John Watkins

Current

Principal and Owner at Inquiry and Learning for Change

Past

Adjunct Professor, Urban School Leaders Doctoral Program at California State University East Bay, Hayward
Adjunct Professor, Consulting Skills at Alliant International University, Marshall Goldsmith School of Management
School Change Coach at Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES)

Lead Coach for Small Schools Conversion Efforts at Los Angeles Coalition of Essential Schools, Small Schools Resource Center
Program Director, Leadership Systems at Partners in School Innovation
Team Leader & Coach at The Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast & Islands
Research & Evaluation Specialist at The NETWORK, Inc.

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Education

Harvard University Graduate School of Education
Amherst College
Phillips Academy, Andover

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Recommended

10 people have recommended John

Connections

111 connections

Industry

Management Consulting

Websites

John Watkins’s Summary

I coach and consult with schools, school districts, government agencies, non-profit organizations, and a few select private sector companies.

My work supports innovative leadership, team development, and positive, planned organizational change. I focus on:

• helping organizational leaders and staff members clarify their values, purposes, and vision

• guiding the deliberate creation of programs and activities that purposefully enact those values and vision

• creating organizational coherence and alignment in ways that feel seamless, personalized, and responsive to clients and membership, and to the broader community in which organizations do their work

• building broadly networked learning communities within and across organizations

• crafting real time professional development and knowledge management systems that support new organizational structures and a culture of innovation and results.

I work hands on and over the long term with organizational members to develop leadership, engage in strategic planning, and create emergent organizational systems necessary for effective implementation of a transformational (fundamental rather than incremental or piecemeal) change agenda.

I hold high expectations for the learning and performance of people and teams, and believe that healthy, equitable, and wise organizations can be created to serve a more democratic, socially just, and ecologically sustainable community and society.

John Watkins’s Specialties:

• Innovative leadership development in non-profits & public education
• Facilitation in complex systems
• Network centric organizational development
• User-focused & collaborative research & evaluation
• Developing professional learning communities for whole systems coaches & consultants
• Inquiry driven collaborative strategic planning
• Whole-system organizational change management
• Knowledge management for the new organization
• Curriculum backward mapping
• Project based learning

John Watkins’s Experience

Principal and Owner

Inquiry and Learning for Change

(Management Consulting industry)

1994 — Present (15 years )

Coach, consult schools, districts, gov agencies, non-profits, select private sector companies; support innovative leadership, team development, purposive organizational change. Help build wise networks in/ across wise organizations to serve more democratic, socially just, ecologically sustainable community.

Clients

Dudek Environmental, 2008-present

Curtis Consulting, SLC evaluation, 2009-present

LA County Office of Education, 2007-present

Piton Foundation, Denver, 2007-8

African Community Center, 2007-8

Institute for Educational Equity, Denver, 2006-7
Design school improvement coach collaborative

LA Unified School District, 1995-2007
Consult, Facilitate standards-based reform, Small Schools, PD

Kao & Co, 2002-03; 2005-06
Design, Facilitate innovation process; Singapore, US Gov, private sector

BASRC, 2002-03
Create, Facilitate urban school leaders curriculum

Santa Monica School District, 1995-2000
Facilitate district/school social justice effort
Adjunct Professor, Urban School Leaders Doctoral Program

California State University East Bay, Hayward

(Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

August 2008 — December 2008 (5 months)

Help design and teach in new doctoral program for urban school leaders focusing on social justice and equity. Help design curriculum for Schools as Organizations and Program Evaluation courses. Collaboratively teach Fall Quarter collaborative course combining Schools as Organizations and Program Evaluation. Advise on development of knowledge management system.
Adjunct Professor, Consulting Skills

Alliant International University, Marshall Goldsmith School of Management

(Educational Institution; 501-1000 employees; Higher Education industry)

2006 — 2007 (1 year )

Consulting Skills for Systemwide Interventions in Large Scale Change Efforts
School Change Coach

Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES)

(Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Education Management industry)

August 2004 — June 2006 (1 year 11 months)

Coached the development of new small schools in Oakland and small learning communities in other school districts. Focus on equity and whole system change.
Lead Coach for Small Schools Conversion Efforts

Los Angeles Coalition of Essential Schools, Small Schools Resource Center

(Non-Profit; 1-10 employees; Education Management industry)

October 2003 — August 2004 (11 months)

Led the development of a small schools resource center consulting with LAUSD on small schools conversions, particularly in South LA and Watts, Local District 7.
Program Director, Leadership Systems

Partners in School Innovation

(Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Education Management industry)

July 2000 — June 2002 (2 years )

Research & Design new school leadership systems;
Research & Design internal inquiry-based knowledge management system;
Coach school leaders & teachers. Member, Leadership Team.
Team Leader & Coach

The Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast & Islands

(Non-Profit; 51-200 employees; Education Management industry)

June 1990 — November 1994 (4 years 6 months)

Lead Action Research Team & “Learning-Teaching-Assessing” Team; Facilitate & Coach school-based reform efforts;
Provide technical assistance; Write proposals.
Research & Evaluation Specialist

The NETWORK, Inc.

(Non-Profit; 11-50 employees; Education Management industry)

August 1987 — June 1990 (2 years 11 months)

Research & Evaluate national early childhood technical assistance system & Project 2061: Science for All Americans.

John Watkins’s Education

Harvard University Graduate School of Education

EdD & EdM , Administration, Planning, and Social Policy, Research Specialization , 1986 — 1997

Focus on research methods appropriate for self study by schools involved in restructuring change efforts (inquiry-driven change), ethnographic evaluation, organizational change, consulting theory & skills.

Doctoral Dissertation: "Change Teams in Restructuring Schools: Critical Friends in the Fray," a study of ten schools participating in The Trek, a change management "year of study" at the Coalition of Essential Schools at Brown University

Activities and Societies:

Teaching Fellow. Led sections for Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods, Decision Analysis (including Intro. Statistics), & Ethnographic Research.
Amherst College

BA , Art History , 1976 — 1979

Honors thesis on visual knowing

Activities and Societies:

Magna cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, Anna Baker Heap Prize for an Essay in Art
Phillips Academy, Andover

HSD , 1966 — 1968

Additional Information

John Watkins’s Websites:

John Watkins’s Interests:

leadership coaching, team development, small school development, organizational change consulting, urban education reform, educational equity, social network related organizational development, network theory, emergence theory, complex adaptive systems, swarm, complexity theory, string theory, hiking, backpacking, Anusara yoga, social justice, local food & sustainable living