Leading School Transformation

Develop the skills and strategies to motivate stakeholders, drive innovation, and implement transformative change in your learning organization.

Learn how to cast vision, build staff capacity, and manage the changes required to catalyze improvement and innovation that will lead to your organization’s success.

What Sets Us Apart

Led by a group of interdisciplinary Penn GSE faculty

Pathway for career advancement

Accelerated schedule designed for working professionals

About the Program

The Penn GSE Leading School Transformation certificate program gives you the tools to bring your vision to life, design compelling signature learning experiences for adults, and identify and overcome resistance faced when change is introduced into an educational environment. By the end of this program, you will have a plan to drastically improve your educational organization.

Application Deadline

Priority Application Deadline: February 1, 2024
Standard Application Deadline: March 1, 2024

Program StartMarch 12, 2024

Cost

Priority deadline rate: $3,000
Standard rate: $3,500

This program has a set of scholarships reserved for educators in the School District of Philadelphia. If you’re interested in this opportunity, please see the Scholarships section of the application.

20% off program fee available for groups of 5+ from the same organization. Contact ProfessionalLearning@gse.upenn.edu for more information.

Length 5 consecutive weeks

Synchronous/Live sessions - 3 hours per week
Asynchronous coursework - 2 hours per week

Certificate/Licensure offered

Penn GSE Certificate in Leading School Transformation
Pennsylvania Act 48 credits

Ideal candidates

Principals, Superintendents, Headmasters, School Founders, CEOs, Instructional leaders, Administration

Modality

Online

Teacher Programs & Certifications

Overview

Leading change in education is challenging yet rewarding. The Penn GSE Leading School Transformation certificate program prepares leaders to cast vision, build staff capacity, and manage the changes required to catalyze improvement and innovation in public and independent K-12 schools and systems, higher education, and other educational systems.

The program includes case studies, highlights real-world examples, and guides leaders to clarify their vision and make actual plans that they can use in their school or system to build the capacity of educators.

Learning Objectives:

Identify innovative methods focused on school transformation
Reflect on past and preferred methods
Articulate a vision and case for change for your context
Draft a competency framework for adult learning in your context that will serve as a north star for hiring and professional development
Develop a draft of a compelling signature learning experience that connects directly to your Portrait of a Teacher and can be used for professional development
Develop community practices
Discuss communications strategies
Identify continuous learning and improvement mechanisms that leaders can use to learn from their experiences as quickly as possible so that teachers, parents, and students have increased confidence in the change management process.
Self-assess your school or system’s ability to learn
Draft a plan to drastically improve organizational learning

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Program Schedule

Dates/Times (ET)	Topic & Duration	Description
March 12 5–8 pm	Articulating Your Instructional Vision	Succinctly articulate an improved vision for your learning environment and a case for change. The course will cover a range of innovative methods and real-world examples. Topics include innovative teaching methods that promote deeper disciplinary learning, enhanced student collaboration, and authentic student assignments.
March 18 5–8 pm	Building a “Portrait of a Teacher”	Consider and clarify the professional competencies that your team of educators need to have in order to deliver on the promise of your school’s unique instructional approach.
March 25 5–8 pm	Designing Signature Learning Experiences for Adults	Bring to life your school’s or system’s signature learning experiences for adults. You will use a signature learning experience template builder to design adult learning experiences so that educators get practice building the skills and knowledge required for your school or system’s unique approach to learning.
April 8 5–8 pm	Getting Buy-In	Grow the conviction of teachers, students, and parents to deeply believe that their school must drastically change in key ways, including what students learn, how they learn it, when and where they learn it, and more.
April 16 5–8 pm	Organizing to Execute and Organizing to Learn	Create the systems and structures needed to continuously improve while facilitating a new and improved approach to learning.