I am grateful for the more than 30 years that I have been at IEL, the last eight, as president. Connecting leaders from grassroots to grass tops has always driven my work. It’s a principle that is even more important in this era of the “devolution revolution,” with the federal government reducing its commitment to […]

IEL’s board of directors appointed Dr. Johan E. Uvin as IEL’s sixth president. Previously, Uvin was the Acting Assistant Secretary for the Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education at the U.S. Department of Education. “The IEL board is grateful for Marty Blank’s leadership over the past eight years. Marty has transformed IEL into a

Recent growth of a “culture of health” has included the principle that health is influenced by complex factors that must be addressed by collaborating systems. More than 25 years ago, IEL and the National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality supported the National Health/Education Consortium, a group that advanced cross-boundary community health solutions and the notion that

Seven years ago, IEL created a stem- and career-focused mentoring model for transition-age youth with disabilities involved or at risk of becoming involved in the juvenile justice system. Funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, IEL’s Ready to Achieve Mentoring Program (RAMP) was recently awarded its fifth RAMP grant, this one for $3 million. These

Reuben Jacobson, deputy director of IEL’s Coalition for Community Schools, recently published a report with Brookings. He emphasizes that the institutions of a neighborhood are vital to its health and economic strength, and public schools are one of the most important shared institutions. They function not only as centers for providing education but also as

IEL mourns the tragic events that occurred this summer. We mourn Alton Sterling (Baton Rouge, La.) and Philando Castile (Falcon Heights, Minn.), whose lives were tragically cut short during encounters with police. Deaths like these are too common in our communities. We mourn the murder of Officers Smith, Ahrens, Krol, Zamarripa, and Thompson in Dallas.

In July, the IEL-based Appalachian Higher Education Network (AHEN) held its annual conference with the theme “Family. Institution. Community. Self.” These are the four pillars of student success as developed by Dr. Aaron Thompson, interim president of Kentucky State University and keynote speaker at the event. AHEN is supported by the work of three mentors:

Martin J. Blank, president of IEL since 2009, will step down after a planned transition and search. After 25 years with the Institute, Marty will leave his position in early 2017 after a successor has been named. He will continue as the director of IEL’s Coalition for Community Schools until a new Coalition director is

Over 60 years after Brown v. Board, the education system is still struggling with segregation, the opportunity and achievement gaps, school funding discrepancies, and improving outcomes for all young people. In 2007, Dr. Claude Steele, then at Stanford University, delivered the seventh annual Jacqueline P. Danzberger Memorial Lecture on stereotype threat and why understanding it

IEL’s board of directors named Kent McGuire as its new chair last November. A longtime supporter, he joined the board in 2002 and is a 1981 alumnus of IEL’s Education Policy Fellowship Program. A recent Education Week commentary he co-authored calls for states to prioritize community schools in state education reform. The article was based on

As the new Every Student Succeeds Act shifts more responsibilities back to the state and local levels, the roles of school boards continues to be paramount. In 1986, IEL authored the report School Boards: Strengthening Grass Roots Leadership, which identified indicators of effective school boards. A few of these board indicators include investment in board development,

Career readiness has been an important consideration of U.S. public education since the early 20th century. In 1994, two leaders in the workforce development field—Joan Wills, founder and former director of IEL’s Center for Workforce Development, and Irene Lynn, former leader of the National School-to-Work Office—came together to provide insight on what motivated involvement in

During spring cleaning earlier this year, IEL got new chairs for the office’s conference rooms, but didn’t want the old ones to go into the trash. Instead, Maame Appiah, Director of Operations & Network Development for IEL’s Coalition for Community Schools, sent them to Ghana. Maame’s family members run Mother’s Love Kids Foundation Centre, a

In 1991, Martin J. Blank—who became IEL’s president in 2009—led a task force commissioned by the U.S. Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, a major step forward for interagency collaboration. The group brought together leaders from across the country to think together about communicating the importance of school-community partnerships. The work of this

From June 22-24, over 1,100 educators, parent leaders, community partners and district leaders from 47 states, Australia, the Netherlands, and the Philippines gathered at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago for the 2015 National Family and Community Engagement Conference. Guided by the conference theme, Shaping our Future by Leading Together: Families, Schools, Communities, participants embraced

In 2000 and 2001, IEL released a four-part series entitled Leadership for Student Learning. A product of IEL’s School Leadership for the 21st Century initiative, the series raised public awareness about problems facing education leadership. The series addresses how educational leaders can be effective to lead successful students and schools. The initiative successfully brought many

IEL and the American Youth Policy Forum (AYPF) hosted the inaugural Samuel Halperin Lecture and Youth Public Service Award. The lecture and award serve as a tribute to Halperin, a former IEL president and AYPF founder, who dedicated his career to advancing education, workforce, and youth policy. This year, the Ford Foundation’s Hilary Pennington was

IEL is convening the 2nd National Family & Community Engagement Conference—Shaping Our Future by Leading Together: Families, Schools, and Communities—in Chicago from June 22-24. The conference will lift up the work taking place across Chicago and Illinois. While honoring local and regional work, this year’s conference will examine other innovative initiatives across the country through

In 2000 and 2001, as part of our School Leadership for the 21st Century work, IEL released the Leadership for Student Learning series, raising awareness about crises facing education leaders. Topics included “Reinventing the Principalship,” “Redefining the Teacher as Leader,” “Recognizing the State’s Role in Education,” and “Urban School Leadership.” Although the series is now

IEL’s Cross-Boundary Leaders for Education and Equity Symposium created an objective, open-minded, nonpartisan space where leaders could come together to discuss complex issues facing public education and explore forward-thinking solutions. The Symposium consisted of three panels: Preparing Leaders for Public Education Family Engagement in Education Pathways to Success READ MORE AND WATCH THE VIDEOS…

The Institute for Educational Leadership has always been ahead of the curve. In 1985, Harold Hodgkinson, a renowned demographer who ran IEL’s Center for Demographic Policy, published a seminal report, All One System: Demographics of Education, Kindergarten through Graduate School. The report was significant in laying out trends we see today – a growing number