LBUSD: National Blog Notes Leadership Pipeline

Press release from the Long Beach Unified School District:

February 12, 2021

A national blog by the Wallace Foundation notes that “the Long Beach Unified School District is known for its leadership practices and the internal development of its employees.” The blog, titled “Five Lessons in Problem Solving for School Leaders,” recaps recent webinars and takes an inside look at how LBUSD transformed its leadership development systems.

Wallace is a national philanthropy that supports equity and improvements in learning and enrichment for young people, and in the arts for everyone. In recent years Wallace has provided significant grant funding to help Long Beach schools build a leadership pipeline featuring principal supervisors and extensive coaching in support of high quality teaching for all students.

The five lessons cited in the blog include starting with empathy, or the ability to understand and share the feelings and perspectives of another person; employing a districtwide system to solve problems; making coaching and learning part of district culture; involving leaders at all levels in solving and coaching; and working toward a culture of “systemness,” which “requires commitment to a common vision and aspiration for learners,” LBUSD Superintendent Jill Baker states in the blog.

The blog also features commentary from LBUSD’s Kelly An and Nader Twal. An is director of Equity Leadership and Talent Development. Twal is a program administrator in the Office of Curriculum, Instruction and Professional Development.

View the blog here.

This press release was produced by the Long Beach Unified School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.