UPLIFT 1 - GLISI

Adults are the catalyst for student learning

To change the lives of Georgia’s students, we must first uplift teachers and school leaders.

Uplift by connecting leaders to purpose

We connected people and school communities to their passion and purpose.

Base Camp and Leadership Summit refreshed my energy as an educator. After 18 years of teaching it is very easy to lose sight of our "why?” I was uplifted and challenged to dig deep to rekindle my love for what I do!

Amy Garret

Base Camp & Leadership Summit Cohort ## Participant | Lumpkin County,

My why for teaching has always been easy: kids. GLISI’s Aspiring Leaders program has helped me expand my “why”: I see myself as a strong leader who focuses on culture, relationships, strategy and service among adults. My job is to empower other teachers and, in turn, affect even more students.

Lindsay Hodges

Paulding County, Aspiring Leaders Program | Cohort 4

I want the room to know: I came to this school district because my parents read the mission statement. What we say we exist to do matters because it mattered to my family.

5th Grade Student

Oconee County Schools Strategic Planning Meeting

“We, as teachers, often need to be reinvigorated. We need to be reminded of our potential, of what we can do and all of the unrealized possibilities. My teacher heart has been filled."

Shelby Forrester | Lumpkin County 8th Grade English Teacher

Uplift by connecting leaders to possibility

We help leaders tap into their agency and get out of their comfort zone.

In the same way our learning experiences are designed to challenge leaders and teams to reimagine what’s possible, we’ve been doing some reimagining internally too. In FY19, we launched an initiative to strategically integrate one or more of these core concepts to improve what we do and how we do it.

1. Equity:
Reduce predictability of race, family income and geography as markers for student success.

2. Design Thinking & Improvement Science:
Integrate human-centered design processes and disciplined study of how to improve as a platform to shift mindsets

3. Social and Emotional Competencies:
Grow soft skills such as self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship building

4. Dialog and Deliberation:
Integrate the principles of community engagement to amplify the voices of school stakeholders

Photos from Base Camp and Leadership Summit Cohorts during FY19

"Because of GLISI, I am more aware of who I want to be and how I want to lead."

Giselle Neal, ASsistant Principal | Paulding Aspiring Leaders Program, Cohort ##

Uplift by connecting teams to self and one another

There is power in efficacy. Change begins when leaders and the teams they lead believe they are change agents.

Self-efficacy moves educators from reliance and uplifts them into ownership.

In FY19, teachers in particular developed a stronger sense of self-efficacy when their voice was not only amplified but valued.

Collective efficacy uplifts from compliance into partnership.

For entire school systems to improve, the people within them need to be driving toward improvement together. Teams need a shared belief they can achieve their goal and a sense of shared responsibility for results. Collective efficacy isn’t built overnight, but Base Camp and Leadership Summit plants the seed.

Our pre-post evaluations tell us that those who attend are more familiar with the concept and strategies to build collective efficacy as a result of their learning experience.

*On a 1 to 6 scale. 1 = Lowest, 6 = Highest.

Similarly, strategic improvement planning (SIP) are design to amplify student and community voice—critical for building collective efficacy among all stakeholders that influence school system outcomes. We aim to center student needs in the process, especially those students and families who are not historically well-served by the school; ensure that meaningful equity of voice and psychological safety are secured for all participants; and introduce participants to resources they can use to lead plan implementation.

Together with the Georgia School Boards Association, we facilitated the development of strategic plans in nine districts.

(Hover to view districts)

Photos from our SIP sessions in Oconee County Schools and Dalton City Schools.

"The team assessment and dealing with conflict [was new learning]. I was challenged to think about how avoid conflicts and how that approach could be hindering my ability to lead and work as part of a team.

FY19 BCLS Participant

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