Luis F. Cruz

Watch Luis F. Cruz share his experience of responding to resistors.

Luis F. Cruz, PhD, is former principal of Baldwin Park High School, located east of Los Angeles, California. He has been a teacher and administrator at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Dr. Cruz presents on methods from the best-selling book Time for Change by Luis F. Cruz and Anthony Muhammad.

In 2007, Dr. Cruz led a collective effort to secure a $250,000 grant for Baldwin Park from the California Academic Partnership Program for the purpose of effectively utilizing “courageous leadership” to promote a more equitable and effective organization.

Since becoming a public school educator, Dr. Cruz has won the New Teacher of the Year, Teacher of the Year, Administrator of the Year, and other community leadership awards. He and a committee of teacher leaders at Baldwin Park received California's prestigious Golden Bell Award from the California School Boards Association for significantly closing the achievement gap between the general student population and students learning English as a second language.

As a recipient of the Hispanic Border Leadership Institute's fellowship for doctoral studies, he earned a doctorate in institutional leadership and policy studies from the University of California Riverside. He earned an associate's degree from Mount San Antonio Community College, a bachelor's degree from California State University, Fullerton, and a master's degree from Claremont Graduate University.

Certifications

PLC at Work^®

PLC at Work® experts have proven success in leading the PLC at Work process in a school or district. Work with them to implement a focus on learning, build a collaborative culture, and create a results orientation that leads to sustained, substantive school improvement.

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RTI at Work™

RTI at Work experts focus on learning for all students and will empower you to build your own timely, targeted, and systematic intervention program. Work with them to implement a results-driven program that provides targeted instruction at all tiers of intervention.

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Transforming School Culture

Transforming School Culture experts will help you examine the assumptions, beliefs, expectations, and habits that comprise your school’s culture, to ensure a productive and functional environment. Work with our experts to develop the ability to properly respond to challenges and adversity.

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Presentation Titles

Presentations by Luis F. Cruz

Implementing PLCs: A Principal Shares How the Knowing-Doing Gap Was Closed
Transforming School Culture: Exploring Effective Principal Leadership
Saving Student Lives: Why We Are in This Business!
PLCs and a Low-Income Latino Community: A Success Story
Discovering the Potential of Low-Income Parents
How I Can Be a Partner in My Child’s Education (English and Spanish)
How a 21st Century Father Can Ensure a Fulfilling Life for His Child (English and Spanish)
PLCs and the Role of Common Formative Assessments: A True Story of Implementation and Success

Reviews

“Dr. Cruz did an excellent job. He was honest with us about where he felt our school was at. He gave us tools and advice on how to improve and take our school to the next level.”

Melissa Lopez, teacher, Los Lunas Schools, New Mexico

“On behalf of the Federal Programs Conference Committee, I wanted thank you for being a part of our 2017 Federal Programs Conference! We are honored that you were able to come to Idaho to share your message, and attendees have told me that your keynote session was the perfect way to start off the conference. They felt invigorated and wanted to take what they gained from you and apply it right away in their districts and classrooms. Your keynote and breakout session were a great source of inspiration for our attendees!

Your message also carried through to the second day of our conference, when our superintendent referenced your keynote in her address, and so did one of our schools that was receiving an award from the State Department of Education.

We loved having you at our conference and hope that you will be able to come back to Idaho again in the future!”

Michelle Perreira, Idaho Department of Education, Idaho

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