Michele Mason

Closing the Distance Between Students and School System Leadership

Students know an equity champion when they see one. In recent CEL equity leadership focus groups, our CEL team asked students to describe their “hero principal.” Students shared attributes of a hero principal like “a history of fighting for social justice” with the...

Recent Posts

Fostering inclusion from the central office to the classroom

Each year the University of Washington College of Education convenes a series of webinars with education thought leaders to explore how we can center equity and leverage community voice to create more inclusive school environments and communities. In April the Center for Educational Leadership Executive Director, Max Silverman, hosted a conversation with two central office leaders, Dr. Ivan Duran, Superintendent at Highline School District, and Dr. Kelly An, Assistant Superintendent at Long Beach Unified School District.

Co-creating and leading with a vision for student experience

In March 2024, we hosted a webinar highlighting the journey of two educational leaders in co-creating and leading through a vision for student experience and learning. Superintendent Matt Galley and middle school Assistant Principal Cristal Campos are partners from...

Creating effective systems of principal support 

Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS), led by Dr. Adrienne Battle, is one of the nation’s largest school districts—serving more than 80,000 students across 158 schools. MNPS’s central office–called the Support Hub in recognition of the office’s role in supporting and...

Creating Conditions for Effective Instructional Coaching

Over my years working with instructional coaches and principals in school districts across the country, I have learned that the role of the instructional coach changes from district to district and even from school to school. I’ve observed coaches address practices...

Growing instructional leadership and sharpening the equity lens

Leaders at the Medford School District have been working with CEL to improve their instructional leadership and sharpen their equity lens since 2022. Through the Instructional Leadership Academy (ILA), leaders are learning more about gathering non-judgmental classroom observation data, understanding the current state of teaching and learning, and giving strengths-based, actionable feedback to teachers.

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