CENTER FOR POWERFUL PUBLIC SCHOOLS
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Mission Statement
Our mission is to build the capacity of educators in order to create and sustain powerful public schools that prepare every student for college, career and life.
About This Cause
The Center is dedicated to transforming our education system to ensure that historically underserved students receive equitable opportunities that prepare them for college, career, and life. Since 2003, its innovative and year-round core services focus on three interconnected areas to build this equity: powerful educators, powerful pathways, and powerful communities. The Center’s educators work with schools and school districts to help their educators build evidence-based and trauma-informed skills so they can empower their students to 1) address and overcome their barriers to achieving their academic goals; 2) be prepared for the rigors of high school; and 3) become aware of post-secondary opportunities, creating a clear path from high school to college and career-readiness success. By working directly with school administrations and instructional leadership teams, the Center customizes and implements a combination of professional development, coaching, and technical assistance so their educators can create an environment that values cultural and learning diversity. The outcome is a powerful public school – one that has built systemic equity so students of color who are living in poverty and struggling with social-emotional barriers can reach their fullest potential. The Center has developed partnerships with six school districts in Los Angeles County for this work: Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest school district in the nation; Antelope Valley Union High School District; Centinela Valley Union High School District; Lynwood Unified School District; Norwalk La Mirada Unified School District; and Pasadena Unified School District. Each of our partner districts serves a high percentage of low-income students and students of color. To date, the Center has helped improve the practice of more than 3,500 educators, impacting the lives of more than 500,000 students. Our work is divided into three succinct categories: powerful educators, powerful pathways, and powerful communities: 1. Effective teaching is the most important school-related factor in student achievement (Gates Foundation). However, many teachers report they lack training to support the development of critical thinking, collaboration and other skills required for success in college and career (Education Insight Center). We prepare powerful educators by building the skills and experience of instructional leaders to empower them to implement proven teaching practices that help students achieve their academic goals. Our coaching and professional development services include single-day and weeklong workshops, as well as one-on-one support. 2. By creating powerful educational pathways, we work to address barriers to student achievement, provide students with the tools they need to overcome such barriers, and illuminate postsecondary opportunities —creating a clear path from high school to college and career success. The Center helps schools and districts implement Linked Learning, whereby students follow industry-themed pathways such as engineering, arts and media, biomedicine, and health. We use a multi-faceted approach to solving problems of practice and creating powerful pathways, and make available two innovative programs: PREP 4 SUCCESS, which prepares incoming ninth-graders for high school’s increased academic rigor and new culture, and ROOTS 4 SUCCESS, a trauma-informed approach that supports educators in creating an environment that values cultural diversity so students can overcome social-emotional barriers to academic success. 3. The Center serves as a convener to build a powerful community of educators, administrators and stakeholders, all working toward the common goal of enhancing student learning and achievement. Taking a whole-child, whole-school, whole-community approach, we promote the creation of a responsive learning environment for all students served. Our work includes professional development for community-based organizations and industry partners, strengthening relationships and building/ supporting internship opportunities for students. We provide opportunities for instructional leadership teams to dialog with community partners, and support and mentor school leaders to take over the management of such community collaborations. In 2108, we hired a new Executive Director who has begun work to become for self-sustaining by clearly articulating and evaluating our services, revamping our collateral, increasing our statewide exposure, and revamping our communication channels. As the Center seeks to increase our fee-for services, general operating funds are needed to support the continued work to become more self-sustaining.