Schools must have strong leaders if they are to become centers of academic excellence. The EdisonLearning Alliance™ Leadership Development Program provides school leaders with the resources and customized support they need to grow professionally and become strong instructional leaders of high-achieving schools.
At the core of the Alliance™ Leadership Development program is a distributed model of strong instructional leadership from a principal supported by a highly effective leadership team. This model is the key to creating a leadership structure that will drive the work needed to improve student achievement and develop a professional environment in the school.
A week-long national EdisonLearning Leadership Team Training conference brings new principals and leadership team members together to help them solidify their goals and work effectively as a team. The teams receive in-depth training in achievement planning, student management, and team building in anticipation of their first year as Alliance partners. In the fall, instructional leaders attend the Instructional Leadership Conference where they receive training in leadership, mentoring, peer coaching, and monitoring instruction.
In the summer and fall, Alliance principals attend the EdisonLearning Leadership Development Academy, where they participate in sessions on a variety of leadership and management topics. In addition, principals have the opportunity to meet other instructional leaders from across the country, sharing best practices and learning from others’ experiences.
National conferences are just one component of the Leadership Development program. An on-site Alliance Achievement Team works closely with principals and their leadership staff to review and analyze achievement data, monitor progress toward the school’s goals, and provide the on-site, ongoing training, peer coaching, and consulting they need to continue their professional development.
At the end of the 2007-2008 school year, the State of Hawai‘i awarded the state’s two top honors for school leaders to two principals from Alliance partnership schools.