Unleashing Potential: How GLISI’s Aspiring Leaders Program Equips Leaders with Knowledge, Skills & Disposition
Since 2015, we have supported the development of hundreds of growing leaders through our Aspiring Leaders partnerships. Designed as a year-long leadership development experience for educators with aspirations to step into a leadership role in their school, Aspiring Leaders offers a unique balance of space to practice and apply new learning and chances to receive feedback and support in growing leadership capacities over the course of the year-long learning journey.
We begin new partnerships with something we call “Design Team”, which is a group of incumbent leaders within the school system who come together to codify the specific qualities, competencies and dispositions of effective leadership within their unique context. A marriage of insights from our partners and research we bring to support and push thinking and dialog, Design Team culminates with the development of a framework that makes the leadership essentials for our partner organizations visible to all.
The curriculum and support we offer is aligned to each framework that we co-construct with our partner organizations. Each aspiring leader works on a personalized capstone as a culminating experience that pulls their learning and growth reflections together for themselves and a public audience of their peers and incumbent leaders within the school system. Capstones offer a way for aspiring leaders to exercise authentic leadership by identifying an existing problem of practice; working to better understand the problem or growth opportunity through empathy interviews and connection with others; developing and executing strategies that will address the challenge or opportunity; and then reflecting on the experience in a public exhibition of their learning. Whether combating student and teacher disengagement, addressing disparities in academic performance, or fostering better teamwork among staff, Capstones are intended to create space for participants to have an authentic leadership experience that is relevant and meaningful to them.
Capstone Highlights from 2024
Raylee Etheridge is a 7th-grade math teacher in Lee County. Raylee’s Capstone was designed to give her an opportunity to practice coaching techniques she learned through Aspiring Leaders in her existing Professional Learning Community (PLC). Raylee was hopeful that trying new techniques and working more collaboratively as a team could improve 7th grade math proficiency. Lee County Middle School’s 2023 GMAS scores ranged from 23% proficient to 68% proficient, and Raylee was hopeful that dialogic coaching, improved communication, and greater transparency in teacher and leader practice could improve outcomes for their students. Raylee reflects in this short video on what she learned and the results of her Capstone.
Another example comes from Gordon County, where a dynamic trio – Adrienne Bowen, Ashley Brookshire, and Matthew Rigdon – joined forces to lead an effort to address the pervasive issue of student disengagement at Sonoraville High School. Leveraging the social-emotional learning principles from ALP and research that affirms the importance of students having meaningful connections with adults at school, they focused their attention on fostering meaningful relationships with students who reported a lack of connection, assigning teacher mentors to this group of learners. Additionally, they implemented peer review assessments, allowing teachers to observe and learn from each other’s teaching and engagement strategies. They reported that the combination of peer observation and more strategic mentorship and relationship-building paid dividends not only for students but for their fellow teachers.
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GLISI’s approach to developing the capacity of aspiring leaders is unique, in that the substance we teach is co-constructed with our partner school districts and the opportunities to apply and practice new skills are embedded and integrated into the flow and reality of participants’ day-to-day professional experiences.
Learn more about Aspiring Leaders here or contact us today.