National Institute for School Leadership, Inc. (NISL) | National Center on Education and the Economy (NCEE)
Program Summary
Introduction
NISL is an executive leadership program that is deeply grounded in both research and practice; it is focused on improved instruction leading to higher student achievement; and it is cohort-based in creating professional learning communities. NISL tailors its executive development program to the needs of local school districts, and it focuses on district, regional, and state issues. The program builds capacity within school districts by training district leadership teams who in turn train their own principals and other school leaders. This training assists state, district, and school leaders to effectively communicate their vision and strategy for raising student achievement.
Theory of Change
We believe that great schools have great leaders—we have never seen a great school that did not. NISL’s theory of change relies on the premise that effective school leadership translates ultimately into increased student achievement for all. In fact, we are working with the Consortium for Policy Research in Education (CPRE) to investigate that very proposition in the resuts we are getting. With the close collaboration of senior officials in client districts, we have focused NISL on changing the practice of administrators to become instructional leaders in their schools, honing and enriching their actions with best practices, focusing full attention on student achievement, and creating ethical learning communities that drive for sustainable results. For NISL to be most effective, we need the full commitment of the most senior leaders—forging improvements throughout the instructional systems. From strategy to tasks, everyone needs to be on the same page of concepts, strategies, and actions.
Definition of Leadership
Specifically, we agree with Richard Elmore that instructional leadership is the guidance and direction of improved instruction—leading to higher student achievement.
Mission Statement
NISL focuses both on driving low-performing, urban schools to radically increase student achievement and on assisting leaders to make good schools great ones. NISL develops school leaders to drive their schools to high performance and builds district capacity to leverage and sustain improvement.
Costs
The price for NISL’s Leadership Team program is $12,000 per leadership team member (payable as follows: $6000, $4000, $2000 over the two instructional phases plus technical assistance in a third phase). The price for the Principals Program (taught by the state or district leadership team members once certified) is $5,000 per principal for the two-phase program (payable as follows: $2,500 for each of the two phases). There are discounts available for large numbers of principals. These prices are subject to change once the initial partners have matriculated into the program.
Licensure
At this time NISL does not fulfill any licensure requirements—although there are the beginnings of discussions about this subject at state and district levels. Through the superintendents NISL does fulfill professional development unit requirements for school leaders in several districts and states.
Standards
The program is based in large measure on the Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) standards.
Measuring K-12 Student Success
We continue to collect and analyze formative and summative evaluations of the training program by participants—what did they learn and how are they applying what they have learned. These evaluations are not part of a formal study.
Contact
Bob Hughes, Vice President
National Institute for School Leadership
555 13th Street NW Suite 500W
Washington DC, 20004
Phone: 202.783.3668 | Fax: 202.783.4320 | Email: bhughes@ncee.org
More Information
Disclaimer
e-Lead provides information on professional-development programs for school leaders that have submitted detailed information and that also meet certain standards-based criteria. Programs listed at the e-Lead website are not endorsed by either the Institute for Educational Leadership or Temple University's Laboratory for Student Success.