CSUN’s Michael D. Eisner College of Education and College of Business and Economics are teaming up with the Los Angeles Unified School District and Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce to create “Project Change: A Partnership to Prepare Tomorrow’s Leaders.”

The project was created to produce educational leaders, develop current and future administrators, support secondary administrators in school reform and increase the administrator retention rate. It is funded by a three-year, $700,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education and is one of only 24 awarded nationwide.

Debbie Leidner, CSUN’s project director for the grant, said project organizers will address the concerns of students that live below the poverty line and the number of teachers working on emergency credentials.

With the College of Business and Economics joining College of Education, “we hope to combine our knowledge and strategies to share with the new leaders in implementing change efforts, and cutting edge approaches to improving student achievement based on best practices,” said Rick Castallo, chair of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in CSUN’s College of Education.

The project is expected to train 50 new secondary “change agents” to work with faculty to improve student achievement, said Castallo.

The project will include training in the classroom along with “real world” experience. It is slated to begin on January 2006.