There are a variety of existing seminars, videos, workshops, and graduate degree programs in education claiming to be focused on leadership development. Professional associations, colleges, and independent organizations offer them. If you look closely, these programs tend to be focused on the management issues versus the needed leadership capabilities and capacities. Topics such as how to update your curriculum, develop a professional development program, evaluate teachers, develop a budget, or implement new scheduling tend to be what's offered. Few of these efforts and organizations are dedicated to the development of effective leadership in public education, but rather offer more courses or programs. Such efforts are also training and education programs to meet state certification or re-certification requirements, or they provide ways to add graduate credits to raise salary levels. They seldom have follow-up, reinforcement, and ongoing support at either the individual, school, or district level. There is a predisposition to offer programs developed and based upon the education world and its practices, rather than reaching out to or collaborating with other institutions, industries, concepts, and models. There are exceptions to these general trends where there are isolated excellent leadership development efforts in public education, but our experience is that they are far too few to address an ever expanding need.
We propose to develop a center for creative leadership and renewal dedicated to the development and renewal of leadership capabilities and capacities in public education in Massachusetts. The long term goal would be to expand to provide services in the New England area and be a demonstration project for how to develop and deliver regional services. The Center would be a place where education leaders come to learn, reflect, strategize, and renew themselves. The Center would also be a place from which its staff goes out from to work directly with and support leaders in schools and school districts. It would also be a virtual center providing the tools and vehicles for leaders to communicate, collaborate, and network. This Center will focus on individuals, teams, schools, and school systems with the ultimate goal being to bring about systemic and systematic change to how leadership development is viewed, delivered, structured, and supported. The services and actions of the center would be designed to engage people's heads and hearts.
• Improving
our local school systems is dependent upon a complex formula of which
leadership is an essential variable.
• There are significant
unrealized leadership capabilities and capacities in our local school systems.
• Within
all school leaders there are unrealized possibilities and hopes they bring
to their local schools, yet there is no place dedicated to helping them make
those dreams come true.
• An essential part of this leadership development work is to enable local leaders to examine their personal purpose, beliefs, values, vision and behaviors in order to enhance their impact.
• The possibilities and opportunities of leadership need to be explored and re-thought in order to continuously improve our public education system.
• When we honor people who dare to lead, they become more empowered and courageous.
• The current "education reform" efforts are doing little to enhance leadership capacities and capabilities in local school systems.
• We can provide tools, models, knowledge, research, information, skill development, and experiences to improve local leadership.
• There is a need to create a "sacred place" to work with these leaders to create new ideas, renew energy, revitalize passions, and raise important questions.
• Education leaders will benefit from interactions and dialogue with leaders from other enterprises who have different models, ideas, and concepts about leadership and organizations.
• Opportunities for reflection, exploration and dialogue are an essential part of this leadership development and renewal work.
• Educational leaders will benefit from the opportunities to assess the effectiveness of their current leadership practices.
• Improving the leadership capabilities and capacities in our local school systems is dependent upon developing a vigorous and ongoing network of support, encouragement, expertise, and appreciation.
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The center would draw upon resources, concepts, and opportunities both within and beyond the public education arena. Its expertise would include assessment, development planning, program delivery, advocacy, program design, coaching, and consultation. The center would also develop alliances and partnerships with other organizations and programs to maximize its resources and impact.
We believe this undertaking is an exciting opportunity to significantly enhance the impact of our overall school reform efforts toward ultimately improving student learning and achievement in our public education system.
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DEVELOPMENT
TEAM Erline Belton | John Miller | Paul McGowan January 14, 2001© |
