As 2025 draws to a close, we reflect on another year of progress, resilience, and impact at the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL). Together, we have continued to champion equitable education systems and uplift youth, families, and communities nationwide. Your support has been integral to our mission. I’m excited to share highlights from the past year, as well as our aspirations for 2026. Together, we change systems through people.
Top 10: 2025 Accomplishments
- CSxFE 2025 in Minneapolis: Hosting the National Community Schools and Family Engagement Conference for over 3,400 attendees showcased innovative solutions to strengthen family-school-community partnerships. We are proud to continue this annual convening to increase understanding of educational disparities, and provide practical tools, strategies, and skills that attendees will implement in their own schools and communities.
- Growing our Networks: IEL continued to accelerate the development of adaptive, collaborative, and distributive leadership through our eleven peer networks (having launched our newest Superintendents network this year) to scale promising practices. We do this through the shared experiences of over 58,000 education and community leaders from across the country.
- Scaling our policy work to play a key role in shaping education discussions and systemic change: This year, we strengthened IEL’s role in shaping education policy by building advocacy capacity, sharing knowledge, and advancing issues that matter to our networks and communities.
- Expanding our Education Policy Fellowship ProgramTM: We convened our inaugural EPFP: Community Schools Cohort, designed specifically for our Community School network. Over the course of the Fellowship, participants built their advocacy skills to support the Community School strategy. The in-depth seven-week online program concluded with the Fellows’ Washington Policy Seminar (WPS) in Washington, D.C.
- Leadership Development Milestones: In addition to the Education Policy Fellowship Program, we also offered micro-credentials in Collaborative Leadership, cultivating new cohorts of equity-driven leaders. At our 61st Washington Policy Seminar, we also helped over 160 leaders build their skills and capacity around federal education policy-making and advocacy. We also launched a Midwest Systems Fellowship, designed to support local leaders navigating complex challenges of systems change.
- Activating Innovative Partnerships: IEL fostered deeper connections with current partners such as Attendance Works to continue delivering strategic content for leaders supporting students, and also solidified new partnerships with Clear Impact, Manhattan Strategy Group, School Leadership Alliance, the Cook Center, Deloitte, Julius Wilson Institute at Harlem Children’s Zone, Backrs, and more – to expand our impact in supporting partners with strategies, tools, and resources in serving children, youth, and families.
- Connecting with Communities: Throughout the year, we worked side-by-side with partners to support initiatives in their school communities, whether it be Community Schools, RAMP or Right Turn, or Family Engagement efforts. Seeing the work in action through site visits, conferences, learning labs, and other on the ground opportunities is always such a rewarding and meaningful part of what we do. From Hawaii; Eureka and Los Angeles CA; Lowell, MA; New Orleans, LA; Grand Rapids, MI; and so many other locations, we covered a lot of ground this year!
- Celebrating Community School Coordinators: Every year we honor Community School Coordinators across the country during our annual Coordinators Appreciation Week (CAW), held the third full week of September. Community School Coordinators work relentlessly to create and manage the partnerships that allow students to learn and thrive, and their work is the key to the successful implementation of the Community School Strategy. This year’s celebration was one of the biggest yet!
- Regional and National Convenings: From our town halls to regional convenings of networks and partners, IEL amplified local solutions with nationwide impact.
- Accelerating Place-Based Impact: IEL’s place-based strategies and initiatives work to serve the unique local contexts of each community, state, and region that we partner with. In Colorado, for example, we have been a critical partner in supporting the state’s growing Community Schools strategy.
Looking Ahead to 2026
In 2026, we’ll continue this momentum by:
- Strengthening local coalitions and grassroots leadership through technical support and capacity-building initiatives
- Hosting groundbreaking convenings, such as our 63rd Washington Policy Seminar and the National Community Schools & Family Engagement Conference in Long Beach, to spark ideas and connections that inspire systemic change
- Deepening our commitment to creating opportunities for all communities, particularly in historically under-resourced regions and neighborhoods of color, by elevating Black learners, supporting immigrant and refugee youth, and fostering safety and belonging for youth and families
- Scaling our impact through expanded career-focused mentoring programs like RAMP and Right Turn
- Expanding collaboration across public, private, and community sectors to ensure sustainable solutions for educational justice
This year has proven that when we lead with love, persistence, and a shared vision for a better tomorrow, we can make change together. I am deeply grateful to all our partners, staff, and supporters who have worked tirelessly to make 2025 a success, even in the face of many challenges.
You’ve stood with us all year, and we wanted to say thank you. This season of giving, we invite you to join our movement! Your participation and support make all of the above possible. Please consider a one-time gift or recurring donation to support this imperative work 🎁
Here’s to building an even brighter future together in 2026!
With gratitude,
Eddie Koen
President, Institute for Educational Leadership