Educating for Purposeful Life: A New Conception of Schooling for the 21st Century

A visionary blueprint for educational reform that envisions school systems as opportunity engines, preparing young citizens for future workplace success, civic engagement, and fulfilling lives.
 
Educating for Purposeful Life documents positive change within the Anaheim Union High School District, whose overarching mission is to prepare high school graduates who possess a clear sense of purpose and the capacity to achieve their goals. Superintendent Michael Matsuda and education consultant David Brazer lay out the district's innovative approaches to organizing, leading, teaching, and learning. They demonstrate how education policy, organization theory, and external partnerships work together within this grades 7–12 district to scaffold student success, resulting in greater high school graduation rates and four-year college matriculation and persistence rates. 
 
A rousing account of effective school reform, this work illuminates the district's Career Preparedness Systems Framework, which integrates affective and cognitive development opportunities, trade and professional development programs, and community engagement efforts. Matsuda and Brazer show how this framework, combined with a strengths-based approach that recognizes and affirms students' individual life experiences, helps meet the educational needs of all students, including those from traditionally underserved populations. 
 
Presenting secondary education as a means to support democracy, address employability gaps, and elevate student voice and purpose, this thought-provoking work provides ample ideas for how other districts might engage in educating for purposeful life. 

S. David Brazer is a former teacher, high school principal, and professor of education leadership. The author of numerous articles and three books, he is currently principal consultant at Brazer Education Consulting, where he engages with schools and districts in leadership development and individual coaching.  
 
Michael B. Matsuda is superintendent of the Anaheim Union High School District, an urban public school district with 20 secondary schools for grades 7–12. He is a frequent author of articles and commentaries on the need to transform secondary education from focusing exclusively on college readiness to educating students to be life-ready.