Educational Leadership » Resources

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• Centers for Educational Leadership
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• Professional Development Providers

Professional Development Providers

With the growing recognition of the challenges faced by educational leaders and the changing face of school leadership, professional development opportunities for leaders are rapidly growing and evolving, and many of these are being developed outside of the traditional university/college of education setting. Providers of these opportunities offer a range of supports to administrators to assist in their long-term growth and effectiveness, including workshops, online networks, and intensive training. A sampling of the opportunities and types of providers is included in this section.

• Atlas Communities: Atlas Communities is a comprehensive school initiative designed to create high performing schools. Atlas offers a 3-day annual institute for principals, as well as an extension of this institute, Leading Edge. More »
• Cambridge Leadership Associations (CLA): A consulting organization that works with clients (through presentations, and one- and two-day workshops) on specific issues they bring using an approach it calls “adaptive leadership,” a set of “understandings, behaviors, and actions” for organizational change that typically fall outside an organization's standard repertoire of responses. More »
• Center for Courage and Renewal (CCR): An educational non-profit whose mission is to strengthen “individuals, professions, and communities through programs that renew our spirits and reconnect who we are with what we do.” As a part of their mission, CCR helps school leaders “sustain and renew their passion, enthusiasm, and commitment” to school leadership and the communities they serve through developing and implementing Courage to Lead retreats in collaboration with public school systems and other organizations around the country. More »
• Center for Creative Leadership (CCL): CCL works primarily with business clients and understands leadership as the skills used to influence others, especially relationship and change management skills. Leaders motivate others to change by “showing them a compelling truth that influences their feelings.” Assessment of individual strengths and areas for growth through observation and feedback and creating and implementing an individual development plan based on one's assessment are key components of the CCL leadership development approach. More »
• The New Teacher Center (NTC) at the University of California at Santa Cruz: The NTC delivers a range of stand-alone trainings for school leaders. However, the Center prefers to partner with districts in building their leadership capacity through developing plans that link the content of their workshops to a district's goals and supports their implementation through participation of their leadership in professional learning communities. The Center is comprised of a team of highly trained K-12 teachers and administrators supported by academic and research staff, and offers a variety of workshops. More »
• US Department of Education's “Alternative” Leadership Development Programs: The U.S. Department of Education reviewed six model principal preparations programs developed for settings outside of colleges of education. Descriptions of all these programs can be found in their "practitioner guide." More »
• Ed.D. in Urban Education Leadership at Univeristy of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) : The College of Education at UIC offers a doctoral program in Urban Education Leadership for talented teachers and school leaders who aspire to transform low-performing urban schools into effective learning environments for students and teachers. Jointly led by the Policy Studies Area and the UIC Center for School Leadership, this three-year cohort program prepares system and school leaders who are committed to a sustained immersion in the theory and practice of addressing the challenges of urban education. More »

Atlas Communities
Atlas Communities is a comprehensive school initiative designed to create high performing schools. Atlas offers a 3-day annual institute for principals, as well as an extension of this institute, Leading Edge. The annual institute brings together principals from across the country each year for three days of learning, sharing, and networking. The institute is based on a foundation of authentic teaching and learning and places an emphasis on the challenging work that leaders do daily; incorporates ongoing cylces of planning, action and reflection; believes in the importance of relationships since learning and leading are social activities; endorses and promotes the value of shared leadership, commitment and collaboration; and truly believes that leaders who involve all stakeholders are likely to have more dynamic learning communities.

The extension of the institute, Leading Edge, offers principal coaching, regional seminars, and other opportunities to members to help them become more thoughtful and reflective school leaders.

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Cambridge Leadership Associates (CLA)
CLA is a consulting organization that works with clients on specific issues they bring using an approach it calls “adaptive leadership,” a set of “understandings, behaviors, and actions” for organizational change that typically fall outside an organization's standard repertoire of responses. Unlike technical problems, which lend themselves to being fixed by the necessary expertise and authority, adaptive challenges are “fuzzy and hard to clearly identify.” They involve confronting emotionally charged organizational issues and require “changing hearts and minds.” Such issues can't be “managed,” but must be “confronted and dealt with honestly.” They typically take longer to resolve than technical problems and require creative, productive experimentation. Adaptive leadership requires leaders to act in situations that are often demanding, stressful, and complex.

In addition to making keynote presentations and conducting 1-day introductory workshops on “adaptive leadership,” CLA conducts a 2-day open-enrollment workshop called Learning to Lead Adaptively, which involves participants in applying the skills of adaptive leadership to meet challenges in changing organizations. Participants apply skills in situations of uncertainty and deep value conflicts that may be perceived as threatening, while strengthening their ability to address resistance to change, manage personal vulnerabilities, care for themselves, and sustain their spirits. Workshop instructional methods include case studies, discussions, small group work, and guided reflection. Participants learn to address tough questions that people in organizations are often aware of but usually avoid because they are too difficult and invite conflict and chaos.

CLA clients include corporations, colleges and universities, state departments of education, and other non-profit organizations.

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Center for Courage and Renewal
The Center for Courage & Renewal (CCR) is an educational non-profit whose mission is to strengthen “individuals, professions, and communities through programs that renew our spirits and reconnect who we are with what we do.” As a part of their mission, CCR helps school leaders “sustain and renew their passion, enthusiasm, and commitment” to school leadership and the communities they serve through developing and implementing Courage to Lead retreats in collaboration with public school systems and other organizations around the country. These retreats help: (1) school leaders develop new networks of support with colleagues to counteract the prevailing culture of overwork and isolation which they often experience; (2) revitalize participants' own leadership capacity in ways that invite the untapped potentials of their faculties and students; and (3) increase participants; capacity to cultivate the kind of trustworthy relationships needed to sustain positive school cultures.

In the next three years the Center intends to:

• Develop and implement and additional 5-10 local, sustainable programs for school leaders
• Host 3 invitational retreats for national educational leaders, facilitated by Parker Palmer, who developed the model used in Courage to Teach, Courage to Lead. The purpose of these retreats will be to explore how such retreats might be made more widely to school leaders.
• Develop a Courage and Renewal for School Leadership National Fellowship Program to honor 30 outstanding leaders who are successfully serving some of our neediest students.

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Center for Creative Leadership (CCL)
CCL works primarily with business clients and understands leadership as the skills used to influence others, especially relationship and change management skills. Leaders motivate others to change by “showing them a compelling truth that influences their feelings.” Assessment of individual strengths and areas for growth through observation and feedback and creating and implementing an individual development plan based on one's assessment are key components of the CCL leadership development approach.

In CCL's “Education Sector,” trainers with experience in educational institutions “customize” CCL's leadership development programs for education leaders in K-12 institutions and colleges and universities (superintendents, principals, school board members, and state and federal education agencies). This training provides educators with opportunities to “reflect on strategies and developmental needs” through seeing themselves as others see them. Unlike other CCL programs, which are “open enrollment,” programs in the Education Sector are by application only. Educational organizations apply to CCL, and the Center responds with programmatic recommendations. These trainings can be held either at CCL or at the client's site. Discounted program fees apply.

Educational leadership development programs for educators include introspection, reflection, renewal, assessment of individual participants' leadership skills, feedback, and coaching over a 1-2 year period.

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The New Teacher Center (NTC) at the University of California at Santa Cruz
The NTC delivers a range of stand-alone trainings for school leaders. However, the Center prefers to partner with districts in building their leadership capacity through developing plans that link the content of their workshops to a district's goals and supports their implementation through participation of their leadership in professional learning communities. The Center is comprised of a team of highly trained K-12 teachers and administrators supported by academic and research staff, offering workshops in the following areas:

• Principal induction—This program coaches new administrators in promoting students success and leads to principal certification in California. It also supports administrators from other states and local districts in developing their own coaching programs. NTC also trains and certifies leadership coaches and provides on-line assessment for new administrators.
• Principal professional development—The Center offers several workshops to improve student outcomes through principal observation and feedback on instruction and learning. In these workshops principals learn to observe and give feedback to teachers through the lenses of learning standards and student achievement.
• Leadership coaching—NTC offers a 3-day workshop to prepare individuals to support new and experienced principals using Blended Coaching strategies. (Blended coaching is a model based on substantive research in cognition, linguistics, emotional intelligence, and cultural competency that helps principals make the transition from school administrator to school leader, from boss to mentor.)
• Systematic Approaches to School Improvement—NTC offers workshops on (1) using data within systems for continuous improvement from the classroom to central office levels, (2) building and sustaining professional learning communities as the engine of ongoing school improvement, and (3) enabling central office teams to support principals as instructional leaders.

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US Department of Education's “Alternative” Leadership Development Programs
By far the large majority of principals receive their pre-service and in-serve professional development in traditional universities and colleges of education. At the same time, a number of principal preparations programs are being developed in “alterative settings.” These programs are rapidly evolving to address research in the field that suggests that there are more effective methods of principal preparation than is currently being used on a large scale (see for example Arthur Levine's (2005) shot-across-the-bow critique of traditional educational leadership programming). Impact and effectiveness research on these new programs is slowly emerging. However, most of these programs have not yet been rigorously validated. In a review of selected alternative leadership preparation programs, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement selected a small number of programs across the country as models of these new and innovative ways to prepare educational leaders. Descriptions of these programs were compiled in a guide, Innovations in Education: Innovative Pathways to School Leadership (2004), intended to provide educators with examples of new ways to prepare school leaders.

Programs for inclusion in the guide were selected on the basis of four criteria: (1) program candidates were selected based on their demonstrated leadership experience; (2) programs offered an accelerated route to principal certification; (3) programs were accepting candidates at the time this study was conducted; (4) programs provided evidence of promising practices in the 24 areas included in the study scope. These promising practices can be organized under the following five headings: (a) program articulates a vision of high-quality school leadership; (b) program uses innovative strategies to identify and recruit potential school leaders; (c) program design emphasizes practical learning experiences; (d) program evaluates its effectiveness in preparing school leaders; (e) program addresses issues of long-term sustainability. Below we provide brief descriptions of each of the featured programs. Full profiles of each program below can be found on the U.S. Department of Education alternative leadership program website.

Boston Principal Fellowship Program, Boston, MA. A 12-month cohort program designed to identify, recruit, prepare, place, and support principals for Boston's most challenging schools that includes a 5-week summer intensive; a yearlong, four days-a-week residency with an experienced mentor principal; 85 days of coursework (one day per week and one weekend per month); and two years of support following placement. Assignments are designed to meet real needs in the schools in which Fellows work. Great emphasis is placed on recruiting candidates who see themselves as lifelong learners, understand the elements of effective instruction, demonstrate creative, critical thinking and problem-solving, are good listeners, exhibit evidence of being good team players, and can articulate a theory of leadership. The curriculum is based on five “cornerstones”—analyzing instruction and supporting improvement, family and community engagement, leadership and management, scaling up instructional improvement, leadership and learning.

New Leaders for New Schools—New York, Chicago, Washington, DC, Memphis, and San Francisco Bay Area. This three-year program includes a 5-6 week summer intensive at the Wharton School of Management at the University of Pennsylvania focusing on instructional and transformational leadership; a yearlong, full-time residency with carefully selected principal mentors; and 2 years of coaching and support following placement. New Leaders for New Schools uses an aggressive executive-search-style approach to recruitment in order to reach those outside traditional education-based candidate pools. To complete the program, candidates must demonstrate proficiency on 12 competencies reflecting research on practices that have successfully turned around low-performing schools. New Leaders emphasizes using data analysis as a means of determining personal, professional, organizational, and program effectiveness.

Principals Excellence Program, Pike County, Ky. This 12-month cohort program is field-based, job-embedded and is guided by leadership educators from the University of KY and practitioners from Pike County. An emphasis on early and on-going community-building strategies assures maintenance of a risk-free environment for participants. The program design includes biweekly full-day seminars on visionary and collaborative leadership practices; biweekly clinical practica during the fall and spring semesters guided by a secondary and elementary school mentor, respectively; ongoing web-based activities, and a weeklong summer institute involving all school administrators in the district. Candidates participate with their mentors in action research to identify strategies for improving student performance. The program curriculum is designed to map on to the four central themes of the ISLLC standards: a vision for success, a focus on teaching and learning, an involvement of all stakeholders, and a demonstration of ethical behavior.

First Ring Leadership Academy, Cleveland, Ohio. This cohort program identifies highly skilled teacher-leaders who, with appropriate training and support, have the potential to meet the challenge of implementing innovations to address the effects of high student mobility, poverty, and diversity in closing achievement gaps. Superintendents from the participating districts nominate candidates who complete a formal application process.The program offers an accelerated rout to principal licensure and certification. Over a 15-month period, candidates are released from their teaching responsibilities to participate in 11 two-and-a-half day modules on the key aspects of a principal's job: social justice, communication, change theory, the use of technology in improving instruction, school oversight and management, and family and community involvement. Between training modules, candidates participate in site-based projects related to module content and receive coaching and guidance from their district's liaison. They also spend time observing the principal at their site and journaling what they observed.

LAUNCH (Leadership Academy and Urban Network for Chicago), Chicago. This program seeks to recruit strong assistant principals, teacher-leaders, and other promising candidates with master's degrees, previous leadership experience, a Type 75 Illinois Administrative credential, and six years of previous teaching experience. The program lasts twelve months and includes several integrated components: a 5-week summer institute, 10 full-day classes, a 5-day case study project, two annual retreats, and a yearlong full-time residency. Fellows agree to stay in leadership positions within the Chicago Public Schools for four years after completing the program. The Academy curriculum is aligned with seven leadership proficiencies related to Chicago's Educational Improvement Plan: school leadership, parent and community partnerships, creating a student-centered learning environment, professional development and human resource management, instructional leadership, school management and daily operations, and interpersonal effectiveness. The yearlong apprenticeship with mentor principals includes a semester-long experience at both the elementary and secondary levels. The Urban Network component of the program brings together fellows across all cohorts to participate in two-day seminar retreats each quarter for ongoing development, support, and networking.

NJ EXCEL (New Jersey Expedited Certification for Educational Leadership), Monroe Township. Candidates for this cohort program for aspiring administrators are required to have a master's degree, five years of teaching experience, and meet other requirements specific to one of four different models based on their previous educational and professional experience and desired area of state certification (i.e., principal or superintendent). The program lasts 12, 15, or 18, depending on the model selected, and includes a yearlong internship and a varying number of hours of instruction in the summer and on weeknights and Saturdays, also based on the selected model. The program emphasizes job-embedded internship projects based on action research, data-driven decision making, and technology-driven applications. All candidates participate in regional inquiry groups, which meet regularly and communicate online to discuss readings and on-the-job challenges and provide peer support and feedback. Field supervisors observe and give feedback to each participant in job-embedded activities related to their personalized professional development plans. Each candidate is given release time from their own district to complete a required internship in another district or school that is guided by an exemplary mentor selected and oriented by NJ EXCEL.

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Ed.D. in Urban Education Leadership at UIC
(Directed by CASEL Transformative Leadership Project Co-PI Steve Tozer). The College of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago offers a doctoral program in Urban Education Leadership for talented teachers and school leaders who aspire to transform low-performing urban schools into effective learning environments for students and teachers. Jointly led by the Policy Studies Area and the UIC Center for School Leadership, this intensive cohort program prepares system and school leaders who are committed to a sustained immersion in the theory and practice of addressing the challenges of urban education. Performance outcomes, designed in collaboration with transformative principals from Chicago Public Schools, are achieved through an integration of doctoral coursework and three years of supervised practicum experiences. Candidates assume school or system leadership roles early in the program and then receive coaching and mentoring support until the degree is completed.

More details about this program can be found on the UIC web site.

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