ABSTRACT
Faced with growing diversity and declining student achievement, San Diego City Schools (SDCS), California’s second largest school district with 138,000 students, was in desperate need of leadership at the close of the 20th century. Th e school hired Alan Bersin, a former U.S. District Attorney, to be superintendent. Bersin, in turn, recruited Anthony Alvarado, superintendent of New York City’s Community School District #2, to serve in the newly created role of Chancellor of Instruction. Alvarado was charged with spearheading a sweeping restructuring initiative aimed at improving the quality of instruction and boosting literacy in San Diego schools and thereby raising student achievement.
