Redesigning for Sustainability with Alejandro Gonzalez Ojeda
26m | Oct 31, 2023Welcome back to In the Lead with UCEA’s podcast series on the University Principal Preparation Initiative (UPPI). Join UCEA Executive Director, Dr. Mónica Byrne-Jimenez as she talks with Dr. Alejandro Gonzalez Ojeda, Assistant Professor at San Diego State University (SDSU) in the Department of Educational Leadership.
How did SDSU iterate their programs to create effective and sustainable school leaders? How did the five types of thinking mindsets and leadership dispositions play a vital role in building a sustainable framework and capacity?
In the Lead with UCEA is a production of University FM via a grant from The Wallace Foundation.
Chapter Timestamps:
- How did SDSU decide to pursue this initiative? | 1:15
- Sustaining momentum in redesign work | 5:45
- The importance of shared vision in the process | 9:42
- Making redesign part of the culture of the program | 12:39
- The challenges around sustainability | 14:24
- Effective practices to help leaders be responsive | 19:13
- Creating an adaptable program for a changing world | 22:15
- Summary & Closing | 25:30
Episode Quotes:
On the importance of preparing leaders for the redesigning process
18:10: We need to prepare our leaders for that perseverance. It's not easy. It's not easy being a teacher. We don't do this job just for ourselves. We do it because we believe that there's much we can offer our communities. And,so, I think that's key in helping not to change the narrative but to be a part of the narrative.
The value of shared vision
10:21: When we talked about equity, we came to our partners and said, What is your equity statement? What is your district's equity statement? And how does our program reflect that? And in our definition of equity, we were able to create a more holistic and comprehensive definition around five types of thinking that a leader needs to have: data-driven, school climate, achievement, systems, thinking, and learnership. So, we are able to identify thinking mindsets that we want to incorporate in our courses to highlight the type of thinking that leaders should be able to practice.
Sustainability is critical, and enrollment numbers are key
08:57: When thinking about sustainability, enrollment numbers are critical in order to sustain the program. And so we're able to leverage that high need or area of interest to say, okay, we're not only preparing leaders within our realm, but we're also preparing leaders serving very similar demographics across the state or leaders who are very much in tune with what we believe is required to prepare an effective leader, an equity-driven leader, essentially.
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