The 21st Century California School Leadership Academy (21CSLA) kicked off a two-day retreat with some 50 educational leaders from across California at UCLA’s Luskin Conference Center on March 3 to advance equity for historically marginalized students and families.
“We're striving for equity and not equality,” said keynote speaker Professor Tyrone Howard, from the UCLA School of Education and Information Studies and President-elect of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). “We need to give more time and resources to those who have historically been marginalized." (See a tweet thread from Professor Howard’s talk here.)
Rebecca Cheung, director of Leadership Programs at the Graduate School of Education at UC Berkeley as well as the 21CSLA State Center, focused on the mission of the two-day event: “By listening to the voices of practicing leaders, students, and families, we hope to be inspired to find new ways to improve professional learning for leaders in California. Our work to ensure that the most vulnerable students and families are prioritized is nothing short of urgent and promises to benefit all of society.”
Participants will spend two days discussing how equity themes apply in practice to leadership of the state’s K-12 schools.
In 2019, Senate Bill 75 re-authorized the 21st Century School Leadership Academy, which is dedicated to the professional learning and support of California’s educational leaders—teacher, site, and district—to create more equitable learning environments that ultimately improve success for underserved students. This major statewide initiative is funded by the California Department of Education and supported by the Califiornia Collaborative for Educational Excellence.
The 21CSLA State Center is headquartered at UC Berkeley and co-hosted by the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, the California Subject Matter Project, and seven Regional AcademiesLeaders participating in the retreat (in person and virtually) come from Alameda, Kern, Placer/Sacramento, San Diego/Riverside, Shasta, Sonoma, and Tulare as well as from UC Berkeley’s and UCLA’s 21CSLA State Center. The 21CSLA initiative’s mission is to provide high-quality, equity-centered professional learning for education leaders throughout California that receive Title II funds. The 21CSLA programs—free of charge to participants—include personalized leadership coaching and an emphasis on improving instruction.
