Biography/Organization History
In May 1990, a group of senior human resource executives from Southern
California-based corporations, known as the Human Resources Round Table
(HARRT) met to discuss the outlook for the 21st-century workforce.
Andrea McAleenan, Associate Dean and Director of the Executive and Fully
Employed MBA Programs at The Anderson School, participated in the retreat
and began work with the HARRT membership on the design of a management
training program for school leaders in the Los Angeles Unified School
District (LAUSD).
Dean McAleenan worked with members of HARRT, the Institute of Industrial
Relations, and the LAUSD to move forward on developing the training
program. Archie Kleingartner, founder of HARRT and Professor of Public
Policy and Social Research at The Anderson School, joined Dean McAleenan
in developing a management training program for LAUSD principals.
Dean McAleenan and Professor Kleingartner held a number of meetings with
educators in the LAUSD and with members of HARRT organizations. Bill
Anton, LAUSD Superintendent, was consulted along with officials from the
LAUSD central administration and Helen Bernstein, president of the
teachers' union. From these meetings, Dean McAleenan and Professor
Kleingartner determined that there was a significant need for UCLA and
industry to join together for the public schools in a strongly centered,
pooled resource effort.
HARRT, UCLA, and LAUSD offered their first Principal's Training Institute
from May 31 to June 2, 1991. The program was led by faculty from The
Anderson School and senior human resource executives from HARRT
companies. 60 LAUSD senior high and district administrators participated
in the two-day session. The retreat focused on topics in leadership
development, preparing for tomorrow's workforce, and organizational
change.
Dean McAleenan and Professor Kleingartner met with Dean Lewis Solmon of
the Graduate School of Education (now known as GSE&IS) who suggested that
they organize efforts with Professor Harry Handler. David Lewin, an
Anderson School professor, Faculty Director and Vice Dean, also lent his
support to the project. In addition, Professor Bill Ouchi, also from The
Anderson School, took an active role in redefining the Principal Training
Institute idea to make it applicable to the challenges facing schools in
management and finance issues.
During the spring of 1992, Dean McAleenan held a series of meetings with
Chancellor Young seeking financial and staff support. During this series
of meetings, the Chancellor came up with idea of a unit on campus, which
evolved into the School Management Program (SMP).
In May of 1992, 45 middle school unit principals came together for three
days with Anderson and GSE&IS faculty and HARRT company trainers. This
Principal1s Training Institute targeted leadership and management
development training for middle school principals. The retreat focused
on managing change in a decentralized environment. In September, 1992, a
one-day Institute at Hughes Aircraft focused on issues that corporations
faced in restructuring and the applicability of those lessons to the
school environment.
On November 16, 1992, the School Management Program was officially
launched. Representatives from the administration of the LAUSD, members
of the UCLA community, and junior and senior high school principals
attended. Chancellor Young launched the UCLA School Management Program
as a University-based public service initiative designed to become a
national management training center for K-12 educators.
The School Management Program Executive Committee (comprised of
representatives from GSE&IS, The Anderson School, and the Chancellor's
Office) began to meet to set strategy and direction for the SMP. The
committee was made up of nine members and held their first meeting in
January of 1993. Dean Mitchell and Professor Ouchi were named
co-chairmen of the SMP. Dan Katzir was hired in October 1992 as Director
of the School Management Program; his role was to act as day to day
manager of the SMP.
At this point, the SMP began to evolve in two areas: programs initiated
by HARRT, which focused on Leadership Training Institutes, the
HARRT-Mates program, and Company Based Programs; and the newly formed
Advanced Management Program, Professor Ouchi's brainchild to create an
Executive MBA type course for school principals to give them financial
and general management training.
While the SMP was working on the HARRT initiatives, Professor Ouchi and
Dan Katzir met with Mike Roos, President, and Mary Chambers, Vice
President, of LEARN to discuss the design for AMP and the possibility
that AMP could become the professional development vehicle for principals
and other school leaders during the LEARN launch. Roos invited UCLA to
present AMP to the full LEARN Working Group on January 6, 1993. Dean
McAleenan and Dan Katzir also met with the Associate Director of the
UTLA, Day Higuchi, to discuss the program. Professor Bill Ouchi and Dan
Katzir then had a follow-up meeting with Helen Bernstein, the UTLA
President, to discuss the inclusion of UTLA chapter chairs in the first
AMP LEARN cohort. Professor Ouchi, a member of the original LEARN
Working Group, also introduced AMP to Superintendent Sid Thompson; Eli
Brent, President of Associated Administrators of Los Angeles; and Walter
Backstrom, Managing Director of SEIU Local 99 (the classified staff1s
union).
The SMP assembled a group comprised of UCLA faculty, LAUSD practitioners,
and independent consultants who met from December 1992 through June 1993
to work on the design of an AMP curriculum. Their work formed the
curriculum for the first AMP Summer Institute which was held in July of
1993 for 34 schools participating in the LEARN program and two other
reform minded schools in the LAUSD.
As a result of its high quality work, SMP was asked by Los Angeles
Unified School District to develop a leadership development program for
central office staff. New Directions, which began in January 1995,
trains district administrators to act as customer service providers for
schools. To further address the needs of reforming schools, SMP
established the Case Development and Technology Center to develop
leadership training materials, and the Corporate Connections programs
(including the Business Mentor Network and Access to Training) to link
the resources of the business community with the needs of schools.
SMP established an office in the San Francisco Bay Area in March 1995,
and in New England in June 1996. That same month, SMP hired Dan Chernow
as Executive Director and began to expand training in management,
technology, instructional skills, and leadership to schools and districts
in these areas and throughout California.
Now in its sixth year, over 400 LAUSD schools have participated in AMP
training: 53 schools in Phase II, 107 schools in Phase III, 103 schools
in Phase IV, and 29 schools in Phase V. In 1998 AMP began work with over
200 representatives from the LAUSD central office, and began working with
Site Based Management Schools as well. In addition, SMP works with
numerous school clusters and other districts outside of Los Angeles.
