The Arkansas Leadership Academy’s (ALA) School Team Empowerment is a professional learning opportunity designed for school-based teams, which may include district-level support. The total number of team members should be 5 to 6, and the team leader should be the school principal. Team members could include assistant principal(s), counselor(s), instructional facilitator(s), instructional coaches, interventionists, and teacher leaders from any content area/grade level. District-level team members with job responsibilities that directly support student learning, teachers, and/or principals could also be part of a school-level team.

Purpose and Design

The purpose of School Team Empowerment (STE) is to support individual and team growth through a differentiated approach to leadership development. STE provides professional learning and coaching opportunities for teams of school administrators, teacher leaders, and district leaders. Sessions focus on developing and nurturing collaborative teams to lead effective instructional practices.

STE will include four onsite team interaction and content delivery sessions paired with a minimum of six virtual team coaching opportunities. This hybrid approach allows teams the opportunity to learn in a traditional structured format while also leveraging virtual technologies to deepen personalization.

Each school team will be paired with an experienced Arkansas leader/practitioner to personalize the learning and strengthen the ability to transfer theory in practice. Teams additionally have multiple opportunities to engage in virtual coaching sessions as a value-added strategy to grow leadership capacity and assist with application of learning. There is no cost for the virtual coaching opportunities.

Content and Focus

Collective Leader Efficacy: Strengthening Instructional Leadership Teams

• Collective leader efficacy (CLE) is a shared conviction among a school leadership team that they can improve the learning environment for all students. Peter DeWitt, Ed.D. provides the research, explains the drivers, and engages participants in the cycle of inquiry that helps leadership teams to develop collective leader efficacy as a leadership team.
• Each participating school team will have a minimum of six opportunities to engage in virtual coaching sessions to personalize the learning and implementation.
• Each participant will receive a copy of “The Leader’s Guide to Coaching in Schools” as supporting materials and reference.
• Each participant will receive a copy of Peter DeWitt’s book “Collective Leader Efficacy: Strengthening Instructional Leadership Teams” as supporting materials and reference.
• Upon completion, participants in School Team Empowerment will be able to:
  • Cultivate and continue effective instructional practices by operating as effective teams
    • Understand the characteristics of effective instructional practices
    • Understand the characteristics and practices of effective teams
    • Understand how effective teams support effective instructional practices
    • Address a problem of practice in a collaborative cycle of inquiry to cultivate effective instructional practices in the school
  • Foster organizational growth by operating as effective teams
    • Understand the characteristics, challenges, and opportunities in organizational growth
    • Identify the challenges and opportunities in organizational growth that are present in the school
    • Target and measure growth components
    • Sustain organizational growth after the completion of the School Team Empowerment program

Assembling a School Level Team

• Total number of team members should be 5-6
• Team leader should be the school principal
• Team members could include assistant principal(s), counselor(s), instructional facilitator(s), instructional coaches, interventionists, and teacher leaders from any content area/grade level. District level team members with job responsibilities that directly support student learning, teachers, and/or principals could also be part of a school level team.
• School teams and participants must plan to attend all sessions of School Team Empowerment. As you choose participants for your school team, remember to check your professional and personal calendars and make sure ALL team members can attend all four face-to-face sessions.