ACTIVATING INSTRUCTIONAL LEADERSHIP: THREE-PART WORKSHOP SERIES

Instructional leadership is how we improve student outcomes, especially for historically underestimated and underserved students. In spite of its importance, it can often be challenging to move from theory to practice. This workshop provides a bridge between the why, what, and how of ambitious instructional leadership, helping leaders be intentional around six key leadership practices—setting a vision for ambitious instruction, upgrading curriculum and resources, creating systems for data-driven instruction, providing equitable access for interventions, developing systems for professional development and collaboration, and offering coaching to teachers. Through the lens of these practices, you'll examine case studies and identify actionable strategies to implement in their own schools, taking care to keep students at the center of this important work.

Effective and impactful instructional leadership starts with identifying what to focus on. And, then ensuring the work on those focus areas doesn’t happen in silos but rather in a systematic way that reaches every classroom. In this workshop, you dive into two key focus areas— aligned curriculum and high-impact classroom practices—and learn how to build the systems and structures necessary to support this work throughout schools. Determine your instructional priorities. Identify the high-level strategies that will best address them. And leave with a solid plan for building your team’s capacity to execute these strategies at scale to improve student outcomes and overall school excellence.

When it comes to high-quality, equitable education, the responsibility has to be shared across a school. Distributed leadership—an approach that recognizes leadership qualities and expertise exist within all levels of schools—is an impactful way to scale and sustain instructional excellence. But distributing leadership doesn’t just happen—it needs to be planned for and communicated so teachers and staff understand the expectation. In this workshop, you'll craft a shared leadership vision with intention and direction, and create a plan for communicating that vision. You’ll also learn to effectively distribute leadership in a way that leads to better decision-making, enhanced innovation and creativity, and a more inclusive and equitable school environment for adults and students alike.