Building Leadership Capacity at Los Angeles Unified School District

Abstract

The paper explores two strategic projects that attempt to build leadership capacity through the vehicles of coaching and communities of practice in a large urban school district. The paper explores the conditions that enable or hinder change initiatives to move from idea to design to implementation and on-going learning for the organization. The experience at LAUSD helped to highlight the need for a balanced approach to organizational change that emphasizes developing the human resources within the system as a key lever in a successful change initiative. In order to create a learning organization with an emphasis on collaboration and reflective practices, the organization must value these practices and create the culture to support them.