Summer Leadership Institute
Institute Design
As a six day residential experience, the institute provides participants with
a deep understanding of the nature of the achievement gap and the role of powerful
instruction in the elimination of the achievement gap. In addition, the institute
also provides the opportunity for participating teams to think deeply about
the instructional leadership necessary to close the achievement gap at their
school and district sites, and to develop strategies for engaging their broader
school and local communities around these issues during the 2007-2008 school
year. Guided by an experienced facilitator and institute faculty, each team
has time each day to engage in a deep level of dialogue and collective reflection.
Due to the challenging workload, full time participation and preparation are
expected throughout the institute. Participants are asked to free themselves
from all work obligations during the institute.
In total, the week is organized to scaffold learning and reflection in the
following way:
1) Provide a big picture understanding of the achievement
gap. Questions to be answered include: What do we mean by the achievement
gap? What do we know about the achievement gap? What do we need to know about
the effects of race, poverty and linguistic diversity?
2) Provide an opportunity for teams to understand their own
picture in terms of specific school and school district data. Questions
to be answered include: What do our own data tell us about the achievement
gap in our own school and/or school district? What specific policies, practices
and structures contribute to the achievement gap in our own school and/or
school district?
3) Provide exposure to the concept of powerful instruction and instructional
leadership that holds promise for closing the achievement gap. Questions
to be answered include: What is effective gap-closing instruction? What does
powerful instructional leadership look like? Are we using these practices?
If not, what do we need to do to begin using these practices?
4) Provide an opportunity to develop a plan of action. Questions
to be answered include: Based upon our own data, and learning during the institute,
what specific strategies do we need to employ to close the achievement gap
at our school or school district? How do we engage our broader school and
school district community in the development and support of these gap-closing
strategies?
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