Preparing Leaders

Transformative, visionary, inspiring, life-changing, empowering: Words that IEL’s Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP) alumni use to describe their EPFP experience, whether they were in the program last year or fifty years ago. EPFP focuses on three pillars: policy, leadership, and networking. This approach invites leaders learn from each other across systems. EPFP has graduated over […]

Shital C. Shah is the assistant director of educational issues at the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). In this role, she works across AFT departments to help examine and develop policy for and to support implementation of AFT’s community schools area of work around whole school reform and provides support and training to state and

The debates over the appropriate federal role in education have been persistent for decades, oscillating between the federal government and the states with regards to scope, strengthening, and responsibility. The new federal Every Student Succeeds Act represents the latest recalibration and the tenuous nature of the federal-state relationship. Dr. Michael Usdan, IEL senior fellow and

From July 17-21, IEL and East Carolina University hosted the 2016 Summer Leadership Learning Exchange in Greenville, NC. Leadership learning exchanges are one of the offerings under IEL’s Leaders for Today and Tomorrow (LT2) initiative.  Roughly 75 participants were part of this year’s summer learning exchange, including teams of district administrators, principals and assistant principals,

Gay Kingman (DC EPFP 79-80) is the executive director of the Great Plains Tribal Chairman’s Association (GPTCA) and the Coalition of Large Tribes. GPTCA—which is made up of tribal leaders from 16 sovereign nations from Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota—meets regularly to make administrative decisions and review legislation affecting all Tribal Governments. As the

IEL and East Carolina University are hosting a Summer Leadership Learning Exchange July 17-21, 2016. Breathing Joy and Justice into School and Community Leadership is an interactive, four-day institute utilizing the latest research on achieving collective impact for equitable and excellent schools. School- and community-based teams—including school leaders, teachers, middle and high school students, counselors,

In April, the Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP) hosted its 52nd Washington Policy Seminar (WPS). The four-day annual capstone event that convenes EPFP Fellows from across the country welcomed 300 Fellows from 17 sites—our highest WPS attendance ever. The theme, Presidential Politics and Education Policy, explored the evolution of the role of the president and

As the president of Excelencia in Education, Sarita Brown is a tireless advocate for Latino success in higher education. Brown spoke with the Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP)—she was a member of the 1984 Texas cohort—and shared her thoughts on what policymakers and higher education leaders should know about Latino students and how they can

External accountability, high-stakes testing, and a focus on international rankings dominate much of the global education reform conversations. What will it take to flip the system and empower those closest to the children and youth—our teachers—to redesign an equity-driven approach to education? IEL recently penned a piece on strategies and practices that schools use to

In November, district leaders from across the country gathered in Nashville, Tenn. a learning lab focused on family and community engagement practices and strategies. Leaders also had the opportunity to participate in a district-wide family engagement summit to learn more about Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools’ efforts in this area and to hear from community-based organizations