We employ over 15 full-time facilitators and coaches and maintain active relationships with another 20 part-time staff and consulting faculty. Approximately 52% of those full-time facilitators and coaches are from diverse backgrounds or underserved populations.

We help local education agencies (LEAs) adopt and implement curriculum and HQIM by building the capacity of school leaders and instructional leadership teams to plan, design, and deliver curriculum-based professional learning (CBPL) across all grade levels and content areas. We help LEAs create systems, structures, and dispositions necessary to transition from traditional teacher professional learning to CBPL-informed models and practices. Our CBPL services are ultimately conducted for the benefit of and in collaboration with teachers and our proven, research-based methods and tools are independent of specific curriculum. We focus on building the capacity of ILT members so, as owners and lead adopters and implementers of curriculum and HQIM, they can directly train and support classroom teachers.

Building the capacity of leaders and teachers requires a strategic, systemic, and collaborative approach to equip staff with the knowledge, skills, structures, and support they need to improve outcomes for all students. At the core of capacity building is student-centered professional learning and one-on-one and small group coaching, customized to the needs of each employee role and team. The learning features systems thinking, change management, instructional leadership, data-informed decision-making, and job-embedded simulations and role playing and includes the creation of leadership teams that:

• Use shared decision-making.
• Employ distributed leadership models.
• Promote a culture of inquiry.
• Encourage safe-to-fail experimentation and innovation.
• Normalize reflective practice and learning from failure.

Our two decades of experience demonstrates that culturally responsive leaders are a key lever for creating positive change. Setting the school climate and vision, leaders influence and impact all three components of the instructional core: academically challenging content; students’ engagement in their own learning; and most directly, teachers’ knowledge and skills.

Student-centered, culturally responsive learning environments allow students to feel safe, included, and serve as the leaders of their own learning – conditions critical to closing achievement gaps for students of color, English language learners, and those with disabilities. These environments focus the alignment and coherence of culturally responsive curriculum, high-quality instructional materials, instructional practice, and assessment to support all students in accessing and achieving rigorous academic standards.

HQIM Adoption Supports

• Traditional District
• Charter
• Private
• Parochial
• Urban
• Suburban
• Rural
• Fewer than 2,500 students
• 2,500 to 10,000 students
• 10,000 to 50,000 students
• 50,000 to 100,000 students
• More than 100,000 students
• Greater than 60% of economically disadvantaged students
• Greater than 20% of English language learners
• Greater than 20% of students with disability
• Greater than 80% students of color

• Delaware Academy for School Leadership
• Between 2010 and 2014 we partnered with Delaware-based Innovative Schools to implement an aspiring principals program that trained school leaders for districts across the state.

The following is a recent CBPL scope of work. While this scope is representative, it is just a starting point when we begin working with new clients. As described in the first activity below – Constituent/Community Engagement – we customize the scope of work for each client based on their unique context and needs.

---

The typical participants in our CBPL projects include instructionally-focused district leaders and the primary members of each school’s instructional leadership team (principal, appropriate assistant principals and teacher leaders). These participants will learn with and from the members of their school-based teams and with and from the members of other school-based teams.

A key component of the CBPL learning program is a Change Project for each Instructional Leadership Team. Each team will complete an instructionally focused “Change Project” that will enable them to practice and further develop their leadership skills. The scope of the change projects will be unique to each school and large enough to be meaningful and impactful, but realistic enough in size and scope to allow tangible goals to be accomplished. The Leadership Academy will support the change project through the instructional team professional learning and small group coaching (see below).

Our CBPL services include the following major components/activities:

Community/Constituent Engagement

The Leadership Academy believes in the importance of tailoring our support to the unique needs and context of our school system clients. In this activity we use interviews, focus groups, online surveys, observations, etc. to collect and analyze the data that help us better understand needs and objectives on a deeper level. We use that understanding to inform the design and delivery of our professional services.

Examples of CBPL-related issues that we will potentially explore in this activity include the history of curriculum adoption and related learning and support and district-wide trends regarding the preparation of educators to instruct specific students (what is the current learning for educators, what is the role of leadership in directing that learning, etc.).

Whole Group Professional Learning – Opening Session

We will bring all the program participants together for a half-day in-person session that will focus on:

• Introduction/orientation to the project
• Introduction to CBPL
• Leadership self-assessments

Professional Learning for School Leadership Teams

We propose five 2-hour professional learning sessions for members of the instructional leadership teams. These sessions will focus on:

• Progress monitoring of the change projects
• Problem of practice consultancies
• Building of coaching skills and competencies
• Deep dive into CBPL using “Transforming Teaching Through Curriculum-Based Professional Learning – The Elements” by James Short and Stephanie Hirsh

We would expect to organize cohorts of 20 to 40 participants each with two to three Leadership Academy facilitators for each session.

If the LEA is amenable, we would propose to build staff capacity by including LEA staff in the design and facilitation process using a gradual release approach.

Small Group Coaching for School Leadership Teams

We propose five 2-hour small group coaching sessions for individual instructional leadership teams. These sessions will focus on:

• Learning walks – develop consistent approach to learning walks that focuses on adoption of curricula and use of HQIM and monitoring the impact of specific/targeted teacher CBPL on classroom instruction
• Observation of other LEA professional learning
• Guidance and support of change projects
• CBPL related services as needed (facilitation training, implementing CBPL models, help identifying resources, etc.)

We would expect to organize cohorts of 6 to 10 participants each with one Leadership Academy facilitator/coach per group.

Whole Group Professional Learning – Concluding Session

We will conclude the CBPL professional learning program will by bringing all the program participants back together for a half-day in-person session that will focus on:

• CBPL successes
• CBPL challenges
• Plans for the next year

This could also include collaborative planning support where small groups of educators in the same grade band or content area examine, internalize, discuss, differentiate, and practice units, lessons, and tasks. They analyze relevant qualitative and quantitative data, especially student work, to determine strengths and gaps in student learning and plan for how they will support students in core instruction and intervention time.

Ongoing Check-Ins

We recognize that the adoption and implementation of new curriculum and HQIM is a long-term multi-year process for LEAs. While we may complete the delivery of our CBPL services in, for example, a 12-month time period, we recognize that the LEA may require additional support over the next 12 to 36 months. As a result, we include periodic check-ins with the LEA to assess progress, identify challenges and bottlenecks, and determine what additional support, if any, is required.