Penn Educational Leadership Simulation Program
Learning from and building on leaders' experiences tackling real-world challenges.
Project Overview
The Penn Educational Leadership Simulations (PELS) Program builds on the rich experiences of veteran educational leaders by creating problem-based simulations in both online and in-person formats. The goal of this venture is to develop human capital in school leadership through blended peer-to-peer (P2P) professional interactions. Since 2011, PELS has trained school and district leaders to author computer-based pathing simulations (“sims”), drawing out leaders’ own experiences tackling real-world challenges. In recent years, collaborations with Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine, School of Nursing, and School of Social Policy and Practice have allowed for an expansion and exploration of this work through in-person, interdisciplinary, simulated case scenarios.
The design of this program allows for the perpetual development, update, and improvement of these tools and ensures that they remain realistic and relevant in fueling critical conversations in educational leadership. Not only do simulations enhance opportunities for exploratory and problem-based learning in safe educational environments, they also offer school and district leaders the chance to practice dealing with difficult and challenging situations in reflective ways. By building a committed and connected community of trained and experienced simulation developers who are themselves leaders in preK-12 schools and districts, PELS is able to help large numbers of principals and superintendents develop complex skills in realistic but low-risk ways.
Since 2010 the Penn Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership has incubated PELS. Approximately two dozen sims have been developed in English, some in Spanish, and others are under development. Further, through this effort, the Mid-Career Doctoral Program and PELS programs have continued to explore live, in-person simulations through collaborations with other schools at the University of Pennsylvania.
Online Simulation Development
The culminating product for computer-based simulation development and authorship activities is the thoughtful construction of each participant's own micro-simulation (or "micro-sim"). Each is focused in scope and time and involves a limited number of actions or decision points. Every micro-sim contributes to a library of diverse sim titles that are housed by the PELS Program.
Drawing on this library, we select the best and combine multiple micro-sims (created by different people) into "multi-sim product packages.” These packages are affordable for use by school districts and leadership training programs while still supporting the building and growth of a sustainable initiative and program. The bundled sims are also available as supplemental materials to existing educational leadership courses and may be used as course materials in our workshops, Fellows Institutes, and additional sim-based professional development offered by the collaborating professional associations – AASA, NAESP and NASSP.
An integral component of the sims development process is peer review. Reviewers are practitioners from a variety of educational settings with specific content expertise. After a short orientation session, PELS reviewers view the computer-based simulations and the written scripts and provide feedback on the accuracy and authenticity of the sim. Peer review ensures that the leadership challenges presented in the sims are a purposeful intersection of theory and practice.
Watch a PELS Simulation
The culminating product for computer-based simulation development and authorship activities is the thoughtful construction of each participant's own micro-simulation (or "micro-sim"). Each is focused in scope and time and involves a limited number of actions or decision points. Every micro-sim contributes to a library of diverse sim titles that are housed by the PELS Program.
Meet the Fellows
PELS Author Fellows come from a variety of backgrounds in education, all sharing at least two common characteristics: extensive experience as a practitioner of educational leadership and a strong academic background. Current and past program fellows include:
Mustafa Abdul-Jabbar, Ed.D.*
Attorney, Vinson & Elkins, Dallas, Texas
Formerly Chief Executive Officer, E Pluribus Unum Charter School Project, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Manuela Adsuar-Pizzi
Principal, Queen of All Saints Catholic Academy, New York
Tina Arrington
Counselor
Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Washington, DC
Corey Atkins
Assistant Principal, Dallas Independent School District, Texas
Carol Baker, Ed.D.
Educational Consultant
Formerly Language Arts/Social Studies Supervisor, Flemington-Raritan Regional School District, Flemington, New Jersey
Nikole Booker
Principal Coach, Office of Leadership
New York City Department of Education, New York
Peter Carpenter, Ed.D.*
NAESP PELS Fellow
Coordinator, Accelerated Learning and Intervention
Harford County Public Schools, Bel Air, Maryland
Andrea Danial, Ed.D.
Head of Lower School
The Ranney School, Tinton Falls, New Jersey
William Eger
Chief Business Officer, Ravenswood City School District, California
Ronald Fay
Principal
Rangeview High School, Aurora, Colorado
Amanda Goll
Assistant Principal, San Mateo-Foster City SchoolDistrict, California
Pam Greenblatt, Ed.D.
Director, Enrichment & Learning Center (ELC)
The Haverford School, Haverford, Pennsylvania
Linda Grobman, Ed.D.
Chief Academic Officer
Nobel Learning Communities Incorporated, West Chester, Pennsylvania
Christopher Hancock
Assistant Head of School for Student Life
Eagle Hill School, Hardwick, Massachusetts
Kiet Hoang
formerly Deputy Executive Director for International Education
Van Lang Corporation/Van Lang University, Vietnam
Dynell Kellyman
Associate Director Institute for Student Achievement, ETS , New Jersey
Julie King
Network Lead
The Buckley School, New York City, New York
Karen Kolsky, Ed.D.
Deputy Chief of School Operations
School District of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
John LePelley
Head of School
Cleveland School of the Arts, Cleveland, Ohio
Patricia Lesesne
Instructional Designer
reDesign, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Christine Mahady, Ed.D.
Principal
Greensburg Central Catholic High School, Greensburg, Pennsylvania
David Martin
Assistant Principal
New York City Department of Education, New York
Renee McCall
Headmaster
Excel High School, Boston, Massachusetts
Sarah McMenamin, Ed.D.
Director of Early Childhood Education Programs
Germantown Friends School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Kristy Miller
Fiscal Compliance Officer
Prince George’s County Public Schools, Maryland
Ryan Monaghan, Ed.D.
K-12 Supervisor of Instruction & Language Arts
Owen J. Roberts School District, Pottstown, Pennsylvania
Monica Palmer, Ed.D.
Dean of Faculty/Fine Arts Teacher
The Governor’s Academy, Byfield, Massachusetts
Curtis Palmore
CEO
The Community Charter School of Paterson, New Jersey
Wilbur Parker, Ed.D.
Assistant Professor – Educational Leadership and Science Education
Howard University, Washington, DC
Melissa “Missie” Patschke, Ed.D.*
NAESP PELS Fellow
Principal
Upper Providence Elementary School, Royersford, Pennsylvania
Juliette Pennyman, Ed.D.
Assistant Superintendent
Woodland Hills School District, North Braddock, Pennsylvania
Francisco Larraín Ríos, Ed.D.
Associate Dean
Universidad de los Andes, Santiago, Chile
Michael Roth, Ed.D.
Assistant Superintendent for Teaching and Learning
Southern Lehigh School District, Center Valley, Pennsylvania
Kathleen Sciarappa, Ed.D.*
NAESP PELS Fellow
Graduate Teaching Lecturer, Educational Leadership
Plymouth State University, New Hampshire
William Thomas
Director of Science
Mastery Charter Schools
Beth Vaccaro
Director of Instruction & Curriculum, Community Partnership Schools, Pennsylvania
Terence Williams
Principal
Benjamin Franklin Middle School, Teaneck, New Jersey
Eric Yoak, Ed.D.*
Assistant Principal
New York City Department of Education, New York
*Note: Fellows include sim authors from some of the Mid-Career Doctoral Program’s associated colleague organizations – AASA, NAESP, NASSP, and other programs at Penn GSE.
Cross-University Collaborations: Standardized Professionals (SPs) & In-Person Simulations
Developing Professional Judgement of Philadelphia School Principals
2018-Present
This project explores the application of standardized patient (SP) methodology to the training and assessment of school principals to gauge and develop professional judgment and leadership skills. A collaboration between the SP Program at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine and the PELS Program, this project involves the design and production of standardized parent, teacher, and/or student simulations involving stressful, culturally relevant situations that Philadelphia school leaders commonly face. Guided by current practitioner leaders, this project brings together a unique combination of research expertise, field experience, and cross-profession collaboration to begin to tackle this fundamental challenge in groundbreaking ways.
Serving LGBTQ Youth and Families: Preparing the Next Generation of Social Workers, Teachers, School Counselors, and Nurses
A Penn Futures Project
To better serve LGBTQ youth and their families – particularly transgender youth of color – there is a pressing need to expand training opportunities and curriculum content for the next generation of social workers, teachers, school counselors, and nurses. In 2017, faculty, students, and alumni from Penn Schools of Social Policy and Practice, Penn GSE, and Penn Nursing worked with partners from the Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania (CHOP) and The Attic Youth Center. Together, they reviewed classroom and field learning opportunities for Penn graduate students at all three schools, with the intent of preparing the next generation of clinical and educational professionals to better serve this vulnerable population. In January 2018, the interdisciplinary, live simulation brought together over thirty students and alumni from all three schools to experience and learn from a simulation focused on supporting the medical and mental health of LGBTQ adolescents in a school setting.
Program Leadership
Michael Johanek, Program Director
Michael Johanek, Ed.D., is a Senior Fellow at Penn GSE and Director of its Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership, Co-Director of the Inter-American Educational Leadership Network (IAELN/RILE), and affiliated faculty for the International Educational Development Program. Before coming to Penn in 2007, Dr. Johanek served as Vice President of Professional Services for Teachscape, a for-profit blended technology services company. He is the former Executive Director for K-12 Professional Development, The College Board, where he managed programs supporting over 500,000 middle and high school teachers, college faculty, coordinators, and administrators, including those involved in the Advanced Placement Program. There, he founded, developed, and managed a program development and operations department with responsibilities including new product development, in-person training, web services, electronic and print publications, regional office operational support, marketing and research. Committed to building and sustaining professional networks of educational leaders, Dr. Johanek actively explores and develops synergistic opportunities to bring together resources, ideas, and people to create innovative ways to support educational improvement.
Dr. Johanek is an editor of Repositioning Educational Leadership: Practitioners Leading from an Inquiry Stance (Teachers College Press, 2018) and author of Making Up Our Mind: What School Choice Is Really About (The University of Chicago Press, anticipated spring 2019).
Julie King, Network Lead
Dr. Julie King is Assistant Head of School at The Buckley School in New York City. Educated as a librarian and technologist, she began her career as a librarian with New York Public Library and in Wake County, N.C. public schools and has served in leadership roles in independent schools for more than 15 years.
Her work at the intersection of technology and literacy inspired her dissertation research in the University of Pennsylvania’s Mid-Career Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership, which she completed in 2020. Dr. King’s interest in the use of current and emerging technologies to support instructional practice and educational leadership development led her to connect with the PELS network first as a fellow and now as co-lead.
In addition to her experience as an educational leader in school settings, Dr. King has served as Co-President for the New York City Independent School Technologists group, contributing writer for IntrepidEd News, mentor for the International Boys Schools Coalition’s (IBSC) Action Research program and as a coach for Penn’s Mid-Career Program Data Informed Inquiry module. She has presented at national and international conferences for IBSC, the Association of Technology Leaders in Independent Schools, and the National Association for Independent Schools.
Antonio Vance, Network Lead
Dr. Antonio Vance is a co-network leader for the PELS program in the Mid-Career Doctoral Program. He serves as the Chief Schools Officer for Skyrocket Education, where he works daily to remove the barriers for underserved students. It is his mission to ensure leaders and teachers are adequately prepared to hold up a high bar of expectations for their community. With over a decade of experience, Dr. Vance has served as a teacher, school leader, and executive director for a charter network. He is well-versed in the challenges that schools face in their journey to achieve outstanding student outcomes.
Dr. Vance earned his Bachelor of Science degree from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his Master’s in Education and Doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Pennsylvania. Antonio has written multiple successfully-authorized school charters, lectures internationally, and continues to contribute to the growth of countless teachers and school leaders. In his spare time, Antonio enjoys being active (cycling, tennis), geeking out over science news, and traveling to new destinations.
Contact Us
If you would like more information on the PELS Program or are interested in becoming involved with this exciting innovation in educational leadership preparation and professional development, please send an e-mail to mcprog@gse.upenn.edu