Leadership magazine Sept/Oct 2014 V 44 No 1 | Page 5

Leadership Vol. 44, No. 1 • September/October 2014 Features 8 A primer for navigating school finance and accountability reforms Learn everything you need to know about LCFF and LCAP, and how to develop your own best practices. By Gina Potter Columns 7 To our readers LCFF and LCAP: Shaping the future of funding and decision making By Randall Delling 11 Finding simplicity in just one word No need to start the school year with a complicated slogan. Instead, embrace the simplicity of selecting just one word to guide your team. By Charles F. Young and Lisa Gonzales 12 Improving learning through family-school partnerships The key to long-term success with the LCAP process is evaluating what is working well and what needs still exist, and then constantly striving to strengthen your efforts. By Colleen A.R. You and Paul Richman 16 Raising the bar on stakeholder engagement LCFF ushered in the idea that school funding decisions should start with students and their families. Here’s a look at how districts are fulfilling this promise. By Nicole Gelsomini and Taryn Ishida 20 Budgets in an era of local control and accountability: Tips for site leaders Even in the midst of change – including greater scrutiny of budgets – there is a set of best practices and core principles school leaders should adopt in order to be successful. By Brett W. McFadden 24 Leading systems change to build district capacity The LCAP can be the catalyst for shifting away from a compliance-oriented culture to developing a focus on what matters most: student achievement. By Jay Westover 28 Community input in goal-setting: One district’s story Community engagement takes work, but the outcome is a plan for student success that is rich, thoughtful, and truly based on local needs. By Craig Wheaton and Jim Sullivan 32 Putting student success at the center of planning and budgeting Parents, community partners and students are learning more about how to participate in their schools, and are seeing in tangible ways how their engagement makes a difference. By Samantha Tran September/October 2014 5