Overview
Sharpen your instructional leadership skills. Through the Washington Instructional Leadership Academy, school leaders will develop practices for collecting qualitative data, giving targeted feedback, and planning impactful, strategic teacher learning. Offered in partnership with the UW College of Education ConnectEd, this academy is designed for school leaders and leadership teams in the Seattle metro area and nearby.
What we’ll accomplish together
Through research-based theory and in-classroom experience, teams will sharpen skills to:
- Provide strengths-based feedback to support teacher growth
- Uncover inconsistencies in student learning
- Discuss instruction using qualitative evidence
Who It’s For
The Washington Instructional Leadership Academy is for school leaders—including assistant principals—and those who support them. Teams of two or more are encouraged to apply.
How it works
In the Washington Instructional Leadership Academy, you’ll be part of a collaborative learning community with a shared vision and language, solving problems of practice around teaching and learning.
This multi-session professional learning series includes 3 whole-group learning sessions and 3 small-group learning experiences in schools. Learning is grounded in the evidence-based 4 Dimensions of School Leadership™ and 5 Dimensions of Teaching and Learning™ frameworks.
During whole-group learning sessions, participants focus on:
- Deepening their understanding of the connection between how students experience instruction and equity
- Examining how implicit bias and privilege influence leadership
- Providing more effective, targeted feedback to teachers
- Planning strategic teacher learning that can have an impact right away
Embedded learning occurs throughout the year in local partner schools. These sessions offer an opportunity to apply new knowledge and skills in small group settings. Activities include:
- Conducting learning walkthroughs
- Observing how students experience classroom instruction
- Collecting concrete, unbiased qualitative data
What will be different?
- With a common language for effective instructional practice, leaders create responsive teacher learning opportunities across the school system and environments where all students thrive
- Leaders develop skills for analyzing teaching and deepening public practice towards an instructional vision
- Students gain richer classroom experiences as teachers grow
Across the year, WILA has helped me to be more intentional and reflective in my instructional leadership. It has encouraged me to focus more closely on the impact of instructional practices on student learning and to ground my feedback and conversations with staff in evidence from the classroom. Through WILA, I have worked to strengthen how I observe instruction, ask reflective questions and provide feedback that supports teacher growth.
Join the 2026-27 cohort!
Dates/times: 6 in-person sessions late-Sept — early March
Locations: Seattle metropolitan area + local partner schools
Cost: $1,350 per participant, with a reduced rate of $1,150 per participant for teams of three or more registering together. (Fee includes all learning materials, clock hours and lunch on full-group days.)
Application deadline: September 1, 2026
** Participants will receive up to 30 professional development clock hours.
Whole group and cohort learning session dates
Institute 1: 9/24
Learning Walk 1: 10/14 and 10/15
Institute 2: 11/12
Learning Walk 2: 1/6 and 1/7
Learning Walk 3: 2/3 2/4
Institute 3: 3/4