AASA Leadership Network Partnerships: Unpacking the Power of Cross-Institutional Collaboration

We thought this newsletter offered a powerful opportunity to update our readers on the amazing range of cross-institutional partnerships currently underway. As you will see, this rich set of collaborations reinforces AASA and the Leadership Network as a catalyst for ensuring that our members access the very latest in educational trends and the leaders in our field responsible for transforming education as we know it.

1. Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning(CASEL): Non-profit CASEL defined social-emotional learning over 20 years ago and offers industry-recognized best content on SEL of any group.  AASA and CASEL have an agreement to create a toolkit using CASEL’s rich resource of SEL content-based resources to support our members’ knowledge and use of social emotional learning strategies to support learners.

2. Aspiring Principals Academy in Collaboration with NAESP (The National Association of Elementary School Principals): The Aspiring Principals Academy began July 21-22, 2019, at AASA headquarters. Gail Pletnick (Former Dysart ISD Superintendent) and Eric Cardwell (NAESP President) serve as AASA Network faculty.  The program uses a blended learning approach to prepare prospective principals for 21^st century leadership.

3. Consortium for School Networking (CoSN): CoSN released two major reports at the ISTE conference. AASA will co-brand digital learning content with CoSN.

4. National Principal Supervisor Academy in Collaboration with Center for Educational Leadership at the University of Washington: The third cohort for Principal Supervisor Academy launched in August. 2019.

5. JASON Learning: The AASA STEM Leadership Cohort in partnership with JASON Learning continues to grow its membership. AASA and JASON have entered into an expanded agreement in support of equitable access to STEM curriculum for all students.

6. Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI): The AASA Leadership Network has received an SEL curriculum and professional development grant from CZI. As a result, we will produce an extensive series of resources showcasing the relationship between SEL and effective district-level and school-based leadership. Additionally, CZI has agreed to support a partnership with Hanover Research to evaluate the status of SEL leadership and the inevitable stages of change required for SEL transformation.

7. International Center for Leadership in Education/Successful Practices Network (SPN): Bill Daggett and Ray McNulty continue to amaze us with their generosity of time and talent. The Innovation Cohort met in September. This partnership began with the Innovative Successful Practices Project where AASA and SPN studied 25 of the most rapidly improving schools in the fall of 2017.

8. Waterford Institute: While Waterford Institute has been a partner in our Early Learning Cohort since its creation, we are currently engaged with them in an EIR grant to serve rural districts in five Northwestern states. The grant is paying for 25 additional rural districts to join the Early Learning Cohort as well as augmenting the current work of the cohort.

9. International Thought Leader Network (ITLN, Orange Frog): AASA’s agreement with ITLN this year included presentations at eight leadership cohort meetings. Presentations involve district leaders who use the research materials to spur improvements in organizational culture and teamwork (core tenets of the Happiness Advantage).

10. National Excellence in School Leadership Institute (NESLI): NESLI continues to support AASA’s online learning programs.

11. Howard University Urban Superintendents Academy: Howard University continues to serve as a premier partner for the Urban Superintendents academy, now serving our fifth cohort. Howard University faculty and students participate alongside current and aspiring school superintendents, with the leadership of Joe Hairston and Sam King.

12. University of Southern California (USC) Urban Superintendents Academy: USC remains a model for high quality online professional learning programming. Our fifth cohort is well under way thanks to the support of USC and the leadership of Maria Ott.