Page 6 - Leadership Matters February 2013_3140b78f.pub
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ISAL II kicks off with 22 Illinois superintendents
The second IASA School for
Advanced Leadership (ISAL)
cohort kicked off its two-year
journey on January 11 with 22
superintendents from around
the state as part of ISAL II.
Developed by IASA to create a
new level of leadership in public
education, the ISAL program
graduated 23 in its inaugural
class last August.
“Given all of the challenges
facing superintendents and
public education in Illinois, we
thought it was important to
provide a unique opportunity
through rigorous curriculum,
training and experiences for those men and women
who were willing to push themselves beyond what is
expected of a superintendent,” said IASA Executive
Director Brent Clark, describing why IASA began the
process of developing ISAL in 2005.
ISAL studies the role of superintendents through
five leadership lenses: facilitator of shared moral
purpose,
change
agent,
relationship/culture
promoter, capacity builder and coherence maker.
Participants must develop both a personalized
professional growth plan and a comprehensive
assessment to determine their school district’s
leadership needs.
The district assessment pathway includes such
things as:
Assessment of core organizational purpose
Data-based assessment of current state
Assessment of coherence (programs, processes,
policies to district learning goals)
Gap analysis and district performance goal
development
Leadership learning across the five research-
based lenses linked to student achievement
Professional district leadership planning with
benchmarking linked to student achievement
Ongoing
performance
coaching
The self-transformation as a leader pathway
includes:
Assessment of core values and personal vision
Assessment of coherence within leadership
practice
Gap analysis and leadership goal development
related to skills needed to accomplish the district
plan
Personal growth planning with benchmarking
related to leadership behaviors
Ongoing
development
coaching focused on
leadership behaviors
The facilitator for ISAL II is Nancy Blair, a
professor of leadership studies at Cardinal Stritch
University in Milwaukee and an author of three books
on leadership.
“I think the ISAL program is unique. I say that
because it compares to what we do in our doctoral
programs at Cardinal Stritch with regard to
transformational leadership,” said Blair, who also
facilitated the first ISAL cohort. “We work deeper than
most programs, from the inside out, and people come
to our university from all different fields, not just
education, because of that different focus.”
Dr. Nick Osborne and Dr. Gary Zabilka, both
IASA Field Services Directors, are co-chairing ISAL
II, which includes overall management of the
program and facilitating the planning and design
committees that help steer the project.
Each participant is assigned a “coach,” and the
coaching staff includes six veteran coaches from the
original ISAL, including retired superintendent Dr.
Christine Benson, Dr. Thomas Bertrand (Rochester
Community Unit 3A), Dr. Patrick Halloran (Morris
Community 101), Superintendent Scott Kuffel
(Geneseo Community Unit 228), Dr. Joseph Pacha
(Illinois State University professor and former
superintendent in Marion, Iowa), and Dr. Don White
(Troy Community 30C), who served as chair for the
ISAL II participants. A listing of the cohort can be found on page 8.
