The Delaware Executive Leadership Academy training program was centered on case studies of research-based "best practice" concepts found in high performing schools around the world. Participants focused on what research suggests about school leadership and student achievement with an emphasis on the specific behaviors that leaders must demonstrate to impact student achievement. Tim Waters' research on the 21 behaviors of principals, the six behaviors of superintendents, and the 11 student, teacher, and school level factors was the foundation for session one. Session One focused on the research in order to build some common understandings among the various participants. Session Two focused on the Roles and Responsibilities and how school leaders use their time. Principals, superintendents and curriculum directors/assistant superintendents were shadowed and the time data was shared with them both individually (their own data) and as a group. Participants engaged in conversations about how time was used in the district/school including the changing roles and responsibilities of both leaders and teachers. During session two, participants developed a job description in role-alike groups in an effort to begin the process of redesigning job descriptions that will demonstrate behaviors that impact student achievement. Examples of activities included fishbowls, critical friend's feedback and report-outs of homework assignments. Session Three focused on roles and responsibilities, but the emphasis was on developing new job descriptions and looking at the working conditions that either serves as levers or barriers to accomplish the work. Session Four provided opportunities for teams to share their "big ideas" for changing roles and responsibilities, how school leaders use their time, and training staff so that the focus of the work was targeted on supporting teachers and students.
The Executive Leadership Program was an eight day intensive residential training model that was spread out over five months. Residential training provided the additional time necessary to enhance team-building skills focused on the teaching and learning of "best practice" concepts. This focused time helped to build the team's capacity not only to manage change, but also to create it. The training was spread out over five months to provide adequate time for each team to process and reflect upon the information gained in each training session. After each session, participants worked as a group on special problems (homework) that reinforced the concepts learned and related them to their team's specific implementation plan.
Field trips to high performing schools will be arranged for members of each executive leadership team. Visitation protocols have been provided and debriefing follow-up sessions will be scheduled. Participation in the Vision 2015 Executive Leadership Academy promoted awareness, understanding and inclusion of the important elements of each session by the executive leadership teams in the design of their Vision 2015 implementation plan. Upon the completion of this training, each team identified two or three "big ideas" for the district or charter school implementation plan...
In addition to the Delaware Academy for School Leadership (DASL) staff, faculty and staff from the University of Delaware's School of Education and the Research and Development Center jointly offered their varied leadership perspectives and expertise. Other project staff included nationally recognized trainers, researchers and facilitators. Ten recently retired successful school leaders provided a wealth of experience and knowledge about effective school change and student success. As "thought partners," coaches and technical assistance specialists, they helped each team in planning the speed and scale of program improvement design. These partners participated in the training sessions, assisted each team in thinking through implementation design activities, and consulted privately with superintendents and school principals. When necessary, these thought partners and technical assistance specialists were able to provide on-site training. They provided feedback to the DASL staff, which allowed them to provide additional support and assistance to each executive leadership team in a timely manner. In addition, the University of Delaware is adding an additional faculty member to the Educational Leadership graduate program in the School of Education who will work with DASL to monitor and train the thought partners and technical assistance team.
The Vision 2015 Network will begin the selection process for Cohort II beginning April 2008. Regional information meetings will take place in March 2008. District and Charter Schools interested in participating in the second cohort will complete a readiness assessment that will be reviewed by a selection committee. Cohort II will take place between May and September 2008.
Two districts and two charter schools recently completed the final training session of Cohort II of the Vision 2015 Executive Leadership Academy. This second Cohort included many improvements. This year, a pre-training orientation session was added to provide a proper introduction and training framework for executive leadership teams. A pre-training team meeting was also added to introduce teams to McRel’s leadership responsibilities and balanced leadership framework. As a result, teams were better prepared for Dr. Timothy Water’s presentation on the Balanced Leadership Framework during the first Academy session on June 26, 2008.
In addition to having the resource of retired administrators serving as thought partners, Cohort II teams were also assigned experienced and trained facilitators who moderated team discussions during trainings and facilitated homework meetings. In order to structure the Academy, each training session focused on one of four major components: the impact of instructional leadership on student achievement, the influence of time (both the way in which school leaders spend their time and the way in which time is organized at the school site), school culture, and big ideas and strategic planning. In addition to Dr. Tim Waters, a number of other notable presenters joined us for these sessions, including Mark Shellinger, the National SAMS Expansion Coordinator for the Wallace Foundation, Dr. Joan Buttram, from the Delaware Education Research and Development Center, Leigh Hopkins and Clare Kaplan, from the National Center on Time and Learning, Dania Vasquez and Rosann Tung, from the Center for Collaborative Education, and Eric Hirsch, from the New Teacher Center at the University of California.
Not only did teams hear interesting research from these speakers, but they also participated in team breakout and homework activities that required them to develop ideas and action plans for implementing some of these research-based strategies in their own organizations. In preparation for the final session in October, teams developed five preliminary “big ideas” for decreasing the achievement gap in their schools by 50 percent over the next four years. At the October meeting, they participated in a Critical Friends Activity to narrow these five preliminary big ideas into the 2 biggest and boldest big ideas for impacting student achievement. They then developed strategic action plans detailing the activities, inputs, resources, timelines, and evaluation methods required to implement these big ideas. Teams will continue to refine these action plans as they continue into Phase II of the Academy Training with Focus on Results.
