Taking Collective Leadership to the Next Level
The CLEE Executive Leadership Program (ELP) is currently working with the leadership team at the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center (The Met) in Providence, to strengthen the collective capacity of Met leaders to support staff and students. With the leadership team’s background knowledge of protocols and past experience in CLEE programs, ELP facilitators advanced their learning by providing opportunities for questioning assumptions and challenging each other’s thinking. The impact is transformational. As one leader stated, “[I grew by] really looking at my belief systems and taking time to challenge myself and my own mental model.” In addition, Kristen Beaty, Met principal and CLEE PRN alum, shared how “I was able to synthesize my ideas with those of others and bring something new to my own practice.”
Throughout the Foundational Institute, participants are given opportunities to learn from each other by sharing professional dilemmas, considering best practice, and modeling facilitation skills. By using text protocols to review new research from the field, leaders engage collaboratively with best practice and its implications on school programming. A participant reflected, “I was able to strengthen my ability to look at text with a critical view point and think deeply about how ideas can impact my work or not.” Leaders can also share protocols from the Foundational Institute with their own staff. As one participant noted, “It was great to pre-read and process mental models with the group. The activity was engaging and gave us a lot of perspective. It was also something that we can use with our own staff.”
Collaboration and deep thinking about leadership skills and dispositions is central in the Foundational Institute. The Met School leadership team is learning together and aligning their improvement work with a direct focus on increasing student outcomes. Through this process, productive relationships built on trust and shared vision have been established within the leadership team with the support of ELP facilitators.
To learn more about the CLEE services MET leaders have benefited from Click here.