Saturday July 10

The Leadership we need for the world we live in

Lew Smith is the founder and director of the National Principals Leadership Institute and the Panasonic National School Change Awards. He served as a New York City high school principal, executive director of a multi social service agency, and associate professor and associate dean at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education. Lew has worked with school districts throughout North America, including Antioch, CA; Newark, NJ; New York City; Rochester, NY; Saint Croix, VI; San Francisco, CA; and Winnipeg, Canada. Lew’s new book Schools that Change: Evidence based Improvement and Effective Change Leadership provides vivid portraits of eight schools that changed their culture and improved student achievement.

Soledad O’Brien is an anchor and special correspondent for CNN/U.S. She was part of the coverage team that earned CNN awards for its coverage of Katrina and the tsunami in Southeast Asia. Soledad covers political news as part of CNN’s “Best Political Team on Television.” Her recent project, Latino in America, was a wide ranging look at Latinos living in this country; how they’re reshaping America and how America is reshaping them. Earlier this year, Soledad reported for Black in America 2, a four hour documentary focusing on successful community leaders.

After serving on faculty at the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard Graduate School of Education, Pedro Noguera became Professor of Education at New York University and Executive Director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education. He has published more than 150 articles, monographs and research reports on urban school reform, conditions that promote student achievement, youth violence, and race and ethnic relations in American society. Pedro has also appeared as a regular commentator on educational issues on CNN, National Public Radio, and other national news outlets. .

Sunday July 11

Leadership, innovation and change

Robert Safian is editor and managing director of the award winning monthly business magazine Fast Company. He oversees all editorial operations, in print and online, and plays a key role in guiding the magazine’s advertising, marketing, and circulation efforts. Bob was named 2009 Editor of the Year by Adweek and recognized as 2008 Innovator of the Year by BtoB Media. Under his leadership, Fast Company has received numerous accolades: a two time National Magazine Award Finalist in 2009 and Magazine of the Year honors from the Society of Business Editors and Writers in 2008.

Convener Peter Negroni is Senior Vice President of Relationship Development at The College Board, charged with projects in Puerto Rico, Latin America and China. He is a career educator having served as a teacher, principal and community school district superintendent in New York City. As Superintendent of the Springfield public school system, Peter was named the 1998 Massachusetts Superintendent of the Year.

Case study: The Philadelphia Story

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Mayor Michael A. Nutter has set an aggressive agenda for America’s sixth largest city: implementing a crime fighting plan that has sharply reduced the homicide rate; an education strategy to increase the high school graduation rate by 50 percent and a sustainability plan that will reduce the city’s energy consumption. He has vigorously managed city government through a deep recession; taken advantage of Federal recovery funding to create new green collar jobs; and established a customer friendly 311 system.

Arlene Ackerman is the CEO of the Philadelphia Public Schools. Previously, she headed the Washington, DC and San Francisco school systems. Arlene facilitates and directs the Broad Superintendents Academy, which prepares senior executives from business, government, and education backgrounds to lead urban public school systems. In 2006 2008, she served as Professor of Practice at Teachers College, Columbia University.

School Change Stories

While NPLI focuses on research and theory, it is primarily driven by field experiences, practical applications, and school success stories. Today, institute participants hear presentations made by principals whose schools have won the 2009 Panasonic National School Change.

Monday July 12

The American Dream:Fantasy or fulfilled?

One of America’s most provocative public intellectuals, Cornel West has been a champion for racial justice since childhood. His writing, speaking, and teaching weave together the traditions of the Black Baptist Church, progressive politics, and jazz. The New York Times has praised his “ferocious moral vision.” Currently a professor in the Center for African American Studies at Princeton, Cornel burst onto the national scene in 1993 with his best selling book, Race Matters. The book is a searing analysis of racism in America, which became a contemporary classic, selling more than half a million copies. His latest book is Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud, A Memoir.

Leadership consultations

Unique to the National Principals Leadership Institute is the opportunity for each participant to review a leadership style inventory with a member of the Institute’s National Faculty. Each confidential conversation will help participants create an individualized growth plan by focusing on questions such as: What strengths do I want to build on? What area do I want to work on? How can I impact the success of all students?

Panasonic National School Change Awards Ceremony

This is the only award of its type in the nation because it recognizes and rewards significant school change. Between 2000 and 2009 there were 714 nominations from 44 states. The United States Department of Education and The American Association of School Administrators join us in conducting The Panasonic National School Change Awards ceremony in New York City each July. At that time, we salute the 24 finalists and six awardees.

Award Presenters

Larry Leverett is the executive director of the Panasonic Foundation, a corporate foundation with a mission to help public school systems with high percentages of children in poverty to improve learning for all students. Larry has been superintendent in Englewood, NJ, Plainfield, NJ, and Greenwich, CT.

Juan A. Fonseca has been a teacher, assistant principal, principal, and Deputy Superintendent of Instruction. Juan served as director of the National Principal Leadership Academy at the University of Delaware. Currently, he is Deputy Director of the National Principals Leadership Institute and the Panasonic National School Change Awards.

James Shelton is the Assistant Deputy United States Secretary of Education, responsible for Innovation, which includes the Department’s competitive teacher quality, school choice, and learning technology programs. Previously, he served as a program director for the education division of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; executive for New Schools Venture Fund; and founder of LearnNow, a management company.

Founded in 1865, the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) is the professional organization for more than 13,000 chief executive officers, superintendents, professors, and aspiring school system leaders around the world. In 2007, Dan Domenech brought his 36 years of experience in public education, including 27 as a superintendent, to the post of AASA Executive Director. His initiatives include AASA’s co sponsorship of the change awards program.

Teachers College

With its tradition of innovation and insights, Teachers College, Columbia University is one of the leading schools of education in the world. Founded in 1887, its legacy has been created by a long list of thinkers and doers that includes John Dewey, James Russell, Lawrence Cremin, Edmund Gordon, and Maxine Greene.

Tuesday July 13

Last month’s technology Gone by tomorrow

David Warlick has been a classroom teacher, district administrator, and staff consultant with the North Carolina State Department of Public Instruction. David operates The Landmark Project, a consulting and innovations firm in Raleigh, North Carolina. His classroom blogging site, http://classblogmeister.com, serves more than 100,000 users, and his attribution tool, http://citationmachine.net, receives more than a half million page views a day. David is the author of three books on instructional technology and 21st century literacy and has spoken to audiences worldwide.

Convener Charlotte Frank is Senior Vice President, Research and Development for McGraw Hill Education of The McGraw Hill Companies. Charlotte serves on the National Business Roundtable’s Education Taskforce, coordinates the Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize In Education, and co chairs, with Peter Yarrow, Operation Respect. She joined the company in 1988 from a nine year leadership role as Executive Director of the Division of Curriculum and Instruction for the New York City Board of Education.

Student Voices at Lincoln Center

How students view the present and imagine the future

We have asked students from the New York City Metropolitan Area to use drama, music, dance or pantomime to describe the times we live in. This experience will be staged at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and will allow for interaction between NPLI participants and the student performers.

Convener Scott Noppe Brandon is the Executive Director of the Lincoln Center Institute, the educational arm of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. He serves on the steering committee of the Arts Education Partnership and facilitates “Imagination Conversations” with leaders from diverse fields across the country. His new book, Imagination First: Unlocking the Power of Possibility, co authored with Eric Liu, was published in 2009. Scott is a leader of the “Arts in Education” movement and has helped design eleven schools nationwide.

Wednesday July 14

Expeditionary Learning

Unique to the National Principals Leadership Institute is a full day devoted to visiting successful organizations in the worlds of business, government, health care, the military and non profits. Each of the sites will focus on what they do in terms of diversity and equity issues. Teams divide their members to visit and experience how other organizations develop 21st century leaders. Projected sites are Coast Guard Academy, Colgate Palmolive, McGraw Hill, MetLife, NYC Police Academy, North Shore LIJ Health Systems, Panasonic,Time Warner, Volunteers of America, and West Point.

Highlights from the past four years have included:

Colgate Palmolive Company – Conducted seminars on Bringing Out Your Personal Creativity, Active Listening, and Coaching for Success. Participants received seminar books.
General Electric – Conducted an interactive and catalytic roundtable discussion on their award winning leadership program and led a tour of their facilities in Schenectady and New York City.
JP Morgan Chase – Explained their mandatory supervisors’ two day leadership courses Developing Leaders From Within and Nurturing Professional Relationships.
McGraw Hill Detailed their leadership training programs, which include succession planning. Participants received autographed copies of the presenters’ books.
Met Life Participants received copies of Coaching for Improved Work Performance and Who Moved my Cheese? prior to the visit.
North Shore Hospital – Shared how frontline teams implement change. Clarified how medical issues are handled by teams.
Pearson Education – Discussed how Jim Collins’ Good to Great is used. Conducted a hands on workshop using The Leadership Architect Competency Sort Cards. Each participant received a kit.
This year, every host site will highlight how they looked at themselves and revisited their vision.

Thursday July 15

The Green Revolution

Founded in 1882, The Sierra Club is the oldest environmental organization in the United States. Dedicated to safe and healthy communities, smart energy solutions, and protection of “America’s wild places,” the club combines grassroots organizing, lobbying, litigation, and public education to change the way Americans relate to the natural world. Allison Chin, as its President, has been an advocate for partnerships with community, justice, and youth groups, labor unions, national security experts, and green businesses. Previously, while working as a molecular cell biologist, Allison conducted research on Cancer/AIDS Drug Development.

Bob Deans is Director of Federal Communications in the Washington office of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), one of the nation’s leading environmental advocacy organizations. The NRDC works against urban sprawl, pollution, and habitat destruction, and promotes actions to mitigate global warming and increase the use of renewable energy. Bob co authored NRDC President Frances Beinecke’s 2009 book, Clean Energy Common Sense: An American Call to Action on Global Climate Change. Previously, Bob worked as a journalist, covering foreign policy, national security, economic affairs, and the White House.

Convener Peg Harrington is the Chief Operating Officer of Victory Schools, one of the nation’s most successful providers of school management and advisory services, supporting schools and school districts in the creation of outstanding public schools. Today, Victory works with charter schools in New York City, Yonkers, Albany, Philadelphia, and Chicago. Formerly, Peg served as the chief executive of school programs and support services (grades K 12) for the New York City public school system, where she had been a teacher, principal, and superintendent.

Internet, Facebook & Twitter = Public engagement

Selected by Utne Magazine in 2009 as one of fifty leading Change Agents, Maya Enista serves as Chief Executive Officer of Mobilize.org. At 25 years old, she is a veteran in the public service sector, having focused on voter empowerment and youth civic activism. She was National Field Director for the Hip Hop Civic Engagement Project, a project that grew out of the successful National Hip Hop Political Convention. Maya organized a 13 state campaign that registered over 300,000 new voters in the “hip hop generation.”

Convener Sy Fliegel is the President of The Center for Educational Innovation – Public Education Association (CEI PEA), a New York City based nonprofit organization that provides hands on support to more than 220 public schools in major urban school systems across the country and around the world. In 1975, Sy became the Director of Alternative Education for New York City’s Community School District 4 and began the transformation of New York City public schools described in his book, Miracle in East Harlem.

Friday July 16

Born and raised along the border in a small barrio in Laredo, TX, Consuelo Castillo Kickbusch is all too familiar with the challenges of poverty, discrimination and illiteracy. Nonetheless, Consuelo rose to senior officer rank in the United States Army and became the highest-ranking Hispanic woman in the Combat Support Field. Although on track for general officer rank, Lt. Col. Kickbusch, a twenty-year veteran, retired to found Educational Achievement Services. As a motivational speaker, Consuelo concentrates on equity and school reform issues. She is the author of Journey to the Future, published in 2007.

Evening Cruise Around Manhattan

An Institute tradition unfolds on the last evening, Friday July 17th. There is no better way to view the wonders of New York City than a peaceful ride through the rivers and bays surrounding Manhattan. While day slips into night, our Institute cruise features dinner and dancing.

Saturday July 17

Team Presentations
The image of the heroic leader, with the “silver bullet” solution has proven to be an unsuccessful model. Instead, the research on significant school change emphasizes the role of teams, which is why the National Principals Leadership Institute uses a team structure to drive the problem based learning. Each team’s work culminates with a presentation on the Institute’s final day, Saturday July 19.

The “magic moments”
IIt is difficult to describe the spirit, passion, and bonding created during the eight days of the Institute. There is celebration in completing the team’s plan. There is pride in gaining new insights. There is new energy and enthusiasm to bring home. There is magic, captured in three minute skits and songs presented by each tea.