Leverage Leadership Institute Fellowship
The Leverage Leadership Institute (LLI) is an innovative new partnership between Relay and Uncommon Schools to train a cadre of high-impact school leaders. Based on Paul Bambrick’s acclaimed book, Leverage Leadership, the LLI Fellowship was created out of recognition that leaders who have achieved results or transitioned to managing other principals often have few opportunities to continue to develop themselves and to build a community of peer practitioners to push them to the next level. In providing this pathway to leaders, Relay and Uncommon Schools hope to build a network of exemplar leaders across the country who will directly contribute to expanding the number of schools achieving outstanding results for students.
Leaders selected for the fellowship are in the top 10% of schools in their local district or state and have led student outcomes to double-digit gains. They are principals and principal managers of district and charter schools across the country who have already obtained outstanding results for children after implementing the practices in Leverage Leadership to proficiency.
In 2014-15, Relay ran a small pilot of the LLI Fellowship to test the model for this type of training and the potential impact for the program participants.
"After a while you move into senior leadership roles and you realize you still aren’t having the impact you want to,” observed Teresa Kirallah, a current LLI Fellow and leader with the Teaching Trust. “You have to get around people doing the same work as you who can push you even harder. I am blown away by the high level of thoughtfulness that people give [with] their feedback. My own level of feedback at a strategic level has gotten better as a result.”
Selection for the next cohort is currently underway. Fellows selected for the 2015-16 program will join a diverse community of principals and principal managers from across the country for a yearlong apprentice fellowship with faculty member and Uncommon Schools leader Paul Bambrick (author of Driven by Data, Leverage Leadership, and Great Habits, Great Readers). They will focus their time on building skills in two main areas of leadership: Excellence in Execution and Excellence in Teaching. The focus of the fellowship is rooted in these levers of leadership that have been found to be most important in driving student achievement.
After completing the fellowship, leaders will have the opportunity to earn status as a certified Leverage Leadership Instructor to teach the levers of instructional and cultural leadership identified in Leverage Leadership. Most importantly, these leaders will join a community driving impact in schools of all types across the country.
To learn more about the Leverage Leadership Institute Fellowship, visit the LLIF Program Page. Applications and nominations for the program will be accepted through April 18, 2015.
