Leadership in Transition:
Free Workshops to Increase Leadership Capacity in High-Need Schools
ACI is proud to support principals and their leadership teams in high-need schools with professional development that builds leadership capacity and enhances student achievement. Principals are encouraged to attend all three sessions, and to bring selected members of their leadership teams to workshops, as indicated in the program descriptions below.
Who: Principals and their leadership teams, including assistant principals, and school leaders, including curriculum coordinators, parent coordinators, counseling department chairs, deans of students. See details below.
What: Three day-long, leadership workshops to: 1) identify strategies that will increase leadership capacity and collaboration to improve student success in diverse school communities; 2) develop a network of principal communication and support; and 3) share applications from The Courage to Lead and Failure is Not An Option, including portfolio artifacts and leadership self assessment.
Presenters: Dr. Kristine Servais (North Central College) Kellie Sanders (Plainfield District #202)
When: Friday, November 9, 2007 – 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Thursday, January 31, 2008 – 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 1, 2008 – 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Where: One North Franklin, Chicago, Illinois (Franklin and Madison) 3rd Floor Conference Center Public parking is available at Wells and Madison.
Credit: Both Academy credit and CPDUs are available, but vary with each workshop. See program descriptions below.
Please Bring:
- At least one member of your leadership team to each meeting
- At least one other principal in your area with their leadership team for support and learning
- Previous participants, please bring your copy of The Courage to Lead workbook and Failure is Not an Option.
- Your OPPD portfolio (Chicago only) and/or artifacts of leadership performance
Sample Agenda
| 8:00 a.m. | Registration and Continental Breakfast Welcome, Instructions, and Overview of the Day |
| 9:00 a.m. | Workshop Activities |
| 11:30 a.m. | Lunch |
| Noon | Networking |
| 1:00 p.m. | OPPD Portfolio or Book Work |
| 3:00 p.m. | Wrap Up, Evaluation, Plans for Next Meeting |
Program Descriptions
| Date/Time | Title | Content | Audience | Credit |
Workshop #1 Friday, November 9 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. | Developing a Professional Learning Community: Learning by Doing | Learning by Doing (Richard Dufour, et. al.) will be provided as a resource for building a professional learning community. | Principals, Assistant Principals, Teacher Leaders | Academy credit is available to Principals, if they attend Workshops 1 and 2. |
Workshop #2 Thursday, January 31 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. | Ten Essentials for Collaborative Leadership | The Courage to Lead: Choosing the Road Less Traveled (Servais & Sanders) will be provided and used as a framework for discussion emphasizing preparing assistant principals to become principals. | Principals and Assistant Principals | Academy credit is available to Principals, if they attend Workshops 1 and 2. |
Workshop #3 Tuesday, April 1 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. | Teaching for Success in High Need Schools | Failure is not an Option (Alan Blankstein) will be one of the sources of discussion and strategies for learning interventions that increase student success. | Principals, Assistant Principals, Teacher Leaders | CPDUs are available to Teacher Leaders and to Assistant Principals if they are classified as Teaching APs. |
Register here for the Principals Forum.


