*Please note that completing this application does not secure your place at the Institute. You will receive follow up confirmation in May.
Thank you for your interest in the 2024 Instructional Leadership Institute. By submitting this form you are applying to attend a two-day in-person and half-day virtual learning experience.
The Institute will occur at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA:
Instructional Leadership Institute (ILI) is a conference co-developed by the Center of Instructional Support (CIS) and the Center for School and District Partnerships (CSDP). In its second year, ILI was launched to create a learning space for school and district leadership teams to deepen their understanding of high-quality instruction as defined by DESE’s Educational Vision and the Standards of Effective Practice, and to refine or develop equity-centered instructional leadership routines and structures that support implementation, especially in ways that lead to improved access and outcomes for all learners.
This Institute will be a high-engagement learning experience. DESE and other partners will provide teams with the opportunity to learn from and with their peers across the state and explore instruction through an equity lens and develop the systems necessary to support high-quality instruction within their respective roles. Districts can consider sending teams of 3-8 individuals.
Participant Experience Overview: Participants will have the option to select from two tracks. We encourage school/district teams to disperse members across tracks based on interests and roles in order to maximize learning. There will be structured team time on Day 3 where teams will meet to share their learning together and plan next steps.
TRACK A - Educators and Coaches: Intentional Planning that Transforms Student Outcomes: This track is designed for participants who desire to delve deeper into the concrete actions and practices that support the skillful implementation of high-quality instructional materials and effective use of culturally and linguistically sustaining practices in ways that foster deeper learning. Participants in this track will be able to examine these practices further within STEM or humanities-specific sessions, which will be selected during registration. Participants may also have responsibilities connected to coaching and/or establishing and monitoring instructional expectations within specific content areas (department chairs, content leads, etc.); therefore, content in this session will unpack protocols and planning routines that support skillful instruction (e.g., unit and lesson internalization, equity pauses, observation protocols, and examining student work). While both tracks will examine the effective implementation of HQIM and high-quality instruction, these sessions will spend more time making explicit connections to standards and unpacking sample instructional materials and CLSP practices within the implementation.
TRACK B - Leadership: Designing Systems and Structures toward Equitable Outcomes: This track is designed for leaders whose responsibilities include establishing and communicating school and district-wide instructional visions, setting expectations for effective practice, and developing effective professional learning systems and structures to support key instructional shifts and improved student outcomes across many content areas. Participants will unpack the key characteristics of skillful implementation by examining the effective use of culturally and linguistically sustaining practices to foster deeper learning and strengthen student outcomes. Content within sessions will cycle through artifacts and examples across STEM and Humanities in order to provide participants with opportunities to consider applications in the wide range of content areas they may support. Participants will also examine practices and routines that strengthen progress monitoring, continuous improvement, and coherence within and across the system.
On this team, there should be at least one person who serves in the following ‘roles’:
-
Executive sponsor: likely a superintendent or assistant superintendent, someone who has a broad platform in the district and access to funding and executive authority to oversee this work
-
Instructional experts and coaches: likely a curriculum director and/or subject matter experts (i.e. instructional coaches) at the district or school level who brings expertise in specific instructional areas
-
Special population experts: likely a MLL or Special Education director who brings expertise about what is needed to support special populations in your district
-
School level professional: likely an influential principal in your district who can bring the school level perspective to supporting instruction and also help engage in the instructional practices and systems from the sessions
-
Teacher leaders: likely school-level teacher leaders with interest in deepening their practice, as well as interest in helping to design instructional systems at their school.
We hope to accommodate as many teams as possible but will confirm participation via email after the application has closed.