The Design-Based Learning methodology is the context for all the programs in our district.

—Dr. Tiffany Rudek, Deputy Superintendent, Educational Services, San Gabriel Unified School District, 2018

Jennifer Sorbara developed and leads the Academic Design Program for 10th–12th graders at Walnut High School in the Walnut Valley Unified School District using my Design-Based Learning methodology. The program integrates Math, Social Science, History, and Language Arts. In 2017, during the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) accreditation renewal, observers came to Walnut High to evaluate schoolwide practices and plans. “One observer came to my class in the morning,” Jennifer said, “and two more in the afternoon. The gist of their questions was ‘Why isn't everyone else being innovative with instruction?’ ”

Since 1997, Jennifer’s district administrators, led by different superintendents and a changing governing board, have maintained their support for widespread use of the Doreen Nelson Method of Design-Based Learning. They oversaw the construction of a building dedicated solely to the Design-Based Learning program at Chaparral Middle School, made it possible for Jennifer to develop the program at Walnut High, and paid for teachers to attend the Summer Institute for K–12 Teachers at ArtCenter College of Design for training in the methodology. Like Jennifer, a number of Walnut Valley teachers completed the master's degree program at Cal Poly.

Other administrators “get it,” too.

When teachers in the master's program learned to make detailed Long-Range Planning Boards (see Chapters 4 and 20), they were required to present and describe them to their school administrators for feedback. Often, administrators would say, “This is exactly what I want every teacher to do.” Some told teachers that presenting their usual weekly lesson plans was no longer necessary, because, as one administrator said, “You clearly know where you're going and how to achieve the requirements.”

Middle school Science teacher Lindsay Downs at Santa Fe High School in the Whittier Union High School District is devoted to having her special needs students achieve a mainstream education. She received her tenure in her district after graduating from the Design-Based Learning master's program in 2013. Her previous training to become a credentialed teacher hadn't provided her with the time to explore the intellectual aspects that underlie teaching and learning. She said that the MA program gave her what she had been missing.

Lindsay's principal saw that her special needs students were able to make connections between Science and other content areas through her use of Design-Based Learning's City-building theme. He witnessed first-hand the growth in her students' critical thinking and social skills as they built their City and role-played its governance and learned to process information by sharing their thoughts and ideas.

Just as significantly, this supportive principal observed Lindsay's progress as a teacher. “He told me that he wished more teachers would take the risks that I have,” Lindsay said. “It was nice to have someone on the ‘outside’ see my personal growth and validate that what I am doing with my students is actually working.”

Lindsay's administrator got it. In my experience, knowledgeable, insightful, and supportive administrators like this are not rare.

The San Gabriel Unified School District, comprising eight K–12 schools, definitely gets it. In the District, with its focus on twenty-first-century learning, my method of Design-Based Learning is the expectation and is built into the District's Strategic Plan. Since 2018, the District has offered teachers unparalleled administrative support in encouraging them to take risks and embrace change in order to create better classrooms through the methodology. In the first year of implementing Design-Based Learning district-wide, SGUSD sent administrators as well as teachers to the Design-Based Learning Five-Day, Summer Institute for K–12 Teachers at ArtCenter College of Design. By the summer of 2019, approximately 50 teachers in the District had trained in Design-Based Learning; that year, the District became the first to sign on when UCLA's Center X, one of the nation's most prestigious teacher training institutions, added Design-Based Learning to its teacher training programs. The SGUSD contract with Center X encompassed a training of trainers program for the 2020–2021 school years, and the formation of a group of “DBL Ambassadors” whose members conduct regular Design-Based Learning trainings for all the K–12 teachers in the District.