This past school year I developed and implemented Beaufort County School District’s (BCSD) 1st Leadership Institute, designed to provide aspiring school principals with increased school leadership capacity. By all measures, our inaugural year was a huge success. The participants demonstrated excellent leadership growth throughout the institute. Direct feedback as well as anonymous survey feedback was extremely positive; and last but not least, members of the inaugural Leadership Institute filled each of the principal openings for this coming school year!
As an educational leader, it was a true pleasure to develop and implement the Leadership Institute. When asked what I enjoy about providing leadership development training, three specifics always come to mind. 1. School leadership has been cited as the #2 variable on student achievement, second only to teachers. So, if I can help develop excellent school leaders then I’m having a significant influence on student success. 2. It allows me to “give back” to all my mentors and professors by passing on lessons learned, and assisting in developing our next generation of excellent school principals. 3. It’s all about students: better school leaders lead to better students.
The Institute consisted of group sessions as well as field-based assignments for direct instruction and real-world learning. The Institute is design to incorporate practical application of leadership behaviors for effective school administration.
Session topics included:
Understanding and Developing Your Vision as a Leader
Building a Shared Vision
Curriculum Management
Instructional Leadership
Clinical Supervision
Assessment and Reporting of Student Learning
Program Assessment and Evaluation
Effective Management: Smooth Operations for an Effective Learning Environment
Building a Climate of Team-Based Accountability and Collaborative Support
Ethical Behavior: Trust and Trustworthiness
Relationship Building and Engaging a Diverse Community
Providing for Staff Development and a Collaborative Learning Culture
Understanding Change; Leading a Digital Learning Culture
Effective Communication: Written, Oral, and Other
Personnel Management
Organization, Time Management and Building your Leadership Team
Building a Master Schedule
Financial Management and Fiscal Resources
Reflective Practice: Leading Life-Long Learners
Dr. Dereck Rhoads 
The best part of this course was the practical application that could be put to use right away. The collaboration with leaders from different schools broadened my perspective.