New Leaders for New Schools in California's Bay Area
Impact of New Leaders for New Schools in the Bay Area
- In 2006-2007, Bay Area schools led by a New Leader increased their Academic Performance Index (API) scores by 14 points, compared to Oakland Unified School District's (OUSD) increase of 7 points, and the average state increase of 6 points.
- In 2006-2007 at ACORN Woodland Elementary, student proficiency in math increased by 21%.
- Monarch Academy student proficiency increased by 17% in ELA (English Language Arts) and 22% in Math. Monarch's API score also increased by 144 points from 2005-2007, moving them to a 795 API.
- Since 2003, Urban Promise Academy has seen a steady increase in student proficiency - raising scores by 12.3% in both ELA and Math.
- At Capitol Heights Academy in Sacramento, the API score increased by 85 points in 2006-2007.
- The seven schools led by a New Leader from 2005-2007 saw an average total increase of 66 API points over that span.
- In 2006-2007, Vanessa Flynn, a Resident at Lighthouse Community Charter School, led the fourth grade students to increase their proficiency in ELA by 41% in 1 year.
- On average in 2006-2007, New Leaders' schools improved by 1.5% in ELA and 1.7% in Math. Over a 2 year span, New Leaders' schools improved by 4.2% in ELA and 7.4% in Math, compared to OUSD gains of .3% in Math and 1.3% in ELA.
Requirements for Admissions to New Leaders for New Schools in the Bay Area
- A minimum of 3 years of full-time experience teaching in a K-12 classroom
- A bachelor's degree
- A California Teaching Credential or an out of state teaching credential Note: Out of state credentials can be transferred to California with no additional work.
- California Basic Educational Skills Test (CBEST) (preferred, but not required) NOTE: Potential candidates for the New Leaders program in the Bay Area who do not meet the above requirements may still apply if they possess a bachelor's degree and have three years of K-12 teaching experience. However, if accepted, these candidates will not become certified and will only be eligible to become principals in charter schools (where certification is not required).
Pilot Programs in the Bay Area
Data Driven Instruction: We are piloting a Data Driven Instruction focus group, comprised of New Leaders from cohorts 2-7. Its purpose is to support schools in their efforts to improve student achievement by strategically utilizing interim assessments, data analysis and selection of the most appropriate instructional practices to address the identified needs of the students. The group meets monthly to review data results, discuss the administration of interim assessments and to share tools and instructional practices aligned with that data. In addition, the schools and New Leaders develop and share resources that can help schools achieve their goals.
Culture and Climate: We are also sponsoring a Culture and Climate Self-Study Pilot Program, here in the Bay Area and in New York, that is under the direction of Carol Lieber, Stephanie Fitzgerald and Jennifer Henry. The five focus areas are the use of standards, diagnostic tools, rubrics and precise action steps for building capacity at each benchmark within each standard. The Bay Area team, consisting of participating principals and coaches, has identified areas of needed improvement by collecting and analyzing data, and additional data was gathered through structured walk-throughs at each site participating in the study. The leadership team at each site identified areas of growth and set about developing a plan for implementation. The work continues through the spring semester with support from the Culture and Climate Pilot National Team.
Our Current Bay Area Residents, At-a-Glance
- Zarina Ahmad, ACORN Woodland: For nine years before joining New Leaders, Zarina taught Kindergarten at Chabot Elementary. A strong leader on her campus, Zarina was appointed mentor teacher or "Teacher in Charge" at Chabot, continually setting a terrific tone with her colleagues. In 2006 she was awarded Disney Teacher of the Year, and in that role visited other schools, observed teachers, and participated in national training sessions as well as led professional development workshops for her peers. Zarina was a leader of an intervention program at Chabot that has been successful in closing the school's achievement gap between Chabot's African-American children and their peers, largely through parent outreach and increased academic support for targeted students.
- Elia Bustamante, Edna Brewer MS: Elia taught for four years at Hollenbeck Middle School in the Huntington Park community of Los Angeles. At Hollenbeck---a school with more than 2,500 students, almost all of whom are recent immigrants and qualify for free/reduced lunch---Elia was the leader of her small learning community, and as such planned professional development meetings and led collaboration on curriculum and instruction for a group of 22 teachers. A native Spanish speaker, she has also taught English as a Second Language classes as well as more traditional Language Arts and Social Studies curriculum.
- Julie Dana, Excel Academy: Julie's expertise is in special education at the secondary level and taught for several years at Pittsburg and Berkeley High Schools. She also spent a year as the Professional Development Manager/Institute Director for Oakland Teaching Fellows. Julie worked as the primary case manager for students with IEPs, taught pre-Algebra and other classes to students with IEPs and served on school leadership teams. With Oakland Teaching Fellows, she also managed a cohort of 40 new teachers, organized and implemented monthly professional development meetings, directed a six week summer institute for incoming teachers, and supervised incoming and master teachers for the program.
- Sonia Geerdes, Leadership HS: Sonia has seven years of high school teaching experience, four of which were at a school for at-risk youth in Denver. She taught English literature and also worked at her school as an instructional coach and curriculum developer. In addition, Sonia served as chairperson of the Alternative Education Restructuring Committee to design and implement alternative model of instruction, disciplinary interventions, and to modify the school structure. This past year, she received her Masters of Education at Stanford in the Policy, Organization and Leadership Studies program.
- Tim Hughes, Leadership Public Schools, Hayward: Tim has several years of experience teaching middle school science, two as a Teach for America corps member in Baltimore and most recently at a charter middle school in Las Vegas, where he designed a college preparatory middle school science curriculum and served as a mentor teacher through the Milken Foundation Teacher Advancement Program. He was a founding Program Director for Teach for America's Las Vegas program where he trained and managed 13 content team leaders and directly supported more than 40 first and second year teachers with strong results - more than 60% of his teachers made 1.5 or more years' growth with their low-income students in one school year. Tim also worked as a School Director for Teach for America's training institute where he oversaw the training and support of 80 new teachers and managed a school site team of nine staff members.
- Thomas Kadelbach, Lighthouse Community Charter School: Thomas has a strong background in K-12 education, teacher training, project management and program design. After working in the LA Unified School District for eight years - six as a bilingual elementary school teacher and two as a Title I and technology coordinator - Thomas went to work for the Oracle Corporation as a Manager of Training and Curriculum and Director of the Oracle Academy. In that capacity, he developed training and curriculum materials for teachers and students, trained teachers to integrate technology programs into their daily practice, and managed and led more than 20 staff members. For the past two years, he has been living in Spain and working as a teacher of English to individuals, small groups and classes of students.
- Lauren Klaffky, College Preparatory and Architecture Academy: Lauren has six years of classroom teaching experience (two years at the middle school level, three at the high school level). She has taught English to a range of students (ELL to honors) though she has particularly strong experience with native Spanish speakers. While teaching at Mt. Eden High School, she implemented strategic reading classes for struggling students, designed curriculum to incorporate Latino/multicultural literature and facilitated the creation of common writing requirements for students in sheltered English programs. From 2005 until she joined New Leaders, Lauren worked as the Teacher Training Coordinator for the Puente program at UC Berkeley, where she provided professional development, site support and coaching to 55 high school teachers, trained and supported 33 counselors, and developed and presented trainings on a variety of topics to teachers around the state.
- John Melvin, United for Success Academy: John worked as an English and History teacher at Bret Harte Middle School in Oakland for five years. While there, he taught 7th grade humanities, developing his own curriculum, and also worked as a basketball coach. John is known at his school as a leader, especially in setting high standards and building strong relationships with students and parents. Before teaching, John was a Project Manager and community activist with the West Side Economic Development Corporation, developing projects to revitalize West Oakland. He also spent three years as a Financial Analyst for a municipal advisory firm in San Francisco and six years working for international organizations to manage microenterprise and educational projects in South Africa and India.
- Adam Taylor, Howard Elementary: Adam has worked for Oakland schools over much of the past 15 years. He was an outreach and SB65 consultant for OUSD from 1993-1996 and 1998-2004 - since that time, he worked as a teacher at Fruitvale Elementary and, most recently, Cox Academy. Adam has taken on substantive leadership responsibilities. Because of his background as an outreach counselor, he is also an experienced grantwriter and has developed and implemented schoolwide programs to provide mentoring and other supports to students.
- Connie Tillman, ASCEND Elementary: Connie taught for more than 20 years in the Los Angeles Unified School District and in Chicago Public Schools. Her experience was in the elementary grades where she taught English Language Learners in a modified bilingual setting. From 1996 until she joined New Leaders, Connie worked as a consultant to a variety of school districts in California (including West Contra Costa, Berkeley, Compton, and Sacramento) around issues of literacy. In West Contra Costa, she supported 12 Reading First elementary schools and coaches by providing professional development, demonstration lessons and program assessment in Open Court curriculum. In other districts, Connie coordinated large group trainings, worked directly with site principals and other administrators on program implementation, and coached and trained teachers directly.
- Mark Triplett, Urban Promise Academy: Mark taught English and history for five years in New York City and Washington, D.C. In D.C., he worked at a diverse, inner-city high school focused on second language acquisition; in New York, he was an ESL teacher at a school for newly arrived immigrants. He also spent a year on a Fulbright Award in Mexico teaching ESL and pedagogy at a teachers college. From 2004 until he joined New Leaders, Mark was a Program Manager at the San Francisco Education Fund, where he was responsible for managing professional learning community programs: Math, Science and Literacy Networks; Teacher Leadership Institute; and the SEED program, which was a year-long seminar designed to make school climates and curricula more gender-fair and multi-culturally equitable. In his role, Mark planned and facilitated meetings, evaluated programs and built relationships with teachers and other partners.
- Jesse Tvrdy, Leadership Preparatory: Jesse has experience at both the middle school and high school level. She taught Physical Education for four years in Los Angeles Unified District at large, diverse, comprehensive schools. Before her work in LA, Jesse was a teacher in Perris, CA for three years. She also worked as Assistant Dean and worked with at-risk students and their families to increase attendance, behavior and academic performance.
Profile of New Leaders Principal, Robert Spencer
Residency Year: 2004-2005
School: Capitol Heights Academy (Sacramento), Aspire Public Schools
"New Leaders for New Schools [Bay:enabled] me to help in the repair of public education in underserved communities. I joined New Leaders for New Schools because I have found that their criterion for strong school leaders mirrors the characteristics I feel a good teacher much possess in the classroom. My goal as a New Leader is to learn how to employ our shared beliefs throughout a school, and to impact the learning environment on a larger scale."
Robert's school, Capitol Heights Academy, an Aspire charter school located in Sacramento, was recently awarded with a "Title 1 Academic Achievement Award." Capitol Heights achieved an API growth of 85 points in the 2006-2007 school year, bringing their total score to 758. This made Robert's school the single most improved public school in Sacramento!
Bay Area Friends of New Leaders
We would like to thank each of our generous funders for their continued support here in the Bay Area:
- The W.L.S. Spencer Foundation
- The Walton Foundation
- The Koret Foundation
- The U.S. Department of Education
- The Cisco Foundation
- The Fitzpatrick Foundation
- The East Bay Community Foundation
- The San Francisco Foundation
- Reach-a-Star Charitable Fund
- SanDisk
- Washington Mutual
Bay Area New Leaders in the News
We are excited to share a recent article, from the San Francisco Chronicle, recognizing New Leader Tatiana Epanchin's school as one of many in the state that demonstrated amazing gains in the 2006-2007 school year. Tatiana's school, Monarch Academy, made the greatest gains in California on the API scoring system, growing 85 points to a total score of 795. Robert Spencer, New Leaders principal of Capitol Heights Academy, also led the single-most improved school in Sacramento, with an API gain of 85 points!
239 Schools with Low-Income Students Recognized for Academic Progress
An article, also from the San Francisco Chronicle, on the amazing story of New Leader Kimi Kean, principal at Oakland's Acorn-Woodland Elementary:
Ex-Dropout now School Principal
Contacting our Team
- Andrew Levine
 , Associate of Executive Projects and Community Engagement
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