View Research by Author - Alissa Anderson

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The LEF (local education fund) movement started in the early 1980s, when public schools, particularly in urban areas, were struggling with changing demographics and a need for greater community commitment to public education. These small independent community-based organizations were established to bridge the gap between the community and its schools. Almost twenty years later, the Public Education Network (PEN), the national representative for over 70 LEFs throughout the country, has begun to specify what its unique contribution to education has been and, subsequently, will be in the future. An important part of this work is the development of a research agenda around LEF leadership. This report describes efforts by the Urban Institute and PEN to better understand and describe a leadership model that characterizes the LEF movement.

This report provides the results of the first phase of the Public Education Network (PEN) Leadership Study. This study focused on leadership of Local Education Funds, which are independent community-based nonprofit school reform organizations that seek to improve student achievement through partnerships with local school districts. Our results are based on a baseline survey administered to 59 Local Education Fund executive directors who belong to PEN. The survey had two purposes: to provide a snapshot of leadership characteristics and perceptions of executive directors and to gather contextual information on LEFs and the communities they serve. Initial findings suggest that LEF executive director leadership is best described by a community collaborative model of leadership. Survey results also revealed differences in the background and experience of newer executive directors and longer-term executive directors and a disparity between how executive directors would ideally like to spend their time and the way they actually allocate their time. On average, executive directors spend the least amount of time on strategic planning but believe it should be their first priority. Finally, respondents indicated a high level of satisfaction with their jobs, their compensation, and their boards of directors.

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