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October 12, 2007 50 Founding Members of the School Leadership Center Gather to Reflect on Challenges in the Metro School System…and Count Their Blessings and Accomplishments When: Friday, Oct. 12 to Sunday, Oct. 14 NOTE TO MEDIA ONLY: Please attend! If you would like to join the celebration in Point Clear, please call John Brown at 280-8605. For information contact: Ten years ago, principals in the greater New Orleans area, with the help of the state’s largest foundation, the Baptist Community Ministries, took matters into their own hands to revitalize public, private and parochial schools in the metropolitan New Orleans area by devising a leadership institute. Except the School Leadership Center of Greater New Orleans was different from other models in the nation. Principals’ centers proliferated in the 1980s in response to the glaring lack of on-the-job professional development and the growing recognition that the principal could play a crucial role in school reform. But unlike others, which focused on improving the individual principal, the main measure of success for the School Leadership Center of Greater New Orleans would be student achievement in each participating principal’s school. “Other principals’ centers take as an act of faith that participants will use newfound skills to improve schools,” said SLC Founding Fellow and Chief Executive Officer Brian Riedlinger. “The SLC committed to measured school improvement through improved student achievement and on-going leadership development.” The Baptist Community Ministries immediately supported principals in setting the agenda and helped direct their vision, as well as gain access to needed capital. Today, SLC-GNO offers programs to principals and aspiring educational leaders in public, private, parochial and charter schools in Orleans, Jefferson, St. Bernard, Plaquemines and St. Tammany Parishes. SLC Fellow and Jefferson Parish School Principal Peggy Rome said, “We have been in the process of building a network of principals so that we can support each other. It is through this professional community that we can build an educational system that can and will be successful. That is what will help to turn our educational system around.” The original program offered by SLC was an intensive training, mentoring and school improvement program wherein principals and school leaders committed to a two-year personal and professional growth program. Today, SLC’s offerings include a Summer Institute, a Superintendent’s Summit, a Coaching program to help principals and teachers strengthen academics at the school site, as well as a research partnership which helps principals find answers to issues impacting them. SLC-GNO is also a partner with the State Department of Education in working with first-year principals in the New Orleans area. The University of Toronto studies the Center’s annual achievements, and after each five year increment documented that SLC schools showed 54 percent greater academic growth than non-SLC schools on state-mandated school performance scores, especially in Orleans Parish. “Our participants get to test their theories,” said SLC Eastbank Charter School Collaborative Director Rose Peterson. “Our fellows stay engaged. Charter schools would not have developed so quickly and efficiently in the post-Katrina environment without our members. Our lessons were put into practice and we can see results.” In 10 years, more than 200 principals and more than 300 educational leaders have completed training programs at SLC. Some of the members who have become leaders in the metropolitan districts include Dianne Roussel, Superintendent of Jefferson Parish Schools; Darryl Kilbert, Superintendent of Orleans Parish Schools; and Kelvin Adams, Chief of Staff, Louisiana Recovery School District. For more information, contact Cheron Brylski (504) 897-6110.
Principals gather at a recent networking luncheon organized by SLC-GNO. These types of events help principals support each other and share solutions to operational issues. |
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