PA Inspired Leadership Courses

The following six courses have been approved for Act 48 PIL credit for school administrators. Each course involves two days of training with five to twelve months between the sessions. In addition, participants will have contact with the facilitators throughout the school year. Each course is 30 Act 48 hours or 1 CPE credit.

Leading Learning in 21st Century Schools
Lead Developer - Dr. Duff Rearick

Addresses Corollary Standard #1- The leader creates a culture of teaching and learning with an emphasis on learning.

Leading learning is exemplified by an intentional focus on the cultural reformation of instruction and learning. This course is designed to guide participants through a thoughtful learning process that, engages past learning and new concepts. It is structured as an interactive opportunity to create plans and methodologies for creating a cultural shift in teaching and impacting learning. Within the module, learning is focused on clarifying problems, planning, targeting change and building momentum toward a desired end. Content includes dialogue on sticky change, creating epidemics, overcoming inertia and developing dynamic messages that stick both within and outside the system. The course concludes with thoughts on growing future leaders. The end goal of the course is to assist leaders in developing cultures that are focused on the learner.

Leading the Management of Resources in 21st Century Schools
Lead Developer - Dr. Jay Scott

Addresses Corollary Standard #2- The leader manages resources for effective results.

This course is designed to create a sense of urgency for leaders that change is organic and that long term impactful change requires a look at systemic causes. In order to manage an organization for results, the leader will be required to understand the concept of weight bearing walls and will be challenged to look at the existing culture, build strategies to change it systematically, and will also be expected to do it within the financial constraints afforded the current system. During this course the participants will demonstrate comprehension of a student-centric environment built around the importance of each student's success.

• Grasp the importance of daily managing that is aligned to long term success and results.
• The importance of safety and healthy environments during the process of thinking through systemic change.
• Understand the concept of weight bearing walls and how managing for results requires respect for certain practices that may need to change.
• Each leader has the power of research and practice that can provide resources to build impactful change around 21st century learning practices.
• Develop the system around student-centric learning strategies that require greater and more efficient use of technology.

Leading for Engagement of Stakeholders in 21st Century Schools
Lead Developer - Dr. Rich Mextorf

Addresses Corollary Standard #3- The leader collaborates, communicates, engages, and empowers others inside and outside of the organization to pursue excellence in learning.

In this course, participants will learn to identify and cultivate stakeholder groups, assess organizational trust and readiness for engagement, build capacity for excellence, engage all stakeholders in a culture of excellence in learning, and remove barriers to organizational change.

Unit 1: Using Blanchard's Raving Fan model, identify and cultivate internal and external stakeholder groups to become:

Unit 2: Establish a baseline for trust and engagement by using Stephen M.R. Covey's
assessment tools.

Unit 3: Develop capacity for excellence by learning Schwahn's Spheres of Living model.

Unit 4: Engage all stakeholders in a culture of excellence by using Lencioni's model.

Unit 5: Develop an action plan for overcoming barriers to change

Leading Ethically & Equitably in 21st Century Schools
Lead Developer - Dr. James Henderson

Addresses Corollary Standard #4- The leader operates in a fair and equitable manner with personal and professional dignity.

We know that educational leaders are confronted daily with the challenges of behaving ethically and equitably even and especially when organizational culture, vested political agendas, and personal comfort often mitigate against ethics and equity. This course is designed to provide the learners with a broad-based, interdisciplinary knowledge of leadership theory. Much more importantly, though, learners will be expected to analyze and critique the leadership styles observed in their own professional experiences in the context of those theoretical perspectives. Moreover, this course is designed to equip school leaders with practical strategies to deal with ethical leadership situations and dilemmas. Participants in this course will learn through reflective journaling, case studies of actual leadership dilemmas, analysis of strategic design and actual practice, applied research, and participant-facilitator dialogue and mentoring. Learners will also be asked to produce an Ethical Leader Evidence Fair project of their choice related to the units and projects as the course's culminating activity.

Unit 1: Demonstrating integrity in the leader's behavior

Unit 2: The leader's actions being consistent with the values and beliefs of the organization
and with the leader's own word

Unit 3: The leader explaining, advocating, documenting, and "living" the professional code of
ethical conduct

Unit 4: The leader advocating for equity, diversity, and social justice

Leading for Educational Advocacy in 21st Century Schools
Lead Developer - Fran Serenka

Addresses Corollary Standard #5- The leader advocates for children and public education in the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context.

This course is designed to emphasize the leadership aspects of educational advocacy in the Twenty-first century. This course will be constructed as adult learning protocol guided by each participant and focused on the issues of advocating for children and public education in the larger political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context. It will require the learner to take an internal look at a familiar institution and an external look at the local, state, and national forces interacting with the institution. Often these forces will be both positive and negative acting on an institution. This course will also require that the learner reflect on the philosophical and practical knowledge base needed for successful advocacy.

Unit 1: Developing a practice of advocacy by understanding the work and philosophy of the cultural leader and social advocate.

Unit 2: Demonstrating knowledge of the interaction between Federal, State, and Local aspects of education rules, regulations and funding.

Unit 3: The leader explaining, documenting, advocating and communicating a real practice scenario and defining the overall effect on students.

Unit 4: The leader building capacity for educational advocacy and promoting advocacy as professional best practice.

Leading, Implementing, & Sustaining Professional Growth in 21st Century Schools
Lead Developer - Dr. Tim McNamee

Addresses Corollary Standard #6- The leader supports professional growth of self

This course is designed to emphasize an adult learning protocol guided by each participant and focused on the problem of supporting professional growth of self and others within the learning organization. Strategies for creating life-long learning opportunities in times of increasing demands for school administrators will be developed and discussed to motivate leaders to grow professionally.

Unit 1: Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of continuous learning

Unit 2: Develop a professional development plan based on current research and resources

Unit 3: Address the need for adult based learning theory in designing targeted professional
development

Unit 4: Create a framework that empowers others to choose a direction for personal professional development

Unit 5: Understand the power of lead learning and develop strategies to enhance systemic on- going learning