Leadership Development

Why Was the AASA Leadership Development Department Established?
The AASA Leadership Development department was established to address the leadership needs of school leaders through partnerships with AASA state affiliates and established national and regional networks. In addition to the AASA staff, AASA's Focus on Leadership for Learning Committee provides guidance to the department. The department:

• Provides Professional Development Programs focused on a systems approach to the transformation of public education to meet the expectation of universal success for all children.

          Programs include Virtual Seminars, the Executive Consultant Program and the Superintendents Knowledge Series.

          Systems Thinking Webcast:

This one-hour interactive video webcast presents how Superintendent Mike Miles did the following in two Colorado school districts:

• Applied a model of systems thinking to raise student achievement.
• Trained educational staff at all levels of a district to think and act systemically.
• Employed a rubric in a systemic coaching cycle to diagnose system dysfunction.

Viewers gain insights from video interviews of school and district staff who worked alongside Miles to apply the Systems Thinking model. Viewers of the live webcast were given opportunities to ask questions during live Q&A sessions.

Superintendent Miles was joined by Maria E. DiPietro Lamb, director of the Program Improvement and Family Support Branch in the Division of Student, Family, and School Support at the Maryland State Department of Education, and Chrisandra Richardson, director of Academic Support, Federal, and State Programs for Montgomery County Public Schools in Rockville, Maryland. The moderator was Melanie Byrd, senior program associate for The Center. 
http://wm.nmmstream.net/learningpt/event/140307/140307.asx

• Provides programs that instill knowledge, build skills and develop leadership capabilities.
  
  Learn more about The New Superintendents Journal and the New Superintendents E-Journal.
  
  
• Connects networks of organizations and individuals that share the professional development beliefs and links them with each other and with AASA's work so that they find the mutual support needed in order to maintain and promote shared values and beliefs.
  
  Programs include the Network of Leadership Networks, the Network of State Urban Networks, the Eastern States Consortium for Learning and School System Excellence, the Western States Benchmarking Consortium and New Network Formation.
  
  
• Advocates within the education community for the systemic transformation of public education from a system designed for universal access to one designed for universal success for all children.
  
  
• Leads and encourages inquiries into various public education designs that might be appropriate as vehicles to transform public education.
  
  Programs include the State of the Superintendency Study, 2007 State of the Superintendency Mini-Survey: Aspiring to the Superintendency, Research Roundtables and Benchmarking.

LEAD District Learning Supports Collaborative
The American Association of School Administrators (AASA), Scholastic, and the UCLA Center for Mental Health in Schools have formed a unique collaborative aimed at expanding leaders’ knowledge, capacity, and implementation of comprehensive systems of learning supports. This effort supports AASA’s flagship initiative, Educating the Total Child, which is aimed at advocating for an education approach designed to effect real change by addressing key factors that determine children’s academic achievement.

National Advisory Council
The National Advisory Council of the AASA Leadership Development department plays an important role in the design, implementation and evaluation of AASA's professional development activities.

NAC members support AASA by providing guidance on trends and challenges facing school systems and their leaders; by assessing the effectiveness and impact of activities; and by recommending future direction for AASA Leadership Development, offering suggestions for new programs and reactions to program proposals. The members of the NAC represent a broad cross section of our members, our governance structure and our corporate partners.

For more information please contact MaryAnn P. Jobe, Ed.D., director, leadership development at mjobe@aasa.org or 703-875-0734.

Thanks to Our Sponsors
The work of the AASA Leadership Development department is made possible through the generous support of our corporate sponsors, including:

For more information on sponsorship opportunities, please contact Kay Ferris at 703-875-0761 or kferris@aasa.org.