Context and Overview

School Leaders Challenged by Responsibilities and Realities

In one survey of New York administrators nearly 70% of administrators described their job responsibilities as “more than any one person can manage.”

Principals often spend their time reacting to urgent management needs or complying with numerous initiatives, demands and mandates.  Serving parental and community needs, the job responsibilities can extend well beyond the hours of a school day.

As a result, school leaders simply do not have enough time for the kind of systemic and strategic thinking that creates real change.   In addition, many have not been trained to think systemically to solve problems as a part of their everyday practice.

SLN networks convene after school to best maximize the time and the needs of the school leader. This provides the cognitive distance necessary for reflection and problem solving as well as the opportunity for collegial learning and influence.

SLN Collaborative Forums Build Leadership Capacity

SLN’s proprietary research-based inquiry model is a three year, three phase collaborative forum, founded in adult learning theory. The Program Model incorporates leadership best practices and includes the instructional rounds approach pioneered by Dr. Richard Elmore. 

Delivered only by SLN-trained Facilitators, the model provides the structure, time, space, collaboration and skills for school leaders to systemically understand and solve problems of practice related to student achievement.

While each network serves the needs of leaders individually and organically, the program model provides a structure to maximize the learning of the group.  Leaders meet collaboratively with guidance from an SLN-trained Facilitator to deeply investigate a problem of practice.  This investigation models a transformative method of inquiry that leaders take back to their schools and incorporate as part of their own leadership practice.