A core component of CLEE’s Equity Leader Accelerator Program (ELAP) is the mentoring experience in which school leaders discuss dilemmas and successes as they address educational equities in their school context with their mentors. While these meetings are often geared toward the challenges the mentee is facing, the mentor also benefits as they reflect on their own practice.
Read MoreELAP’s Peer-to-Peer Sessions provide a network for leaders to connect and support each other while examining equitable practices. Our latest session was an opportunity for leaders to share current problems of practice, or dilemmas. Sharing dilemmas can feel unsafe unless structures are in place to allow leaders to be vulnerable together. Using protocols creates an environment for reflection and openness. When peers engage with each other using collaborative protocols, such as Peeling The Onion and The Consultancy, they create an environment that encourages diverse perspectives, deep reflection, and insights into challenging problems of practice. These dilemmas are often common challenges, so participants can take away as much learning as the presenter.
Read MoreAs I think about setting my New Year's resolutions and goals, I am struck by the similarities between generating a resolution and the Plan Do Study Act (PDSA) cycle CLEE uses with schools to implement improvements. Many of us set goals - whether to exercise more, lose weight, volunteer, etc. We generate plans to reach our aspirations, take action, and evaluate if our plans work. Yet, when we endeavor to do the same in our professional work by using an intentional process - goal setting, plan development, and monitoring - it can appear overwhelming, leaving us wondering where to begin, or worse, causing our initiatives to stall.
Read MoreCLEE’s ELAP program has been intentionally designed with equitable student outcomes at its core through the use of MA DESE’s Anti Racist Leadership Practices and honing in on the Instructional Core as drivers for the work. In addition to one-on-one coaching, part of the magic of ELAP is bringing together leaders from across the network for peer to peer sessions where educators have an opportunity to celebrate successes as well as receive feedback on some of the challenges being faced in schools today.
Read MoreRecently a participant was grappling with the complex challenge of figuring out how to effectively engage in an equity-focused discussion with her staff. As an emerging equity leader she was at the early stages of making sense of our work together, and learning how to identify inequities within her own school. Her struggle is one that many school leaders grapple with when first engaging in equity-focused work; they are unsure how to navigate the complexities associated with leading the work
Read MoreOur new Equity Leader Accelerator Program (ELAP) launched in Massachusetts in August to support new principal mentorship from experienced leaders in their districts. In the first months of this two-year program, we are already seeing an impact.
Read MoreIt is important to start with equity, so we developed a shared understanding of equity and clarified our vision for high and equitable student outcomes in our schools. Strengthening the ability to form a receptive culture for learning and fostering adult learning is key to the success of this continuous improvement work for equity
Read More
