Javier Guzman

Javier Guzman has served youth for the last twenty years in multiple capacities, including middle and high school teacher, literacy coordinator, assistant principal, founding principal of a Big Picture Learning school in Brooklyn, New York, principal of New Village Girls Academy in Los Angeles (also a Big Picture Learning school), and now as Regional Director for Network Support and Innovation. Currently, he works with districts across the Southwest to help transform learning and schools into places that honor and value students’ interests and passions in real and meaningful ways. Javier has a specific interest in alternative education programs, which are rife with inequity. He believes there is a unique and urgent need to innovate there and is focused on building a consortium of alternative education school leaders who have the courage and the vision to improve learning for our most marginalized students.

Javier lives in Los Angeles with his partner, Lennon Parham, children Saraya and Kai, and Nina, their cat. He also loves trail running and stair climbing.

AAPF18 Sessions: 

Upstream Collaborative: Redesigning Alternative Education for Equity and Student Success

Engage in an interactive workshop that shares the work of the Upstream Collaborative (30 schools spread throughout California and Washington), which seeks to redesign alternative education in the country to maximize students’ potential. We will learn about the work of redesign, the moves made by communities of practice and school leaders to unleash powerful learning experiences for students, who are regarded as individuals with passions and interests capable of high quality work.