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Introduction | History | Governance Introduction - The BasicsThe School Leadership Center of Greater New Orleans (SLC) was carefully and thoughtfully consummated in November of 1998, after several months of research, interviews, and site visits with the direct involvement of 13 school principals, faculty and staff from Xavier University and The University of New Orleans, business leaders and expert consultants from throughout the United States. Through the vision of Baptist Community Ministries, and with the involvement of Xavier and UNO, an organization has been created that gives school leaders the opportunity to realize their own leadership gifts and potential, create teams of leaders in their schools, and be catalysts for improved educational outcomes for children in southeast Louisiana. The School Leadership Center places a strong emphasis on giving principals and other school leaders the skills, resources and tools that are needed to thoughtfully improve teaching and learning in their schools. Changing how teachers teach and how they look at their teaching is the only consistent method to school improvement and increased student achievement. The Center provides the instruction and follow-up training to accomplish that task. The connection among school leaders through the Center has decreased isolation, encouraged discussion about best practice in teaching, learning, management, and finally, student achievement. SLC is a professional development and support organization that is privately funded and governed by the Baptist Community Ministries, Xavier University and The University of New Orleans. Professional growth of principals (public, private, and parochial) is the means employed by SLC to improve student achievement. Through the Fellows program we work with 56 principals in a five parish area (Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, and Plaquemines). Fellows receive intensive training in the areas of student assessment, changing school culture, and creating learning communities. Fellows receive intensive training in the areas of student assessment, changing school culture, and creating learning communities. All principals are welcome to participate in the fall and spring learning institutes, and other events throughout the year. In addition, all principals can take advantage of our research services simply by calling our research officer with a topic. School Leadership Centers as a SolutionRecommending to the Harvard Graduate School of Education that the faculty "make intellectual resources of Harvard available to school leaders," Roland Barth, renowned expert in educational leadership, initiated the first of wave of Principals' Centers that would develop around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. Centers proliferated in response to the glaring lack of on-the-job professional development and the growing recognition that the principal would play a crucial role in school reform. While each center created its own ideals, goals, and structures, most shared the belief that school leaders needed professional development opportunities that dealt with the specific contextual idiosyncrasies of their work. The SLC planning team met with directors and participants of principals' centers throughout the world. These meetings, both formal and informal, provided basic information about other centers and gave our planning team the opportunity to discuss specific problems faced by those charged with training school leaders. The information gathered from a survey sent to existing principals' centers and site visits to centers at Georgia State and Harvard Universities helped delineate SLC. In addition, two of the most active leaders in the International Network of Principals' Centers, Dr. Gordon Donaldson and Dr. Richard Ackerman, came to New Orleans to consult with the SLC's planning team and Principals Advisory Board and to meet with BCM representatives. Information from all sources has been integrated into the School Leadership Center plan bringing the best practices of school leadership to the New Orleans metropolitan area. Leadership centers reflect the philosophy of their members, directors or the institution with which they are affiliated. Each affiliate had strengths that the School Leadership Center has drawn upon. The Center provides extensive mentor opportunities to SLC Fellows, measures the impact and outcomes of training, and builds on current knowledge while infusing new ideas to our Fellows. The Center was one of the first leadership centers to connect the work of the principal directly to student achievement. This connection is accomplished through examination of test scores and other evaluative measures through the Learning Initiative, a school team approach to the school improvement process. All of these programs are connected through an in-house research department. Although some centers have similar components, no center combines all of these services and activities in such a comprehensive way.
The School Leadership Center of Greater New Orleans (SLC) was thoughtfully initiated in November of 1998, after nearly a year of research, interviews, and site visits to other leading principals’ centers. SLC was created through the vision of Baptist Community Ministries; the direct involvement of 13 school principals (see their names under Fellows) representing the five parish area (public, private, and parochial schools) the faculty and staff from Xavier University and The University of New Orleans, business leaders and expert consultants from throughout the United States. SLC gives school leaders the opportunity to realize their own leadership gifts and potential, create teams of leaders in their schools, and be catalysts for improved educational outcomes for children in southeast Louisiana. The flagship of SLC is the Fellows Program, a two-year intensive professional development training and mentoring program which springboards from the week-long residential Summer Institute. A Fellows’ Journey - at its core - is an initial Summer Institute, followed by three full Saturday sessions with principals and their leadership teams, and then a second Summer Institute. The Fellows Program was designed to build a collegial network of school leaders working to create schools as open, critical, and mutually supportive communities of learners for both adults and children – See Fellows Program for more information. SLC is a professional development and support organization designed for the professional growth of principals (public, private, and parochial) to improve student achievement. Fellows receive intensive training in the areas of student assessment, changing school culture, and creating learning communities. In addition, all principals in the five parish area can take advantage of our research and professional development services simply by calling SLC’s office with a topic. The School Leadership Center staff has created a learning organization that has grown, adapted, and changed as the need arises. From its start with the Fellows program, the Center has added: the School Leadership Center Learning Initiatives (SLCLI) – three Saturdays with the principal and the school leadership team; an Aspiring Leaders Program meeting on six Saturdays with 50 plus participants yearly; to Superintendents’ Summit with 8 parishes superintendents participating with their leadership teams in a 3 day session; a Fall Institute – a two day session with about 200 participants (Ruby Payne and Kagan Institutes as examples); periodic ‘Conversations’ (two hour discussions) with national educational leaders like Roland Barth, Michael Fullan, Charles Achillies, and Anthony Alvarado; and a coaching program in seven Louisiana Parishes as the state new principal induction program funded of a US DOE grant. SLC is a not-for-profit 501 (c) 3 dedicated to developing school leaders. The SLC serves public and non-public schools in five Louisiana parishes: Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, St. Tammany, and Plaquemines. The School Leadership Center is governed by a twelve member board selected by the University of New Orleans, Xavier University, and the Baptist Community Ministries. Evaluations
Governance
Baptist Community Ministries University of New Orleans Xavier University
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