To Our Readers

Linda Kaminski, ACSA President | March | April 2020

Though we are educators, all working towards a common purpose, the word “advocacy” may mean something different to each of us. While your vision of advocacy is likely different than mine and different from our writers, our common thread is the core of our advocacy efforts, our students. It’s what makes this edition of Leadership magazine so interesting. We often focus on advocacy for or reacting to legislation. Still, we must not forget the advocacy that we, as educational leaders, need to enact at our workplaces. Our first submission comes from Susan Denton of Standard Middle School in Bakersfield. She chronicles her school’s unique spin on MTSS and how it drives the types of support offered by her school.  Many of us have had training on cultural proficiency and its impact on our students. We’ve also had teachers on our campuses trained on cultural proficiency. Yet with all of that training, Tamika Casey and Jaime Welborn ask an important question: If students perform at different levels, are teachers approaching student relations, assessments and instruction at different levels? ACSA has been working with the Rossier School of Education at the University of Southern California on a few projects over the past few years. This issue includes an article where, their staff discusses the theories they have collected from advocacy organizations on equity and effective equity practices.  Jonathan Raymond is the executive director of the National Association of School Superintendents and once served as the superintendent of Sacramento City Unified School District. His legacy of student advocacy is stems from his belief that home visits are an important first step in creating a connection between schools, teachers and families. Finally, Edwin Javius of EDEquity posits that the path to improving instruction requires a focus shift to instructional coaching in the Multi-Tiered System of Support. I’m very excited about this issue and I want to take a moment to promote our May/June edition of Leadership magazine, which could be the most inspirational edition of the magazine that ACSA has produced.  For the first time in the 48 years of Leadership magazine, we’re turning the entire edition over to California public school students. Our Student Voices issue will cover myriad topics, including mental health, violence on campus and what it’s like to be a student-athlete who is recruited by major universities. These stories and many more are all coming from the student’s point of view, which should make for interesting reading. Thanks to all of you for your service to California’s 6.2 million public school students.