Inspiring Growth

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Inspiring Growth

Academy gives Florida's educational leaders a safe and supportive learning space

By Stephen Fink and Anneke Markholt

June 2017

Vol. 38 No. 3

In her 24 years as an educator, Principal Lori Duckstein has experienced many kinds of professional development aimed at improving leadership and instruction. And, like school leaders and teachers everywhere, she has completed many one- and two-day training workshops only to return to her school and reflect on her learning in isolation. Recently, though, Duckstein and her colleagues in Florida’s Hendry County District Schools have embraced a new approach to professional development — an approach that has them excited about the possibilities of transforming professional learning and practice at every level of their district. Duckstein and Jodi Bell, district director of federal programs, took part in a yearlong training curriculum through the Florida Department of Education that left them saying, “This is what our county

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Authors

Stephen Fink and Anneke Markholt

Stephen Fink (finks@uw.edu) is executive director of the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership and affiliate professor of educational leadership and policy studies in the University of Washington College of Education. Anneke Markholt (markholt@uw.edu) is associate director of the University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership. Fink and Markholt are co-authors of Leading for Instructional Improvement: How Successful Leaders Develop Teaching and Learning Expertise (Jossey-Bass, 2011).

References

Fink, S. (2015). School and district leaders as instructional experts: What we are learning. Seattle, WA: Center for Educational Leadership, University of Washington.

Jerald, C.D. (2012). Leading for effective teaching: How school systems can support principal success. Seattle, WA: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership. (2007). Improving instruction: Developing the knowledge and skills of school leaders (Research Brief III). Seattle, WA: Author.

University of Washington Center for Educational Leadership. (2012). 5 Dimensions of Teaching and Learning: Instructional framework version 4.0. Seattle, WA: Author.