DISTRICT SYSTEMS TO SUPPORT EQUITABLE AND HIGH-QUALITY TEACHING AND LEARNING

Meredith I. Honig, Ph.D.
Professor, Education Policy, Organizations & Leadership
Director, District Leadership Design Lab (DL2)
University of Washington

This session examines an urgent challenge facing school districts in Canadian provinces as they return to in-person schooling: How to ensure each school principal has the support necessary for their successful leadership of equitable teaching and learning? Meredith’s research and district partnerships highlight that doing so requires fundamental shifts throughout central offices starting with principal supervision. In this session, we will zero in on which new forms of principal supervision help principals grow as equity-focused instructional leadership. What does that principal supervision involve day-to-day? How can districts and provinces support principal supervisors’ success? Why is now the time to make those changes? We will explore the research findings alongside practical examples and consider implications for our own work.

This session draws on Meredith’s extensive research on principal supervision and central office leadership in U.S. contexts as well as her team’s district partnerships, and her leadership of Leadership for Learning, the University of Washington’s nationally recognized Ed.D. and superintendent certification program. Key takeaways from Meredith’s most recent book Supervising Principals for Instructional Leadership: A Teaching and Learning Approach will be shared.

Date: August 24, 2021 Time: 11:00am EST

PRIORITIZING SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING FOR OUR STUDENTS

Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl, PhD
NoVo Foundation Endowed Chair in Social and Emotional Learning
Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago

Dr. Schonert-Reichl is a renowned expert in the area of social and emotional learning (SEL) research with children and adolescents, particularly in relation to the identification of the processes and mechanisms that foster positive human qualities such as empathy, compassion, altruism, and resiliency. For more than two decades, Dr. Schonert-Reichl’s research has focused on the social and emotional development of children and adolescents in school and community settings. Her current projects include studies examining the effectiveness of classroom-based universal social and emotional learning (SEL) programs including the MindUp, program, and the Random Acts of Kindness program. Dr. Schonert-Reichl is also conducting interdisciplinary research in collaboration with neuroscientists and psychobiologists examining the relation of executive functions and biological processes to children’s social and emotional development in school settings.

This session will focus on the promotion of social and emotional learning (SEL) to transform the lives of students and educators. The session will provide a guide for understanding how systemic approaches to SEL provide a foundation for developing equitable learning contexts that promote the social and emotional competencies of adults and children to support success and well-being. Implementation and leadership strategies that are successfully being used in Districts will be shared, including information on how SEL can be promoted as students return to school post pandemic.

Date: August 31, 2021 Time: 10:30am EST

CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

Dr. Muhammad Khalifia
Professor of Educational Administration
Executive Director of Urban and Rural Initiatives
Ohio State University

How should humanization, anti-oppressiveness, and cultural responsiveness be systematized in school? This presentation focuses on how school leaders can effectively serve minoritized students—those who have been historically marginalized in school and society. The lecture suggests that leaders must be central to culturally responsive school reforms, and demonstrates how leaders can engage students, parents, teachers, and communities in ways that positively impact learning by honouring indigenous heritages and local cultural practices.

Dr. Khalifa explores three basic premises. First, that a full-fledged and nuanced understanding of “cultural responsiveness” is essential to successful school leadership. Second, that cultural responsiveness will not flourish and succeed in schools without sustained efforts by school leaders to define and promote it. Finally, that culturally responsive school leadership comprises a number of crucial leadership behaviors, which include critical self-reflection; the development of culturally responsive teachers; the promotion of inclusive, anti-oppressive school environments; and engagement with students’ indigenous community contexts.

In this particular, we take a much deeper look at Critical Self-Reflection. Based on ethnographic research of a culturally responsive school principal, I’ll provide educators with pedagogy and strategies for immediate implementation. The lecture ends by highlighting a central theme of community and how community-based knowledge should be positioned in all aspects of schooling. We anchor the lecture with several activities that get leaders to begin thinking about Culturally Responsive School Leadership. Implementation strategies that are successfully being used in Districts will be shared.

Date: September 30, 2021 Time: 11:00am EST