Description of the Leadership Institute

Program Goals:

• Develop leaders for the unique role of Friends school headship.
• Develop leaders’ capacity and skills for the distinctive practices of Friends school governance.
• Develop leaders who are conversant with and practiced in Quaker pedagogy and decision-making processes and the peculiar art of sustaining the Quaker value-based ethos of a Friends school.

Program Design:

• Central to the program is a focus on the Quaker dimension of Friends schools.
• Participants work one-on-one with leadership partners who are successful heads of Friends schools (in schools other than their own).
• Participants conduct action research projects in Friends schools other than their own.
• Institute leaders include Friends Council’s executive director, Friends school heads, Quaker leaders, and external consultants in systems-centered educational leadership and change.
• The Institute provides an option for doctoral-level graduate credit with Fielding Graduate Institute.

Selection Criteria and Process

• Applicants must be nominated by their school heads for the Institute.
• Applicants must have a minimum of two years experience in Friends education with demonstrated leadership in their schools. Some teaching experience is desirable.
• Applicants submit essays on Friends educational philosophy and their own leadership capacity and commitment.
• Applicants attend group interviews, conducted by members of the Friends Council selection committee, to dialogue about their vision of leadership in Friends schools.
• The selection committee selects the cohort, seeking a balanced and diverse group with special attention to educators who are Quakers, people of color, and women.

Examples of Participants’ Topics for Action Research

• Assessing the long-term viability of Quaker leadership for boards of Friends schools.
• Comparing the policies and practices for “counseling out” students in Friends schools.
• Developing and implementing a faculty evaluation instrument in mentor’s school.
• Researching the dynamics of care relationships between Friends meetings and schools.
• Comparing the management of information by development offices in Quaker schools and independent schools.
• Documenting the dynamics of curricular change in an academic diversity project at mentor’s school.

Head's nominations and applications for the 2009-2011 cohort are due by January 2009.