Ideas+for+our+next+conversation

Hello

Pete and I have the following idea for the program for administrators that we would like to use as a catalyst for our conversation on Wednesday. If you have any thoughts before we would love to hear them.

School Leadership in Times of Change Draft 3/19/07

Program Vision: The vision of the 21st Century Leadership Program is to develop school leaders who create learning environments that produce students who meet and exceed educational standards and are leaders in thought and action.

Program Goals: 1. Principals and school leaders will have a deep understanding of the potential of technology to create active and engaging classrooms where students use technology tools to deepen their understanding of their subject areas and content, develop their higher order thinking skills, as well as develop habits and skills that will prepare them for the 21st century workplace.

2. Principals and school leaders will understand and use technology to streamline their own work so they have time to focus on leading change within their schools; as well as to help them in their decision-making.

3. Principals and school leaders will become more effective leaders so that they are able to implement the technological and pedagogical changes that will make their schools more successful and meaningful learning environments.

How Will We Do This? We will provide a three-day experience for a cohort of 60-80 principals and school leaders. Followed by four one day sessions throughout the school year. In addition, we will use appropriate Web 2.0 tools to enable ongoing learning and communications. The program will consist of:

1. Expanding Horizons – These daily sessions will consist of pragamatic-keynote type presentations and discussions with the goal of providing a clear vision of the power of technology to create active and engaging classrooms. [It is suggested that we do not go the often travelled route of a "celebrity keynote presenter" who will give a great presentation and create good feelings in the principals with little lasting effect. We propose that we innovate with this portion of the program by choosing presenters who have "done it". We recommend choosing a principal or principals from anywhere in the country that would inspire our cohort and provide them with the belief that change is possible. We also recommend choosing a student presenter that would inspire change from a different point of view.]

2. Best Practices Technology– These daily sessions will focus on the best practices that school leaders can employ to use technology to make them more effective, as well as to streamline their work, and improve their decision making. Recommendations for areas of focus include: Data Driven Decisions - Collecting, analyzing, and making decisions with data. Communications - Using technology to improve communications with staff, students, parents, and community.

3. Best Practices Effective Leadership – These daily sessions will focus on developing leaders and building CEO's who are able to lead the pedagogical and technological transformation of their schools. Purpose, Intentions, Beliefs, Inspiration Integrity, Trust, Reliability, Leading Leaders Presence, Courage, Gifts, Gratitude

4. On-Going Learning and Support – These four sessions during the school year will refresh the summer learning and continue to build new skills. [There are concerns on how to budget for these sessions since they run past the August program end date. Even so, we should seek ways to implement these days so that we are not providing a "one shot" experience.] In addition, we will use appropriate Web 2.0 tools to insure that we create avenues for ongoing learning and communication among the cohort participants and program leaders.

How Will We Measure Success? We will gather user data at the close of the summer session and repeat the data gathering at each of the four sessions during the school year.