FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date:
Contact:
Harriet
Wasserstrum, American Leadership Forum,
HISD EXECUTIVE
PRINCIPALS BEGIN LEADERSHIP TRAINING
WITH AMERICAN
LEADERSHIP FORUM/HOUSTON A+ CHALLENGE
Houston ISD Executive Principals
have begun a professional development program in collaboration with American
Leadership Forum and Houston A+ Challenge.
The training program will develop a professional learning community of the 19 Executive Principals. “This will give them an opportunity to share experiences and to enhance their leadership skills. Leadership is critical to successful education in our schools,” said Harry Reasoner, chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Houston A+ Challenge.
The learning community will build leadership qualities and cultivate a shared philosophy regarding leadership for teaching and learning. Promoting a collaborative culture based on trust and marked by innovation, the program will focus on results and learning, models for coaching and facilitation, and a means to examine and improve leadership through discussion protocols.
The Executive Principals Learning Community is being funded by grants from Washington Mutual Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank and The Simmons Foundation.
"The program will give the Executive Principals an opportunity to strengthen their commitment to work together,” said Harriet Wasserstrum, president of ALF. “As they leverage their relationships with each other, they will bring a new sense of commitment, understanding and interconnectedness that will benefit all HISD students."
The training program will last 12 months. An orientation in January set expectations for the program, created group operating agreements, and began to build relationships based on trust, feedback and de-privatization of practice. The group will meet each month for half-day development sessions. There will also be a monthly learning lab – a two-hour demonstration of leadership practices in an Executive Principal context. The training includes in an intensive four-day outdoor experience designed to build trust and cohesive relationships.
The program aims to combine the
strengths in leadership training from the experiences of both
organizations. Houston A+ Challenge has
worked to create professional learning communities with its New Visions in
Leadership Academy (NVLA) since 2000, designed to resolve complex problems and
assist in the development of educators. NVLA has trained more than 200 school leaders
in elementary, middle, and high schools across six districts in the
The American Leadership Forum has a 25 year history of
joining and strengthening diverse leaders to better serve the public
good. ALF does this through an intense yearlong program that fosters
learning and trust among experienced leaders from every sector of our
community. The result is a unique forum where barriers between people are
removed, issues are openly discussed, and solutions emerge that benefit the
entire community. That experience is now
being offered to the Executive Principals as an extension of work done by ALF's
Collaborative on Public Education (COPE), which since 1999 has provided
leadership training and built school-community partnerships.
About American Leadership Forum
The American Leadership Forum was
founded in
About
Houston A+ Challenge is an independent, public-private
education organization working to create lasting improvements in classroom
instruction and student achievement. Houston
A+ partners with six school districts to develop relationships that build
leadership capacity and result in higher student achievement. On the web at
www.houstonaplus.org.