Collaborative Leadership Learning: The Expansion of KIPP Philadelphia's Emerging Leaders Program

Abstract

The high cost of teacher turnover permeates the entire American K-12 public education system. As a result of a lack of support, lack of development opportunities and uncertain pathways for career advancement, too often teachers and school leaders leave the schools and school systems that need them the most. It is within this context that the Emerging Leaders Program (ELP) developed at KIPP Philadelphia Schools (KPS) in 2010 as a way to strategically cultivate future leaders for a growing portfolio of schools. Originally conceived of as an internal leadership development opportunity for teacher leaders, the ELP is now approaching the end of its first pilot year as a leadership learning and development program for 12 future leaders from KPS and other charter, district, and independent religious-affiliated schools. Through a generous grant from the Philadelphia Growth Fund, I was able to develop an expanded version of the ELP as the focus of my Strategic Project. My role as Leadership Development Fellow at KIPP Philadelphia Schools (October 2012-April 2013) was to expand the ELP to include both KIPP and (for the first time) non-KIPP teacher leaders, reconsider the pedagogical approach and reconfigure the curricular design to meet the needs of this new partnership, and to make the changes I thought were necessary based on best practices in the field of Adult Development and Learning. As such, the central focus of the ELP shifted from the purely technical aspects of management and leadership, to an adaptive and developmental approach of leadership development, specifically with regards to teacher leadership as a stepping stone to school leadership. This approach, I believe, more purposefully prepares future leaders for the complex demands of leadership by tuning in to the specific ways individuals make meaning of their leadership experience. Concretely, this shift expanded the scope of leadership learning from a managerial and task-oriented approach to one more focused on the development of emerging leaders by understanding the connections they make between values, beliefs and action as they make meaning of their individual leadership journeys. Central to the new format of the ELP are key design changes, informed by best practices in leadership development programming, and through the lens of adult development. Also informed by the KIPP Leadership Competency Model, conceived of by the KIPP School Leadership Team based at the KIPP Foundation, the ELP provides the opportunity for teacher leaders to come together once a month for 22 hours of professional development across a school year. Each ELP participant develops a Leadership Learning Action Plan which informs an Action Research Project at each of the participants’ school sites. Here, participants are able to practice their leadership in action while simultaneously making an impact on their school community. Small groups work within the broader ELP cohort to provide necessary and supportive feedback as projects unfold, while also serving as critical friends to one another across a wide range of schools. Finally, Intersession Coaching provides the “connective tissue” for the ELP by creating a space for participants to apply their new skills to their individual school contexts. Taken together, these components have coalesced into the first of its kind leadership development experience led by a charter network and also open to ALL teacher leaders in Philadelphia. Due to its initial success, the program will likely expand to reach three times as many teacher leaders in the next school year, building upon key learnings from this pilot year and continually improving with each ELP cohort by incorporating feedback from all stakeholders as well as by following the leadership progression and impact of participants over time.