Priority Areas & Program Development

In broad terms, the need for local civic-professional collaboration for school renewal arises from the limitations of external efforts to impel educational reform through policies and funding.

Public policies that emphasize achievement in core academic subjects for all children are juxtaposed with high levels of childhood poverty, limited English proficiency, and disabilities, which creates a challenging context for school renewal.

Renewal in PK-12, informal education, and higher education is supported when educators can work effectively across the cultures of schools, communities, and universities, modeling and fostering an inquiry stance that supports continuous improvement.

Working at the nexus of community demographics, local expectations for schools, professional priorities, and public policy requirements, principals have experienced perhaps the most rapid changes among education professionals.

Curriculum and instruction are at the forefront of many current concerns – how to broaden the school curriculum beyond the narrow focus of state tests, how to increase achievement in mathematics and science, how to make learning more equitable, and so on.