledge out there, but this was the first time I had experienced an organization that provided school leaders with models.

Other CSLA seminars foster distributed leadership to help both seasoned and new administrators develop a strong presence while sharing decision-making with school-site staff.

"It would be simpler to have a leader or a group that leads. The reality is that you need both," CSLA Executive Director Karen Kearney says. "It is collegial action that will do most to increase student performance."

Recently, I attended a meeting of CSLA's Executive Leadership Center with 70 other California superintendents, an event co-sponsored by CSLA and ACSA. As one of the facilitators, I helped design the leaders' module to aid attendees in their understanding of how to motivate others to work in a high-stakes testing environment without creating undue stress on the school's culture.

The K-12 Institute

Last year WestEd and the University of Washington partnered to establish a new institute to help superintendents gather and address the needs of low-performing schools. Under the guidance of its executive director, Rudy Crew (whom some of you know from his pre-NYC days as the Sacramento superintendent), the institute will conduct an Annual Regional Superintendents Institute where district leaders can meet their peers from other states who work in both rural and urban settings.