Crown Consortium

Creating a High Performance Learning Culture:    Schools cannot improve when the culture does not support school improvement. Often in the push to improve quickly, the school's culture is forgotten. Participants will learn what culture is and why it must be cultivated; what roles leaders play in growing the culture; and what tools and strategies are available to help leaders foster a culture that supports improvement, high expectations and the well-being of students.

Literacy Leadership:    Literacy is a national problem that has become a top education priority for the federal government and for educators across the nation. School leaders must be able to recognize “good” literacy instruction and observe and conference with teachers about good literacy practices. These include a whole set of complex reading, writing and language skills so that students can handle a variety of the texts they will encounter and produce as they go through school and beyond. This module is designed to close the gap between what leaders know about literacy and what they must know to provide literacy leadership in schools.

Prioritizing, Mapping and Monitoring the Curriculum:     In a high-stakes testing world, this module helps schools keep their curriculum on target. Participants will learn the benefits of prioritizing, mapping and monitoring the curriculum and more deeply understand what we want students to learn, which learning is most important, and how to know if the curriculum is being taught.

Providing Focused and Sustained Professional Development:    Professional development is a powerful tool for changing schools, yet professional development is frequently done poorly and results in little or no positive change. Participants will examine the characteristics of professional development in high- and low-performing schools, learn how to structure successful learning for the staff and focus on how schools can create a professional learning community.

Leading Change:    School leaders have gotten used to the idea that "the only constant is change." Productive school leaders understand the forces that influence the change process and can direct these forces for continuous school improvement. Learn how to lead change rather than react to it.

Using Data to Lead Change:    Schools that successfully improve student achievement do so by regularly using data to guide decisions about instruction, student support and professional development. Easy-to-use processes are taught, and participants learn how the use of data is a vital part of the school improvement process.