From Carlos García, Former Superintendent, San Francisco Unified School District, San Francisco, CA
[Francisca] did a superb job in managing a division that was critical in supporting our strategic plan. Without her hard work and dedication we would not be as far along in ensuring that all our children have equal access to a top notch education in the San Francisco Unified School District. She was a strong advocate in making our goal of social justice a reality for all.
From Grettel Castro-Stanley, Principal, Independence High School, East Side Union High School District, San José, CA
[Francisca] has marvelous abilities in the planning, coordination, implementation, and monitoring of instruction of staff development, parent involvement, and curriculum development. Her ideas and unique practical methodologies have helped many teachers grow in the areas most critical to positive student outcomes.
From a Hayward USD Middle School Teacher
[Francisca:] Thank you so much for all of your support and professional development opportunities! You gave me so much hope...broadened and refined my perspective. In addition, you afforded me an opportunity to explore other possibilities related to my educational career. I really appreciate your efforts, encouragement, and mentoring role.
From Linda Darling Hammond, Charles E. Ducommun Professor of Education, Stanford University
Ms. Sánchez is an insightful and adaptive leader, bringing a deep and broad set of educational experiences to her work, a very good understanding of extant research and best practices, and a strong set of beliefs about what is right and good for all children.
From Donald Evans, Superintendent, Hayward Unified School District, Hayward, CA
[Francisca] has a broad base of expertise and experience in state and national school reform, including the new core curriculum standards and assessments, innovative student engagement and achievement practices, professional capacity building, and continuous improvement processes.
From Sharon Jackson, Hayward Education Association Board of Directors, Hayward, CA
Ms. Sánchez brought a high level of professionalism, innovation, and productivity to Hayward Unified School District. As an Associate Superintendent for Educational Services, she collaborated with teachers, parents, students, administrators, the board of trustees, union representatives, and related school community stakeholders to develop and implement an Action Plan with the appropriate timeframes and strategies. This Action Plan served the purpose of fostering efforts to improve student achievement and produce equitable learning outcomes.
From Anthony Smith, Superintendent, Oakland Unified School District, Oakland, CA
In our time working together, I was always impressed by [Francisca's] ability to translate big ideas into actionable plans. She was a main contributor to our strategic plan Beyond the Talk: Taking Action to Educate Every Child Now. More than any other person in SFUSD, Francisca is responsible for the remarkable work on SFUSD’s Lau Plan and for making the district’s Local Educational Agency Plan a tool to drive improved instruction for all students. Her attention to detail in service of a grand vision is an uncommon gift. Francisca believes, and demonstrates in action, that every child, with good support, can achieve at high levels. Under her leadership, all academic efforts were aligned and integrated. She constantly creates systems and supports for adults to ensure that we are truly serving all children well.
From Jan Gustafson-Corea, Former Principal, Norton Space & Aeronautics Academy, Lewis Center for Educational Research, San Bernardino, CA
As a staff member under Ms. Sánchez’s leadership, I found that her vision and perspective opened the doors to educational creativity, expansion, and new and profound ways of thinking and acting. Under her leadership, a new level of consciousness and awareness was raised around serving students of diverse cultural, racial, linguistic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. She again served as the visionary and catalyst for expanding and aligning programs to better meet the needs of students.
From Yvette Jackson, CEO, National Urban Alliance for Effective Education
I have been inspired by [Francisca's] sense of commitment and ability to synthesize research and data about cognition and learning to not only inform practices of teachers and administrators, but to translate this knowledge into programs that increase achievement.
From Duarte Silva, Executive Director, California Foreign Language Project, Stanford University
Ms. Sánchez is exceptional at creating a positive working environment, which draws outstanding performance from those she collaborates with, and motivating them to reach their highest potential and contributing to the mission and goals established for the organization. She is able to attain this level of results due to the fact that she leads by personal example, as well as by her ability to listen to and communicate effectively with staff, students and members of the community. She is particularly effective at identifying, hiring, supporting, and mentoring creative and competent educators and to provide opportunities for them to continue to develop their leadership skills to creatively address and resolve the pressing issues that they face in their respective positions.
From Charles Weis, Former Superintendent, Santa Clara County Office of Education, San José, CA
Ms. Sánchez is a systemic leader with an understanding of how to organize people and the organization in order to implement and sustain improvement efforts. This is anchored in supporting school sites through the use of data and information. I am consistently impressed by the way she coaches leaders in using data and information on student needs to make decisions and modify actions at the district and site levels to attain the shared vision of organizational performance excellence.
From Steven Zuieback, President, Synectics: Creative Management Strategies
[Francisca] has built extensive capacity among district and school site leaders to understand systems change and to utilize the appropriate process skills to implement and sustain best practices. It is not enough to have vision, drive and persistence in creating powerful change in systems. This is where Francisca’s style of leadership truly shines. She has a deep sense of belief in the inherent abilities of people. She has worked hard to bring together and coach the right group of skilled and committed individuals. With clear sense of purpose and parameters, she has carefully nurtured ways of operating that allow for debate, creativity in design, collaboration and deep ownership of the work.