System Wise Leadership Institute

The System Wise Leadership Institute features a blend of in-person and virtual learning, including three days of in-person sessions plus three virtual 90-minute plenaries, along with seven monthly coaching sessions. It aims to equip participants with research-based content and develop skills in collaborative work and data-informed coaching.

On the Harvard campus, you’ll meet for three days of in-person sessions, followed by three 90-minute virtual plenaries with Data Wise leaders. Working with Harvard faculty and other district and system education leaders, you’ll learn about the Data Wise Improvement Process and how to implement it at the system level. You’ll learn how to use data to align your system on learning design and delivery. You’ll explore how to use data to build capacity for teaching and learning. And you’ll prepare a plan to implement System Wise continuous instructional improvement at scale across your system.

Back at home, you’ll work with a Data Wise coach online. Over seven months, your coach will connect with you for monthly meetings. Your coach will help you use data to analyze the effectiveness of your improvement plan and suggest changes to the process that can help improve student performance and increase education equity.

Session Topics

• A Systemic Approach to Continuous Improvement
• Multiple Approaches to Scaling Data Wise
• Using Data to Foster Education Equity
• Using Data to Help Manage Change 
• Using Data to Prepare for and Manage Crisis

Tentative Schedule

June & July Meeting
August & September Meeting
August Plenary
October Meeting
November Meeting
November Plenary
December & January Meeting
February Meeting
February Plenary
March Final Meeting

Participants will be able to:

• Study research-based content that incorporates best practices, and adapts to diverse contexts.
• Organize teams for collaborative work through effective meeting practices and increase team members’ effectiveness through data-informed coaching and coach skill development. 
• Lay the foundation in systems to craft a scaling strategy for implementing the Data Wise improvement process across schools.
• Build coherence across their system leadership team’s improvement practices to better serve their mission and vision.

This program is designed for district and system education leadership teams of three or more, who wish to learn how to employ data to foster continuous improvement among groups of schools. Participant teams may include:

• State leaders and officials from state education offices
• Local education agency leaders
• District superintendents and other district leadership
• School principals

This program only accepts teams. First-time applicants need to create a Professional Education account to apply.

Designate one participant or an administrative staff member as the Coordinator.

• The Coordinator should click the "Apply" button at the top of this page to log into their Professional Education account and access the application page.
• Proceed with the team form, including providing the name, email address, and job title of each participant in your team.
• The Coordinator can choose to receive a team invoice.
• Contact us if you need to make any changes to your team after submitting the form.

Invoices will only be available upon your acceptance.

If I attend the System Wise Leadership Institute, should I also attend the Data Wise Institute in January or June?

The System Wise Leadership Institute (SWLI) is a stand-alone learning experience designed to help system-level leaders like you employ data at the system level. However, you may benefit from taking a closer look at the way Data Wise is implemented at the school and classroom levels. If you wish to do so, participation in the Data Wise Institute is highly recommended. In addition, you may wish to train teams of teachers and leaders from the schools in your system on how to effectively implement Data Wise. If so, we will be glad to welcome your teams.

I have attended the Data Wise Institute already. Should I also attend the System Wise Leadership Institute?

The Data Wise Institute is designed to help teachers and school leaders apply the Data Wise Improvement Process in schools and classrooms. If you want to use Data Wise across multiple districts, schools, or classrooms, the System Wise Leadership Institute is recommended as the next step in your learning progress.  

I am planning on attending the System Wise Leadership Institute. Should I plan to attend the Data Wise in Action as the logical next step?

The content included in Data Wise in Action is built into System Wise, which includes access to coaching and support over the course of the year following participation. For this reason, it is not necessary for System Wise participants to attend Data Wise in Action.