PLEASE READ THOROUGHLY BEFORE COMPLETING YOUR APPLICATION.

THE APPLICATION DEADLINE IS March 19, 2021 AT 11:59 p.m.

RISE UPP Program Description

The RISE Urban Principal Preparation (RISE UPP) Program is a partnership between San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) RISE San Diego (http://risesandiego.org/) and Teach for America (TFA) . RISE UPP aims to create a pipeline for principals who are committed to advancing equity in San Diego’s urban schools.
RISE UPP participants are current principals (fewer than five years of experience), future
principals (those already enrolled in an administrative credential program and those who will
soon enroll), and teacher-leaders who are interested in school leadership. The program
provides a concentrated focus on cultivating an equity mindset for transforming San Diego’s
urban schools into places of excellence and innovation. RISE UPP complements administrative
credential programs. SDCOE Administrative Credential Program provides course completion credit which means fellow will receive class credit- this reduces time, assignments, and cost of the administrator credential.

Longstanding educational research tells us that effective school transformation not only
requires principals steeped in knowledge of cutting edge pedagogies and technology,
relationship-building inside and outside of the school, conflict mediation, and visionary thinking
about preparation for college and career; sustainable school transformation requires leaders
who can simultaneously shape, direct, and move stakeholders through multiple dimensions of
school change. These dimensions – technical, cultural/normative, and political – require a
multifaceted skill set of technical knowledge (e.g., pedagogy, flexible grouping of students,
technology), cultural or normative mindsets at the individual and school levels (e.g., asset-
based approaches to student learning and teacher support, creating healthy school cultures),
and political maneuvering (e.g., relationship-building and engagement, strategic partnerships).
Graduates of RISE UPP will be able to leverage their multifaceted technical, cultural and political
skills through an equity mindset to facilitate urban school transformation in San Diego schools.

In RISE UPP, an equity mindset refers to the knowledge, dispositions, and skills that urban
school leaders need to support, create and expand students’ access to high quality educational
experiences that lead to a range of post-secondary options such as college and career. RISE UPP
participants will focus on cultivating an equity mindset that integrates their personal identity
and professional identity related to a range of critical issues that impact the educational
experiences of underrepresented, students of color.

RISE UPP participants will experience:

● An active learning environment for exploring cutting edge pedagogies for engaging
students in learning, models of conflict mediation, nurturing healthy school and
community relationships, and research-based work on transforming urban school
structures, processes, and cultures.

● Intensive leadership development around their personal and professional identities as
transformative leavers who advance equity in their schools. Participants will engage in
deep reflection and action around issues of race/ethnicity, culture, gender/sexuality,
social class, language, dismantling educational inequity, and building school structures
and processes that lead to educational equity.

● Deep engagement in authentic and relevant action research in their schools that is
geared toward understanding barriers to educational equity and designing solutions to
advance educational equity for underrepresented, students of color.

RISE UPP is a one-year program FREE of charge to admitted participants for most of the costs.
Currently all sessions will be virtual.
There are 15 sessions - 2 weeks in the summer and 5 sessions
during the 2021-2022 school year.

The dates are as follows (all sessions are 9 a.m. to noon):

Monday to Friday, July 12-16 and July 19-23
Saturday Sept. 25
Saturday Nov. 13
Saturday Jan. 15
Saturday March 19
Saturday April 16


For questions please contact Fabiola Bagula, SDCOE Senior Director of the Equity Department , at 619-823-1046 or at fabiola.bagula@sdcoe.net.

Please email the following application documents to Alicia Moyer (amoyer@sdcoe.net) by March 19, 2021 at 11:59 p.m. Applicants will be notified by May 15, 2021. Please note that if you are submitting an
application, you are also committing to all of the dates listed for the program.

APPLICATION DOCUMENTS

● RISE UPP application (complete the form below)
● Three professional reference letters, one of which should be from your immediate
supervisor (school principal for those currently working at a school site). The letters
should address the following: your leadership potential for a principalship, your ideas
about equity, expertise in creating collaborative conditions with education colleagues
and/or communities/families (email to amoyer@sdcoe.net)
● Institutional endorsement letter from your immediate supervisor (school principal for
those currently working at a school site). Please use the letter template provided. (email to amoyer@sdcoe.net)