Leadership Development
Internationals Network for Public Schools’ Leadership Development Program leverages our existing human capital – our project-based approach to leadership development has repeatedly demonstrated its effectiveness for generating new leaders from within our schools over the past 25 years. We cultivate skilled Internationals school leaders and forge strong connections among them as they guide their schools to effectively educate our students in alignment with their schools’ mission, culture, program and practice. The Program is both highly individualized to support individuals’ growth, and highly collaborative to support the emergence, nurturing and growth of leaders through an interwoven network.
Crucial to its design are multiple network-wide and school-specific collaborative projects and structures that provide opportunities for leaders to deepen their skills, learn together and increase their leadership capacity as they work to deepen their faculties’ capacity to produce high student outcomes. Simultaneously, these structures and projects allow new leaders to emerge in the course of developing and implementing joint initiatives. Our Network supports the development of these emerging leaders, laying the basis for smooth leadership transitions in our schools. The Leadership Development Program’s structure mirrors our schools’ instructional and governance model so that leaders strengthen their understanding of our model through their professional development experiences. Consequently, our Program ensures that leaders successfully enable their faculty members to implement the Internationals Approach.
Our Program provides direct, individualized support to school leaders and emerging leaders through direct mentoring for new principals and by interning new principals with an experienced leader, which also serves as professional development for the experienced principal. Our Network principal mentors and consultants, all of whom worked to build early International High Schools, provide historical knowledge, experience, and expertise to the principals and faculties with whom they work.
Activities include:
- Regional Meetings with Network Principals, with a focus on school-specific and network issues
- Annual Leadership Retreat: 2-day event held in the summer for all Internationals’ school leaders
- Cultivation and development of new leaders and development of school leaders through
- principal internships -intra-school leadership development
- participation in advocacy efforts -network-wide leadership roles
- various network-wide projects
- Principal Mentor Program: part-time mentors to help the Principal and the school community navigate all aspects of leading and operating an International High School
- As the Internationals network of schools grows, Internationals will provide a Principal Mentor to each new school (for 4years) and each new Principal (for 1 year)
- Mentor Handbook – a guide developed by our network of experienced mentors, with feedback from our leaders and emerging leaders, for use in mentoring and developing school leadership
- Working with school leaders to create succession plans for smooth leadership transitions
As our Principals, Assistant Principals and teacher leaders mature in their understanding of school leadership with the support of their colleagues and Internationals Network, they evolve as key agents for outstanding achievement in their schools.
