Yvonne Chan is the Principal of the Vaughn Next Century Learning Center which serves 2,000 students in Pacoima. She has pushed the limits of education and social reform including class size reduction, universal preschool, accelerated English learning, special education full inclusion, longer school day and longer school year, school-based clinic, on-site museum, family center/business co-op, interagency services, adult education, university professional development center, teacher peer-review and performance pay system. High school students study global issues, take 4-year Mandarin Chinese and complete 60 community college credits.
As the founder of the first conversion charter school in the nation, she turned crack houses to school houses, gang territories to college prep laboratories, provided construction jobs and stimulated economic growth in a high-poverty neighborhood. Student achievement soars and attendance is near perfect. Through her shrewd management skills, the school leverages millions of dollars for programs related to education, youth development, family and community strengthening. Vaughn is now a full-service Pk-14th learning village under Dr. Chan's most capable leadership.
Vaughn was named the 1995 California Distinguished School and the 1996 National Blue Ribbon School by the U.S. Department of Education. It was visited by the Mrs. Hillary Clinton, U.S. legislators and dignitaries from all over the world. Dr. Chan has delivered keynote addresses in 41 states on school reform, given testimonials to the legislature in 37 states on charter school policies. Dr. Chan gained international recognition by providing training to school leaders in China, Thailand, Australia, Turkey, Argentina, and Chile. In 2001, Dr. Chan and her 84 staff members took over the instruction of three schools in Beijing and Shanghai through a US-China collaborative program. She was invited to many town hall meetings with President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, President George W. Bush, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and other public officials. Dr. Chan was profiled by Time Magazine, Prime Time Life, Good Morning America, National PBS, Education Week and various local and national publications.
Armed with a doctoral degree from UCLA in Education, a MA degree from California State University, Northridge in Special Education, a BA degree from UCLA in French/Spanish, post-doctoral studies in computer science at UCLA, eight teaching credentials and the ability to communicate in four world languages, she is determined to turn risks into opportunities for children and families who live in poverty through her tenacity and dedication, forward-thinking skills, energy and enthusiasm to do the impossible.
In addition to being a school principal, she is also an adjunct professor at UCLA. Dr. Chan is a member of the California State Board of Education, and a Commissioner of the Los Angeles City Commission for Children Youth and Families. She assumes leadership role in policies related to the assessment of English learners and students with disabilities, adoption of instructional materials, teacher preparation and credentialing, school construction as well as authorization of statewide charter schools. In addition, she serves on the Board of Public/Private Venture in Philadelphia, Longview Family Foundation in Washington, D.C., Teacher Advancement Program Foundation in Los Angeles, California State University Enrollment Advisory, and Los Angeles Community College Bond Oversight. She also has served on the Board of the Consortium for Policy Research in Education in Philadelphia, and the WorldClass Education Foundation in Florida.
She was awarded the Milken Educator Award in 1991, the McGraw Hills Distinguished Educator in 1997, the Gleitsman Community Activist Award in 2004 and the Irvine Foundation Leadership Award in 2007. Her donation of these cash awards to her school leveraged more than $50 millions in grants and bond funds for the school and community.
She received numerous awards including Woman Making History, Educator of the Year by the National Council of Negro Women, the Asia Chamber of commerce, the Optimist Club, the National Chinese-American Banker Association, San Fernando Valley of the Stars, the Y.W.C.A., USC, UCLA and California State University Alumni Associations, New Horizon Association for the Disabled Persons, and many others.
Dr. Chan’s work is widely replicated across the nation. Her passion for education has spanned nearly 40 years, since her humble beginning as an elementary school teacher in 1968. Arriving in the U.S. alone at age 17 with just $100, Dr. Chan set out to pursue the American Dream – a dream she realized and a dream to which she now teaches countless others to aspire.
Ku Kahakalau is a native Hawaiian educator, researcher, song-writer, native
practitioner, and expert in Hawaiian language, history and culture residing in
Kukuihaele on the
For
over a decade, Ku has researched the impact of
Hawaiian-focused education on native student performance, using a
unique mixed
research methodology called Indigenous Heuristic Action Research,
developed by Ku as part of her doctoral work in Indigenous Education. This methodology is at once ancient and
modern, aligning traditional Hawaiian research methods with heuristic practices
and using both modern and traditional methods of dissemination.
Another product which evolved from Ku’s doctoral
studies is Kanu o ka ‘
A co- founder of Na Lei Na’auao – Native Hawaiian
Charter School Alliance, Ku has been on the forefront of leading Indigenous
educational reform not just in
Ku’s vision is a Hawaiian-focused system of
education that is community-based family-oriented and culturally-driven. Such a system would function as a Local
Education Agency (LEA) and provide basic technical support to schools with a
Hawaiian-focused approach to education who chose to be part of this parallel
system. Ku’s research, as well as
other data gleaned from external sources, clearly indicates that
Hawaiian-focused education is working, and that students considered hard to
reach in traditional public schools respond to Education with Aloha.
Under Ku’s leadership, the first “learning
destination” or kauhale that will house the various local components of a
future community-based, family-oriented and culturally-driven system of
education is currently being constructed on 15 acres of Hawaiian Homes Lands in
Waimea. Kauhale ‘Oiwi o Pu’ukapu is being
designed to be a green, multi-purpose, multi-organization complex, and a model
for community sustainability. This
includes Platinum LEED certification, energy self-sustainability, living
machine water recycling, a native utilitarian landscape and more.