Leadership Academies
The Tointon Institute provides two types of Leadership Academies each year, the Principal Leadership Academy and the School and Teacher Leadership Academy.
School & Teacher Leadership Academy
Each summer, the Tointon Institute for Educational Change offers two academies for teams of teachers and their principals to attend. These academies are first made available to “graduates” of the Principal Leadership academies and, then, if space permits, opened to other school teams and their principals who have been nominated for the Principal Leadership Academy but who have not yet attended. These academies were added to the Tointon Institute’s offerings in the summer of 2002 and since that time, the popularity of these academies has grown tremendously, with only “graduates” of the Tointon Principal Leadership Academies attending being able to attend due to high demand.
These four-day academies are devoted to specific topics with one academy currently focused on effective data usage to improve student learning and the other one focused on effective professional development to improve student learning.
School teams consisting of anywhere from 2-10 members attend these academies with their principal and/or assistant principal. Some school teams represent their formal School Leadership Team whereas others are comprised of grade level representatives, subject representatives as well as other staff members who are identified as key to the school improvement process. As part of the academy, school teams develop a schoolwide plan for implementing practices learned as well as a plan for how to share what they have learned with the staff as a whole. All presentations include team processing time and one session is devoted to team planning.
Principal Leadership Academy
Currently, the Tointon Institute for Educational Change provides two Principal Leadership Academies each year, one in June and one in late September/early October. Principals and Assistant Principals of elementary, middle, high and K-12 schools attend these academies. They are five days in length, Monday through Friday in the summer session and Wednesday through Sunday in the fall session.
Each group ranges between 25-35 participants. Skilled presenters and facilitators work with the participants during their stay, discussing various topics from developing a school vision to implementing school reform, from improving personal leadership practices to instructional leadership, from developing learning communities within schools to planning and evaluating meaningful and effective staff development, from the nuts and bolts of shared leadership to developing a community where such leadership is embraced and other relevant topics.
Following the academy, participants are encouraged to participate in one of several one year follow-up choices including monthly conference calls, one-on-one mentors from the educational or business community, school district cohort discussion groups or other options designed for each group.
