An education in system transformation

I learned to teach by watching Ms. Gomez, the sole veteran teacher in a school slated to be closed by the district. 

She taught in my classroom during my daily prep period. When she stepped in, everything changed for the better – the energy, the discussion, the rigor, the learning. For the students, she was a teacher, facilitator, confidante, coach. For me, she was a master of her craft. She knew how to design a learning experience that worked for each and every student in the class.

That’s the type of teacher I worked to be. But even as I grew in my craft, a question nagged at me: How do we ensure high-quality customized services and experiences across classrooms, across schools, across districts, especially for the kids who might never have a Ms. Gomez in their lives?  

I found answers at the Center for Public Research and Leadership (CPRL).

CPRL matches systems design solutions with systems design challenges. As a doctoral student in the program, I, along with my classmates, explored tough questions like, “How can we get beyond programmatic interventions that are only one piece of a much-larger, if hard-to-define puzzle? How can we generate high-quality learning experiences at all levels of the system, for administrators, educators, and students, starting with those provided to each child?”

Surveying the landscape of education improvement efforts underway, we see an opportunity. This opportunity is not about driving any particular policy solution or replicating a program that shows results in one context across many more schools.  

It's an opportunity grounded in a growing body of work validating systems change efforts. It’s a chance to build change strategies from a new, more durable starting point: by partnering with the students, families, educators, and leaders who are closest to the change and can own and drive it long after any one superintendent’s contract or school board election cycle comes to an end. 

And, it's this evidence that convinces us that instead of focusing just on the what of systems change – implementing a particular policy, curriculum, district enrollment plan -- it's critical to scale and replicate how we make systems change. 

Given that our 40+ projects a year reach a fraction of the 50 million students in U.S. public  schools, we grow our change efforts exponentially by developing the next generation of leaders. Our approach serves triple duty: solving our clients’ pressing problems, achieving systems change, and training graduate students to see and enact this new logic for remaking our public institutions, starting with public education, over the long-term.

What does this all look like in practice? CPRL alums are living it in hundreds of government agencies, nonprofit organizations, law firms, and businesses around the world. 

CPRL is Gabriella Barbosa. As policy director for LAUSD Board District 5 after completing CPRL, graduating from Columbia Law School, and finishing an Equal Justice Works fellowship at Public Counsel, she deeply believed that policy is only powerful if it is informed by lived experience. Using the CPRL model of democratic participation, Gabriella and her team designed and led an effort to engage families, teachers, community and district leaders in discussing their concerns and channeling them to create policy solutions. Together they created a new way for schools to manage confrontations with parents, shifting from a punitive approach that barred combative parents from school buildings to a policy encouraging restorative measures and open discussions focused on student needs. Those richer conversations led to increased family engagement with schools and improved learning experiences for students. Today, Gabriella continues to use community-centered policy making to guide her advocacy for children and families, and leads a multi-issue area statewide advocacy agenda at The Children's Partnership focused on advancing systemic changes that protect and promote the health and well-being of children of color in California through public policy, research, and community engagement. 

CPRL is Jessica Wallenstein. Since completing CPRL in 2012 and receiving her Ph.D. in education policy from Teachers College, Columbia University, Jessica has been a leader in early childhood and special education. As Senior Executive Director for the Committees on Special Education at the NYC Public Schools, she oversees the 10 regional committees responsible for coordinating the special education process for preschool children, students attending non-public schools, and those receiving home or hospital instruction. With her central team, she responds to the daily challenges that occur in regional offices and uses them to inform long-term strategic planning. Previously, as Senior Director for Children with Disabilities in the Division of Early Childhood Education at NYC Public Schools, Jessica oversaw the strategy for providing special education services to the city’s youngest children. Under Jessica's leadership, the district launched a partnership with the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Bureau of Early Intervention, ensuring all relevant stakeholders were engaged in the process to improve the challenging transition families often experience between these city agencies. She also led the expansion of the portfolio of preschool special education programs, and her team developed numerous initiatives to support families in accessing  inclusive, high-quality early childhood education options for children with disabilities. Prior to working at the NYC Public Schools, Jessica worked at CPRL, leading numerous teams on projects that fostered innovative change for large school systems. 

CPRL is leadership development and education sector innovation. Gabriella, Jessica, and the more than 600 other CPRL alums live the complexities of CPRL every day, helping transform how systems function so they can continuously address challenges and improve. 

Over the next several weeks, we will peel back the layers of CPRL in a series of stories:

• Week 2: CPRL’s way of leading: Start with the how, not the what
• Week 3: CPRL students’ leadership development experience
• Week 4: CPRL alums serve as learning leaders in their industry
• Week 5: CPRL partners with the education sector to transform systems
• Week 6: The future of education and CPRL’s role in shaping it

As you learn more deeply about CPRL’s work, our hope is that you, too, will join us on our journey to create ever better systems for each and every young person.