Transparent background

We develop leaders to create schools where adults want to work, students thrive, and everyone feels valued.

 

Why leadership?

Leaders are essential to creating exceptional schools. But too often, leadership development is lacking or doesn’t exist at all. 

We’re different. 

We build brave spaces. We cultivate community. We partner with leaders to disrupt racism, inspire staff, and champion rigorous learning.

 
 

School Leader Lab is honored to be a recipient of a $2 Million Gift from McKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving in recognition of our proven and potential impact.

Our Values

Own it

  • Start with self

  • Drive it like it’s yours

  • Get results

Bring Your Best Self

  • Clear is kind 

  • Celebrate with precise praise

  • Embrace vulnerability and growth

Center Liberation

  • Honor Black genius 

  • Acknowledge racism in yourself, your team,  your school

  • Take action to dismantle racist structures and systems

Better Together

  • Collaborate and be open to having your mind changed

  • Start with strengths, work together, and always seek to grow

  • Practice hospitality, and don’t be rude

 
 
Transparent background

Our programs focus on cross-school cohorts and school-based support, often paired with individual coaching.

 

Pillars of Work

  • Antiracism

    We support leaders to see themselves and their schools differently. Through brave conversation, they explore how to lean into their values to disrupt patterns of racism.

  • People

    We guide participants to discover their most authentic selves and develop meaningful relationships with the people they lead. We do this through emotional intelligence and adaptive leadership.

  • Academics

    We partner with leaders to raise the bar of rigor and cultivate the genius in students. Our approach to planning and data is model agnostic and works with any curricular vision.

Programs
 

Meet Our Program Participants

Chelsea Kirk is the executive director of Goodwill Excel Center, an alternative adult high school in Washington, DC. 

Brian Childs is an assistant principal at Hogan Preparatory Academy, a charter school on the east side of Kansas City. 

Brandon Johnson is the principal at Social Justice School, a middle school in Washington, DC.