Principal/Instructional School Leader Support

CEI will provide school leadership support that is flexible to meet the demands of school leaders’ busy schedules. This professional development institute will be highly customized to the principal and led by a team of local leadership coaches. The following describes the structure and key principles of the available learning experiences.

  • ● The principal will participate in one-on-one coaching sessions to address the specific needs of the schools that principals are leading and supplement the content from the cohort support sessions. CEI will use the needs assessment to guide the direction of coaching sessions. CEI proposes to conduct 2-hour coaching sessions once a month for the duration of the 10-month academic schedule. In total, principals will receive 20 hours of 1:1 coaching each year.

    ● Principals will participate in cohort support 1-1.5 hours each month, covering topics from the leadership menu. The topics and duration of learning on each topic will be informed by surveys to participating principals.

    ● Asynchronous professional development modules on core leadership topics, designed by CEI, will support the continued learning, 1:1 coaching sessions, and the cohort coaching.

The principal learning experience is rooted in the transformational coaching philosophy, which has four phases: 1) Surfacing the current reality; 2) Recognizing root causes and underlying mental models that contribute to gaps/problems of practice; 3) Exploring emotions in order to name and release them and enable the school leader to access deeper levels of courage, commitment and confidence; and, 4) Creating new beliefs and ways of being, which lead to the creation of new, more authentic and productive behaviors. Within each phase, the emphasis is always on building resilience, reflective abilities and appropriate skill sets. The Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL) established in 2015 by the Council of Chief State School Officers serves as the main tool for school leader self-reflection and the collaborative development of leadership goals and plans of action. Our coaches move seamlessly within their coaching conversations along the continuum of “calibrating” (more directive) to “consulting and collaborating” (sharing resources, perspectives, intended and unintended outcomes) to “coaching” (more facilitative and reflective) to meet the needs of the present moment and its attendant circumstances. At all times the five principles of transformational coaching (compassion, curiosity, connection, courage and purpose) are paramount to the development of every coaching relationship.

The following is a sample of the areas in which CEI coaches have engaged in personalized coaching to meet the specific needs of principals and instructional school leaders:

  • ● Culture, Personnel, and Accountability:

○ Creating Shared Vision, Mission, and Core Values;

○ Creating a Data Culture; Developing Leadership Capacity (Teacher/Administrator);

○ Effective and Efficient Communication and Decision-Making;

○ Schoolwide Transformation;

○ Team Building for a Collaborative Culture; Creating Authentic PLCs;

○ Re-Entry and Reopening Planning

● Instruction:

○ NYSED Next Generation Standards

■ Overview of crosswalk

■ Assessments/ Timeline

■ Overview of NYSED and other resources to support grade level instruction

○ Building a Strong Literacy Culture;

○ Using the Danielson Framework for Remote Teaching;

○ Google Tools for Education;

○ Refining Instructional Focus and Priority Areas;

○ Building Rigorous Learning Outcomes for Students using DoK;

○ Resource Development and Alignment with Instructional Priorities

● Equity & Inclusion:

○ Education with an Equity Lens;

○ SEL and Restorative Practices: Building an inclusive and supportive school culture;

○ Trauma-Sensitive and Trauma Informed Praxis;