School Leader Lab's Year in Review: 2024
School Leader Lab was still on break during January’s First Friday, which feels like an entire year ago. With that in mind, we bring you our 2024 year in review. Remember all those Spotify Wrapped’s that consumed your social media feed a month ago? That’s the vibe here.
We share our 2024 achievements with both humility and pride. These wins belong to our partners - Executive Directors and Superintendents investing in leaders who invest in teacher development and retention, school leaders creating conditions for school-wide success, and dedicated funders and supporters who advance our vision. Last year, we reached 60,000+ students through our programs for leaders across all levels of the leadership pipeline in both district and charter schools. We are all navigating hard, confusing change. In the face of it all, our mission remains: ensuring every child has a high-impact, long-time leader who is relentlessly committed to their success. We will get there, and through this, together.
Without further ado, I present to you our 2024 Year in Review.
500 Leader Milestone Achievement
We passed a historic milestone of supporting over 500 school leaders across 175 schools. Our 2024 closing surveys show 100% of participants across all programs reported deep impact on their leadership and would recommend our programming to peers - setting us on a strong path toward our 2027 goal of 750 leaders served. Said one leader, “I’ve done three different School Leader Lab programs at different points in my career and I’m always impressed that they just keep getting better.”
Record-Breaking Flagship Program
We welcomed our largest School Leader Cohort in organizational history: 19 principals and assistant principals from 11 DC charter schools. We continue expanding our support of public charter schools in DC and beyond.
Launch of Executive Leader Cohort (EdEx)
EdEx develops current and future C-suite leaders through practice-based Learning Labs, one-on-one coaching, and collaborative cohort experiences, focusing specifically on high-performing managing directors, directors, chiefs, and accomplished principals who drive strategic change. EdEx exceeded enrollment targets by 40% with an overall 3.9/4.0 (98%) satisfaction rating after our first five sessions.
Exceptional Program Impact
Our work is only powerful if it is creating meaningful change in schools. 92% of supervisors reported positive growth in their leaders and 98% of direct reports confirmed improved leadership practices among our participants. Check out a quote from one of our School Leader Cohort supervisors to the right.
Strengthened DCPS Collaboration
We expanded our partnership with District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) through year two of Assistant Principal Leadership Academy (APLA), Leadership Academy support, and the DC PLC in collaboration with TFA DC & VA. We are grateful for the generous support of Education Forward DC and The Aviv Foundation for making these programs possible. Check out Rashad (APLA 2023) and Joherra (APLA 2024) in their cohort fleeces at our inter-cohort mix and mingle.
Richmond Public Schools Partnership Launch
We launched RPS Lead 2025, supporting 15 principals and assistant principals marking the beginning of our three-year partnership with Richmond Public Schools with support from The Richmond Ed Fund. One leader called our kick off session "one of the best professional learning experiences I've ever had."
Expansion into the Mississippi Delta
Based on the success of our partnership with Teach for America DC & VA to provide the DC PLC, we launched DeltaStrong PLC with Teach For America Delta Region. The program brings together ten Delta principals through our model of monthly school visits and collaborative learning to increase leader impact and longevity.
National Recognition
We presented at the Wallace Foundation’s Equitable Pipeline convening in New Orleans on leadership pipeline support, partnered with The D.C. Policy Center on leader retention, and co-hosted an EdLoC gathering with The Aviv Foundation, The Cahn Fellowship, The National Charter Collaborative, and The Diverse Charter Schools Coalition. Our Executive Director also delivered influential testimony to the DC Council on teacher and principal retention.
New Permanent Home
We moved into a three-room office suite, creating our first dedicated space large enough to host our cohorts and providing our partners with a venue for their own gatherings and professional development. This new home represents organizational growth and strengthens our ability to build community and collaboration among our partners.
Strategic Board Expansion
We welcomed three dynamic new board members: Gene Pinkard, who brings senior DCPS leadership experience and is the President of Instruction Partners after previously serving as Director, K-12 Leadership, Education and Society Program at the Aspen Institute; Jonathan Caldera, a School Leader Lab founding cohort alumnus and current principal; and Raymond Weeden, Executive Director at Thurgood Marshall Academy who is both an alum and supervisor of several participants, bringing dual perspective to our work.
What’s next?
We continue focusing on leadership development at every level of the pipeline, leveraging our newly developed Leadership Pipeline in Education tool based on Ram Charan’s text. Interested in learning more? Reach out to hello@schoolleaderlab.org.
We’re thinking about ways to support schools through a changing federal landscape. Here’s a helpful resource that we created, in case you missed it.
We’re launching recruitment for EdEx 2025 and SLC 2025 soon. Stay tuned!
We continue to support our alums through new programming and intentional gatherings.
