John Watkins

John Watkins is a passionate, equity-seeking leader, with over four decades experience in educational change as a coach, consultant, evaluator, and researcher. His work supports innovative leadership that accelerates emergence; team development that brings together diverse perspectives for creative and equitable liberatory design; and complex system change in schools, school districts, and other educational organizations. John has a BA from Amherst College and an MEd and an EdD from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. After a career as an Outward Bound Instructor and high school art and technical theatre teacher, John focused his work on such systemic change initiatives as school restructuring with the Coalition of Essential Schools; the Smaller Learning Communities initiatives in Philadelphia, South Central and Watts areas of Los Angeles, and other communities; the small schools movement, with the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools; the Linked Learning College and Career Pathways initiative in California; and as Co-Director of the Deeper Learning Dozen, a community of practice of senior leadership teams from 12 school districts around North America focused on system change, equity, and deeper learning. John lives in Oakland, California, with his spouse, who teaches English in the Public Health Pathway at Oakland High School. John has two grown sons and two grandchildren. He and his spouse love long trekking, building projects, cooking, locavore food sourcing and dining, and gardening.