Campus Schools: New York City's Solution to Underperforming and Violent Schools - Hardcover

Monica Ortiz addresses a topic that is critical to American education: how to create safe and orderly schools where good teaching and learning can be supported. Drawing on research and practical experience as a principal who has been on the front lines of school reform, Ortiz shows how to improve relationships in school by transforming the culture. Her ideas are clear and compelling and all the more convincing because they are based on work she has actually done. For those who seek to ensure that safety can be created without compromising the integrity of the educational mission of schools, this book will be an invaluable resource. -- Pedro A. Noguera Ph.D, distinguished professor of education UCLA Graduate School of Education & Information Studies Becoming a principal during the height of campus formation, I've lived through the process of large school transformation. Monica Ortiz highlights the principals' difficult task of transforming school culture while learning how to collaboratively work to create a safe and orderly environment conducive to teaching and learning. She has been able to bridge research and school life to bring ideas and recommendations that is supported by her experience and her work with other principals. This book is a great resource for principals, superintendents, and community stakeholders looking to create successful schools! -- Francisco A. Sanchez, Principal, NYC Department of Education

Campus creation was the means to providing the children of NYC with the opportunity to engage in the learning process in a personalize environment of their choice that was safe and orderly regardless of where they lived. However, campus settings are complex environments with multiple principals responsible for one building; each leader with his or her unique personality, experience, and educational commitment. This book delves into the concept of collaborative leadership in campus principals charged with the task of transitioning two large underperforming and violent schools to campuses of small schools while learning to collaboratively manage a campus. Campus management, a new form of school leadership and administration, required consensus building among diverse and at time, competing forces. Multiple principals were now collectively responsible for agreeing on how to best serve the greater campus community while considering the unique needs of their small schools. Their greatest challenge was not the hostility from the closing school community or reducing school violence or even the countless restructuring from central administration but rather dealing with each other.