Coming this summer, June 29-July 1 at Fordham University’s Lincoln Center campus, is a unique national executive leadership program focused on equity, equal access to learning, and assurances of an excellent education. The Institute for Effective Governance & Equity, led by Shawn Joseph, Ed.D., Visiting Associate Professor in the Division of Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy at the Graduate School of Education, will provide school boards and school district leaders with methods and skills to implement rigorous, principle-centered leadership practices that improve outcomes for all children.
Shawn Joseph, Ed.D.
Attendees will be instructed on how to think about challenges, choices, opportunities, and people as they tackle tough problems. They will learn ways to adjust structures, strategies, and support to move equity initiatives forward; and, how mindset can affect a school district’s ability to achieve optimal educational results.
Focused, interactive learning will teach participants how to:
- Better understand and change school board and school district leader mindsets;
- Be more accountable to one another, beginning by seeing one another as people first;
- Report on performance in a way that keeps the organization focused on equity;
- Address and resolve conflicts between school boards and school administration;
- Define equity and improve system-wide school performance for all students, including best practices in diversifying the workforce;
- Create accountability systems that increase transparency between school boards/districts and the community, and deepen participants’ understanding and implementation of improvement science;
- Develop action plans to implement within the school district to focus on improved, more equitable outcomes for all students;
- Implement improvement science, strategic planning, and improved collaboration and communication.
Ultimately, the three days of the institute will be characterized by full immersion and high intensity learning, and provide an effective opportunity for school district boards and their administrative teams to engage in joint learning. Teams will be able to reflect upon how their individual actions affect the overall performance of their individual organizations and then share their learnings in a collaborative and accountable structure working with a broad network of school districts.
A key benefit of the institute will be to work with national education and policy experts, distinguished Fordham faculty, and research-focused graduate students who will collaborate with attending boards and administrative teams to build an executable action plan for each team. This is a rare opportunity for school leaders, school boards, unions, and others from across the country to come together to collaborate and plan to lead for equity.
Identified teams will be sent pre-work, including reading materials, prior to the institute. Two facilitated on-line, post conference sessions to support implementation of action plans are also included. Interested board members and administrative educational leaders may contact institute leader Shawn Joseph, sjoseph43@fordham.edu.
As a Jesuit institution, Fordham University is committed to developing and empowering leaders who prioritize selfless service to mankind. This institute, under the auspices of our educational leadership program, fosters and cultivates the Fordham sense of principled leadership and doing what’s right for mankind through a specific focus on providing high-quality leadership and support to underserved communities throughout the world.
