What happens when a concerted effort is invested in promoting healthy relationships between education leaders and practitioners? The Consortium for Educational Change (CEC) in partnership with the Santa Clara Labor Management Partnership has spent the last five years focused on doing just that.
Just released is a case study that highlights the impact of the efforts to support stronger relationships and collaboration to improve teaching and learning in Santa Clara Unified School District, Santa Clara, California. CEC facilitated the effort to repair frayed communication throughout the district with the end goal of improving communication structures between the school sites and the district office, and elevating teacher and student performance and satisfaction.
The study, prepared by Augenblick, Palaich and Associates, an independent, national public education research and evaluation firm, focuses on the impacts throughout the District to enhance communication and collaboration across district, school, teachers, support staff and union leaders.
Additional support for this work was provided through the California Labor-Management Initiative and the California Teacher Union Reform Network.
The Santa Clara Unified School District serves over 15,500 K-12 students and an additional 6,000 students in preschool through adult school. About 41 percent of the district’s K-12 students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, and more than a quarter are English Language Learners. The district operates 28 schools serving multiple communities in the cities of Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, San Jose, and Cupertino, California and covers a 56 square-mile area. For more information on the school district visit www.santaclarausd.org.
From its early beginnings in 1987, CEC has defined its work as assisting schools and districts by providing collaborative, capacity-building services. CEC builds collaborative structures, processes and cultures with and among key educational stakeholders, including the three anchors of a school district (union leaders, administrators and school boards) to transform educational systems to continuously improve learning and achievement for all students. For more information cecweb.org.