LABORATORY FOR ENTREPRENEURIAL VENTURES IN EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP (LEVEL)

We believe that in order for our school redesign efforts to be successful, we must train educational leaders to be social entrepreneurs who can lead and sustain changes. To mobilize all groups of stakeholders behind the effort to transform schools into social enterprises, we need to develop leaders from each of these groups. To meet these needs, we have founded the Laboratory for Entrepreneurial Ventures in Educational Leadership (LEVEL), which includes the following programs:

• Community & Education Leadership Conversations
  • A presentation series featuring national leaders in the educational field like Dr. Howard Fuller, Dr. Nel Noddings, and Mr. Marc Sternberg.
• Capital Area School Board Training Program
  • Targets school board members from high-needs districts in the greater Baton Rouge area.
  • Provides training in governance, legal roles, accountability, funding, BESE, superintendent searches, and curriculum issues.
• Baton Rouge Transitions to Teaching
  • An alternative certification program to increase the number of highly qualified teachers of math and science in our secondary schools.
  • Includes a Principals’ Academy that trains principals on how to support their new teachers and also ongoing professional development opportunities for both principals and teachers.
  • Neighborhood Meetings
    • Trained community members from high-poverty areas will gather neighborhood families to discuss school policy issues and then share their opinions with school leaders.
  • Future Programs
    • We are working to include alternative certification and leadership training for principals, Training Outstanding Principals (TOP LEVEL).
    • Another vision is to train central office employees in fulfilling leadership roles to work effectively and efficiently with schools.
    • Student leadership is vital in developing future leaders and we aspire to incorporate a Youth Leadership Academy as a program of LEVEL.

Empowerment Schools

Background

• A community partnership effort between East Baton Rouge Parish School System and ADVANCE BATON ROUGE
• Modeled after the successful New York City Empowerment Schools
• Start-up funding has been provided through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• One new empowerment school, the East Baton Rouge Lab Academy, opened for the 2007-2008 school year, and other new schools will open in coming years

What is an Empowerment School?

• A small school with a focused mission
• A choice for students within the public school system
• A school with an empowered risk-taking culture

How are empowerment schools different from traditional district schools?

They operate with more autonomy in exchange for a high degree of accountability which is defined in a formal agreement between the principal and the School Board:

While the East Baton Rouge Lab Academy has more site-based decision-making authority than other district schools, it is still part of the school system. The school utilizes the services of the district central office, and its principal reports to the Superintendent and School Board.

East Baton Rouge Lab Academy

East Baton Rouge Lab Academy is a college preparatory high school offering a small learning environment (the maximum enrollment per grade is 100 students). With a student-centered culture, EBR Lab features collaborative learning and a daily advisory program. It also has an extended school day and school year.

EBR Lab will start with 100 ninth graders for the 2007-2008 school year. Adding a new class of ninth graders each year, EBR Lab will have 400 students enrolled in ninth to twelfth grade for the 2010-2011 school year. Half of the available student spaces are reserved for those living in the Istrouma attendance zone. The remaining spaces are open to students from across the district.

Contact Information
3730 Winbourne Avenue
Baton Rouge, LA 70805
Phone: (225) 355-4680
Principal David Zielinski

An interview with Karin Chenoweth

In 2004, Karin Chenoweth, a longtime education writer and former Washington Post columnist, took on a challenging assignment: find and write about neighborhood public schools that “demonstrate that all children can learn.” Working with the Achievement Alliance and using a strict set of criteria, Chenoweth identified 15 schools and spent two years writing about them for a book, “It’s Being Done”: Academic Success in Unexpected Schools, published this month by Harvard Education Press. She spoke with the Harvard Education Letter about what she found in these schools, what they have in common, and why they are succeeding.

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