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THE LEADERSHIP WAY:
VISION, MISSION, AND VALUES

OUR VISION

LPS’s vision is that all students - regardless of background, ethnicity, or neighborhood - receive an excellent education that prepares them to succeed in college and improve their community.

OUR MISSION

LPS’s mission is to serve diverse and traditionally underserved students by building a network of outstanding small public high schools where we:
• Prepare our students to succeed in college and beyond.
• Develop effective student leaders, and
• Partner and share best practices with school districts to strengthen both ourselves and other public schools.

OUR LEADERSHIP VALUES

1. COMMITMENT: All students, staff and members of the Leadership community unwaveringly focus on producing strong academic performance and student leadership development. This means doing what it takes to prepare all LPS students for college and beyond. This is absolutely necessary if we are going to achieve our personal, school, organization, and community goals. There are no short cuts.

We show this commitment by:

• Working hard,
• Persisting in overcoming personal and societal obstacles when needed,
• Following our commitments and agreements, and
• Striving for both continual improvement and excellence.

2. RESPECT: All students, staff and members of the Leadership community work together as a team and treat each other with dignity and civility. What we do and say affects ourselves, each other, and our schools.

We show respect by:

• Acting with honesty and integrity,
• Valuing the diversity of our community,
• Seeking first to understand before seeking to be understood,
• Assuming good intentions,
• When possible, resolving our own conflicts, going to the “source” (the person involved) rather than complaining to others, and
• Supporting each other when needed.

3. RESPONSIBILITY: All students, staff and members of the Leadership community take responsibility for their own actions and the actions of the community. In order to create schools with extraordinary results and successful students, each person must not only carry his or her own weight, but also go the extra mile for others.

We show responsibility by:

• Accepting responsibility for our own behavior,
• Avoiding blaming others and instead looking for solutions,
• Stepping in to help others when needed, and
• Taking responsibility for both our own learning and the learning of others.

4. VALUING OUR STUDENTS AND OUR EMPLOYEES: The LPS community—our students, parents, teachers, and staff—are the reason we will excel and achieve our mission. LPS endeavors to sustain their vision and vigor with a stimulating and rewarding environment.

We show the importance of our students and employees by:

• Supporting the learning of our employees with ample professional development;
• Providing nurturing, personalized attention to our students and their families,
• Evaluating students and employees with clear, careful and fact-based evaluation processes;
• Offering competitive wages and benefits to employees;
• Having fun and celebrating success; and
• While seeking to deliver an ambitious mission, striving to create balance and respect the lives people have outside Leadership Public Schools.

5. HARNESSING THE POWER OF THE LEADERSHIP NETWORK: A network of schools is more effective and sustainable than individual schools because of the great potential for creating a larger learning community, sharing best practices, cost savings and providing significant startup, operational and educational support.

We help build a strong network of schools by:

• Focusing on student and school performance;
• Disseminating the innovations and lessons learned across the network;
• Encouraging students, parents, and all staff to use the network for learning;
• Forging strong relationships between the home office and the schools,
• Maintaining a strong customer service ethic at the home office.
• Making decisions with the maximum appropriate involvement of affected constituencies; and by
• Being careful stewards of our resources.


SCHOOL DESIGN

Our school design is based on six pillars of educational excellence:

• High Expectations: All students take college preparatory coursework and graduates fulfill requirements for admission to the University of California. Students are expected to adhere to high standards of student behavior.

• Significant Support: Small schools, small class sizes, four year advisory program, and strong academic, social and college support programs.

• Student Leadership: Schoolwide four-year leadership development program enabling all students to take responsibility for their lives and improve their community.

• Talented Staff Sustained by Extensive Professional Development: Our schools improve their performance with weekly collaboration and staff development time, and 15 staff development days, all focused on teaching and learning.

• Parent and Community Involvement: Parents support their children and the school by encouraging studying and reading at home, supporting good behavior at school, and participating in school activities and committees. The school develops meaningful community partnerships to help sustain and deliver its educational mission.

• Focus on Results: Our schools relentlessly focus on high student performance, measuring results on standardized tests and other reliable indicators, and using this data to improve teaching and learning. Students, parents, and staff create and reinforce a culture of achievement.

Each Leadership school will focus on providing considerable academic and technical support to students, a rigorous college preparatory curriculum, and a program to instill in the students the skills and lifelong commitment to be leaders in their communities. This award-winning Leadership Program is the centerpiece of our curriculum and school culture.

Each Leadership school will provide a caring and supportive environment in which every student will be known and respected by the entire faculty and administration and given whatever assistance is needed to achieve academic excellence. Each school will be firmly based in its community, drawing on strong parent involvement and a local site council. High expectations will be coupled with strong support, providing students with the motivation and resources to succeed.

We welcome inquiries from students, parents, teachers, community leaders, school districts, foundations, government agencies, and others interested in attending, teaching at, funding, or forming a Leadership school in their community.