Program Overview
LEAD began in 2017 as a three-way conversation between the Anaheim Union High School District (AUHSD), California State University Fullerton (CSUF), and the California Collaborative for Educational Excellence (CCEE). We set out to design, implement, and learn from a model of leadership preparation that would truly transcend historic criticisms of the field. 
Central to our endeavor is partnership: Leadership preparation would be housed neither with the university, nor with the district, but between the two.
CCEE’s involvement ended naturally when their pilot, in which AUHSD was participating, came to an end in 2019.
Meanwhile, our partnership subsequently expanded to include AUHSD’s main feeder district, Anaheim Elementary, in 2021; we have graduated 60 leaders across three cohorts.
A Framework for Preparing Justice-Focused School Leaders
Edited By: Jennifer Goldstein, Nell Scharff Panero, Maritza Lozano
Foreword By: Michelle Young
Publication Date: May 24, 2024
This inspirational book provides a concrete model of why university-district partnerships are essential to preparing justice-focused school leaders, and how these partnerships can thrive. Readers will find details of one such partnership, Leadership Education for Anaheim Districts (LEAD), which incorporated high-impact practices for equity, self-knowledge, and system change. Using the LEAD partnership as an example, this accessible text provides supports for launching a similar radical partnership, including converging goals, a student-centered theory of action, and key resources. It offers guidance for sustaining a radical partnership through the inevitable questions and conflicts that will arise, including coteaching of all content by university and district partners, and the mutual respect needed for successful joint work. The text includes core pieces of LEAD’s leadership preparation curriculum and instruction that encourage new forms of leaders and leadership, including strategic inquiry, multilingual-learner shadowing, and one-on-one coaching and mentoring. Radical University-District Partnerships is a call for universities and school districts to work together toward preparing educational leaders who will bring greater justice for all children.
Core Argument
Our argument is that a radical form of partnership between universities and districts is best suited to produce the justice-focused school leaders we need, ones who can turn districts into learning organizations that work for all children and in particular those not currently being well served. Such partnerships must surmount the historic structural problem of the separate, siloed existences of P12 school districts and universities; we offer proof that doing so is possible.
Mission
We take inspiration from the image of Benjamin Franklin setting out to transform illumination, not to invent a longer-burning candle. He was interested in more than mere “improvement,” and so are we. The ultimate goal of both school districts and university education programs must be to improve P12 students’ lives inside and outside of school—which is to say, to improve school culture and learning, while also reducing community poverty and improving overall community wellness (Fullan, 2023).
LEAD Program Impact Example:
Career Preparedness Framework Diagram
Impact
We have produced a truly diverse set of new leaders in Anaheim. LEAD graduates hold numerous leadership roles across the AUHSD district office and in 85% of district schools. College and career readiness in the district has increased, with gains across three of four indicators. Graduate rate, college prerequisite course completion, and dual enrollment metrics have all risen. By jointly defining leadership as making a difference for historically marginalized students— by increasing learning and well-being specifically for students historically outside the district’s sphere of success—we are creating a cadre of leaders poised to do just that. For more details, see program documents here.
Upon successful completion of the two-year program, graduates will receive a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership and recommendation for New York State School Building Leader (SBL) and School District Leader (SDL) certifications.
Radical Partnerships Defined
What do we mean when we say radical partnership? As suggested by the epigraph to this chapter, we intend the word “radical” to signifyfundamental change. We believe that three necessary conditions exist, and intertwine, to result in a partnership that is radical.
- The partnership must be grounded in horizontal authority relations across institutions.
- The partnership must be creating something authentically new together, such that a “third space” is created out of which new learning can occur.
- The partnership must be focused on producing a far greater measure of justice in our schools than is currently present.
Program Director
Jennifer Goldstein
jengoldstein@fullterton.edu