What we DO

For more than two decades, we’ve supported educators to grow their leadership skills and reconnect with their “why”. Combining research-based frameworks and resources with real-time, in-depth professional learning, we help leaders better understand and serve all students to reach their full potential.

The challenge.

In the United States, schools are not set up to meet the learning needs of all students. One key challenge is that teachers and leaders don’t always get the training and support they need to do their best work for students. Also, students’ ideas and experiences are often left out when adults decide what school should look, sound, and feel like.
Research shows that school leaders play an essential role in improving students’ experiences, but they can’t do it alone.

 

Our solution.

At the Center for Educational Leadership, we believe that meaningful change starts with leaders. We provide student-centered, contextualized professional learning that builds on the strengths of educational leaders—from the central office to the classroom—to help create schools where all students can achieve their dreams.

By working alongside leaders as thought partners, co-designers, and strategists, we strengthen their expertise and support them in making lasting, system-wide improvements that enhance student experiences. Our approach is grounded in deep listening, intentional learning, and collaborative problem-solving.

 

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Our professional learning approach.

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RESEARCH-BASED

By linking research to practice, we help leaders establish a shared vision and language to ground practice.

SIDE-BY-SIDE

We work alongside leaders to understand root causes, track outcomes, and tackle problems of practice in classrooms and across schools.
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CONTEXTUALIZED

We listen to what leaders are trying to accomplish and their why, and then we support their specific goals.

STRENGTHS-BASED

We build from strengths because leader expertise and experience matters as much as ours.
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INQUIRY-BASED

We help leaders reflect on the impact of their practice, deepen their own learning, and translate insights into actions.

COLLECTIVE

Learning is social. By tapping into the team's existing expertise, we help you foster a community of deep learners committed to action.

Why we take this approach.

We believe every student deserves to feel like they belong in school and to learn in classrooms where they are respected and challenged academically. To improve student learning, the quality of teaching must improve—and strong leadership is essential to making that happen. We believe professional learning for leaders at every level, from the central office to the classroom, should be system-wide and guided by real engagement with students.

We help school districts create lasting change that strengthens leadership, supports future leaders, and ensures instructional leadership is shaped by a shared vision for student success. Ultimately, we help leaders build schools where all students can be happy and proud.

Who are our partners?

CEL partners with leaders eager to improve and who consider learning to lead for equitable student outcomes to be their most important professional and personal work.

We work with school districts across the country, helping leaders build a shared vision and mission for schools where all students are happy and proud. By providing contextualize professional learning, we’re able to meet the needs of a wide variety of school systems in terms of size, geography and demographics. Our partners are large and small districts, rural, urban, and suburban. Working system-wide — from central offices to classrooms — we help districts get smarter about quality instruction to maximize their impact.

 

Sample of our current and past partners

Other partners include: 
Funding partner on equity and leader learning initiatives
Partner in district leader learning such as the AASA National Principal Supervisor Academy
Partner on high-impact leader learning in Minnesota
 Partner who provides professional development and technology for the 5D+ Rubric for Instructional Growth and Teacher Evaluation™
San Diego County Office of Education (SDCOE) Through our partnership, SDCOE provides CEL-designed Targeted Feedback Institutes to  California school districts