Join your peers to analyze and disseminate lessons from reconstructing your system during a year of uncertainty. Take away new tools for leading beyond crises.
Tuition:
$1,545 per person
Faculty Chair(s):
Deborah Jewell-Sherman
Online Widen Layout:
standard
Overview
District leaders have always faced enormous challenges, but a year of sustained social upheaval has called for greater creativity and endurance. Achieving a vision of excellence for each student grew ever more elusive as school districts responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and remodeled schooling to support their communities. However, these challenges have generated important lessons and created opportunities to transform school systems to serve learners more effectively.
The Harvard Institute for Superintendents and District Leaders is a forum for you to build community with other superintendents and make sense of your current leadership practice. This program provides space to reflect upon the lessons of the past year and to prepare for the challenges ahead. You will explore new leadership tools and strategies for developing a team with the full range of capacities needed to lead systemic improvement.
Program Details
The 2021 Harvard Institute for Superintendents and District Leaders is designed as a virtual institute. This new format will maintain the intensity and rigor of the residential learning experience and foster a community of seasoned leaders. The program structure will also give participants the flexibility and space to attend to personal and professional responsibilities.
Schedule for Live Sessions
The daily program schedule is expected to include 60- to 90-minute interactive class sessions or case discussions as well as peer coaching sessions that vary in length from 20 minutes to 60 minutes. Program schedule Sunday, Monday, Tuesday sessions will begin at 12:00 p.m. ET and run no later than 4:30 p.m. E.T.
Objectives
- Share how your district team, school teams, and families overcame the biggest challenges to offering high-quality instruction
- Build a collaborative community among superintendents and district leaders facing common challenges
- Understand how to improve and align professional learning across your organization with priorities for student learning
- Learn to leverage the latest science for more effective family engagement
- Explore frameworks that will help you to lead and listen in a virtual or blended operating context
- Enhance your communication and collaboration with school boards on equity matters
- Review models for addressing socioemotional needs and learning needs of communities during times of drawn-out crises
- Define and analyze a central challenge and consult with faculty and peers as you refresh your approach to managing it
Widen Layout:
standard
Christy Prosser, Director of Student Information & School Safety, Jones County School System
Harvard Institute for Superintendents and District Leaders past participant
Jesse Welsh, Academic Manager, Clark Country School District
Harvard Institute for Superintendents and District Leaders past participant
Who Should Attend
- District superintendents and assistant superintendents
- School board members
- Central office administrators responsible for developing quality schools and central systems
We strongly encourage enrollment by teams of senior leaders that include a superintendent.
Widen Layout:
standard
Faculty Chair(s)
Deborah Jewell-Sherman
Gregory R. Anrig Professor of Practice in Educational Leadership
Deborah Jewell-Sherman is the faculty chair of the Harvard Institute for Superintendents and District Leaders, Women in Education Leadership, National Institute for Urban School Leaders, and Leading for Excellence and Equity: A CAEL Module and faculty co-chair of Race, Equity, and Leadership in Schools.
Ghina AlBadawi Hafez
Director General of Education, Al Makassed, Lebanon
Danielle S. Allen
James Bryant Conant University Professor
Professor of Government
Director, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics
Kimberly Bridges
Assistant Professor, Department of Education Leadership, School of Education, Virginia Commonwealth University, and former member and Chair of the Richmond Public School Board
Elizabeth City
Senior Lecturer on Education
Nahla Harb
General Coordinator for School Counseling and Child Protection, Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Lebanon
Todd Rogers
Behavioral scientist, Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Director of the Student Social Support R&D Lab at Harvard
Fees & Policies
Tuition includes all instructional materials required for participation in the program.
Full tuition is due by the indicated payment deadline, please refer to the individual program’s community and application page for payment deadlines. While a purchase order confirms enrollment, full payment is still required by the final payment deadline. Please note that failure to pay by the payment deadline will result in your withdrawal from the program.
Please click here for more information on payment, refund, and withdrawal policies.
The Harvard Graduate School of Education reserves the right to change faculty or cancel programs at its discretion. The school is not responsible for any planning expenses incurred.
Widen Layout:
standard
Related Programs
| Program | Portfolio | Who Should Attend | Faculty Chair |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Certificate in Advanced Education Leadership (CAEL)
2/7/22 - 5/1/22
|
K-12
|
Current and aspiring preK-12 system-level leaders
|
Elizabeth City
|
|
Building Your Entry Plan to Lead for Equity in Education
10/20/21 - 11/16/21
|
K-12
|
Teachers, coaches, and school leaders
|
Jennifer Perry Cheatham
|
|
Women in Education Leadership
4/8/22 - 4/10/22 
|
K-12,
Higher Education
|
PreK-12 and higher education faculty and administrators
|
Deborah Jewell-Sherman
|