For Leahy School Principal Ethel Cruz of Lawrence, MA, the superintendency once seemed like an unattainable goal. Cruz’s perspective shifted, however, thanks to Influence 100, ...
The only time my 15-year-old daughter stepped into her high school in the 2020-21 school year was for her state exams. Every other day of ...
Read full articleDearest educational equity champions & leaders, I wanted to take a moment to congratulate you. You have led your school or school system to the ...
Read full article“Are you teaching our children critical race theory?” “Are you indoctrinating our children?” School and school system leaders are increasingly getting these questions from parents and politicians as schools take on ...
Read full articleWhile 2020 has been full of challenges, The Leadership Academy has so much to be thankful for.
Read full articleAs with any pandemic, any crisis, fear is bringing out the worst in people.
Read full articleIn this piece we focus on a few moves we have found are essential for facilitating continuous professional learning for leaders in a virtual world.
Read full articleAs I write this, we all continue to determine how to respond to the coronavirus situation in ways that will best keep the people we ...
Read full articleOver the last two weeks, members of my team and I have taken a deep dive in two school systems we have been partnering with for some time – Des Moines, IA, and Lexington One, SC. It was a humbling and inspiring experience that I will not soon forget.
Read full articleAt the NYC Leadership Academy, we are always looking to learn from other experts in education leadership and equity to inform and sharpen our work. That means we are ...
Read full articleJust as it is critical to bring together a diverse set of students to enhance learning, it is also imperative to recruit, retain, and properly develop and support a diverse pipeline of effective school and school system leaders.
Read full articleAs someone who has spent years working with schools on South Dakota’s reservations, I believe that this kind of intentional, culturally responsive educational leadership is what we need to disrupt the inequities baked into the Indian education system.
Read full articleWelcome back and congratulations on a new school year! I hope your summer had the right mix of professional learning, planning, and relaxation. While the ...
Read full articleTwo years ago, the Chesterfield County School Board took on the work of developing a new strategic plan, Imagine Tomorrow, which revolved around our district’s core values of equity, ingenuity, integrity, and teamwork.
Read full articleAs educational leaders, we cannot allow our students and their teachers to return to school frightened, or to be too afraid to return at all. Schools, under strong leadership, have a critical role to play in ensuring immigrant children have a safe haven in their schools.
Read full articleWe took a deep look at the role of our principal supervisors. Over two years, we overhauled that role and created a principal coaching and mentoring program that is starting to show results in our schools. Here’s how we did it.
Read full articleWhile schools in Nairobi face different challenges from schools in Hong Kong or India or the U.S., there is increasing agreement across contexts that to transform schools, you need great school leaders.
Read full articleWe must continue to push this work forward. Our young people are counting on us. Together, our leadership has the potential to exponentially decrease the number of inequities facing our students.
Read full articleWe take leaders to the point of discomfort so they can ultimately come out more confident, capable, and conscious of their capacity to make change effectively. Discomfort, in service of equity for all students, can be a catalyst for learning and transformation.
Read full articleTalking with a teacher about whom she is -- and is not -- calling on in class. Discussing the fact that some groups of students ...
Read full articleFear is born from ignorance. The string of hateful acts across the country over the last several weeks and months has been overwhelming: Eleven people ...
Read full articleBy the end of the summer, we graduated several more of our male students. The mere awareness of the graduation gender gap had produced a different sense of urgency in my staff and in myself.
Read full articleFifteen years ago, many of New York City’s schools were struggling with rapid principal turnover. On top of that, the city was expecting to lose half of its principals to retirement in the next few years, creating a system of potentially “leaderless” schools. The Leadership Academy launched in 2003 to fill this gap…
Read full article“The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” These words are as true today as when poet Robert Burns wrote them hundreds of years ago. In schools, good planning articulates a vision for student success. Throughout my career as an educator, I have engaged in strategic planning.
Read full articleThe fear in the town of Morristown, Tennessee, was palpable. A day after immigration agents raided a meatpacking plant there a few weeks ago, more than 500 young people stayed home from school. For many, they thought they would be safer at home than in school.
Read full articleVeteran principal Rodney Moore had an important decision to make. After hearing that English language learners were feeling marginalized and unwelcome, he wondered if he should dedicate a staff meeting to discussing their experiences; provide cultural proficiency training to the entire staff; or reach out to parents for help.
Read full articleSomething beautiful and inspirational happened yesterday in schools across America. Students were given a voice, and the world listened.
Read full articleSince the Parkland shooting, threats to schools across the country have increased exponentially. According to the Educators School Safety Network, threats have risen from the typical 10 a day to more than 70 a day.
Read full articleIt’s Black History Month. 28 short days. We also need to celebrate Groundhog’s Day, Valentine’s Day, President’s Day and Ash Wednesday. It’s a set-up. It’s not possible for anyone to learn the long, painful, complicated, beautiful, resilient and magical history of being Black in the United States in 28 days.
Read full articleAt the The Leadership Academy, we continuously seek to improve our work by learning from the experiences and insights of others. #EquityReads 2017 offers a list of some of the books, articles, speeches, and films about racial equity that our staff members found compelling and useful in our work in 2017.
Read full articleOn September 3, 1985, all that I believed about myself as a learner was shattered. It was my first day as a student at Bernard M. Baruch College. ...
Read full articleWe recently shared the work that Principal Doris Lee of Village Academy in Queens has been doing with her staff to improve their relationships with ...
Read full articleMy first year as a principal in Cambridge, MA, I kept a pair of running shoes under my desk. While I was known for the ...
Read full articleIt’s the million-dollar question: What can principals do in their schools to make sure all students, regardless of race, culture, background, are given opportunities to ...
Read full articleI recently had the pleasure to spend a morning at the Bronx Little School, an elementary school in my hometown of the Bronx, where I ...
Read full articleI didn’t know I was supposed to be a failure until I was in college, and at that point it was too late for them ...
Read full articleYou need to find in your heart that small spark of accountability. What is there that I can do to make the world a better ...
Read full articleOver the last few weeks in Lexington, South Carolina, NYC Leadership Academy facilitators have been working with district staff and aspiring principals to talk about ...
Read full articleAnyone who works in education knows that great principals can have a significant impact on their students. Yet, in Washington right now, school leadership preparation ...
Read full articleThe end of the school year is quickly approaching, and for those who support school leaders, it's time to figure out what kind of professional ...
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