what it is

YOU Lead is a leadership development program for school professionals who aspire to deepen their leadership capacity for roles that they hold now and will hold in the future. YOU Lead combines asynchronous online modules, quarterly online intensives, cohort building, and 1:1 coaching to support the development of capacities and dispositions that are central to effective day school leadership. For the 2020 - 21 school year, YOU Lead is focused on designing for resilience to best support day school professionals who are taking on new roles and responsibilities and working with teams in new ways.

how does it work

The YOU Lead curriculum is designed to provide highly personalized support that promotes professional growth and addresses leaders’ most pressing priorities.

Each participant is matched with a cohort of individuals in similar roles in their schools as well as at similar points in their careers.

YOU Leaders participate in online learning modules and interact with a variety of leading experts in Jewish education. The modules are differentiated to meet the specific needs of each cohort, and the curriculum is “spiraled” so that participants at different levels of leadership can approach the same general topic with increasing levels of sophistication. The curriculum was developed with reference to our research into school leadership and will help you learn about and master the capacities and dispositions that are most important in Jewish day school leadership.

Each month, participants join a web-based cohort meeting, which focuses on dilemmas of practice. Throughout the year, each participant has an opportunity to present a professional challenge they are experiencing, and the group uses a protocol to help the presenter gain new insight into the challenge.

Twice a month, participants have confidential one-on-one coaching calls with their mentors to work through their most pressing leadership challenges and questions.

Four times a year, YOU Leaders come together for a half-day online intensive on topics that are core to the curriculum, including leadership capacities and dispositions, navigating difficult conversations, and setting personal and organizational vision.

who it is for

YOU Lead is designed for Jewish day school professionals with leadership responsibilities (not including current heads of school) who aspire to develop their leadership skills. For the 2020-21 program, we are giving special consideration to professionals whose roles have shifted or individuals taking on new responsibilities in light of COVID-19. Past participants have held roles including: Curriculum Coordinator, Principal, Judaics Director, Director of Teaching and Learning, Teacher Leader/Mentor, Admissions Director, Development Director, Director of Student Life, Grade-Level Dean, Department Chair, Director of Educational Technology.

By offering separate cohorts for senior, mid-level, and entry-level leaders, YOU Lead ensures that participants connect with other leaders who are confronting similar challenges. Acceptance into this program is competitive; typically, the program enrolls 30 participants a year.

why we offer it

For Jewish day schools to thrive now and into the future, school leaders need to be equipped with the skills, resources, and support to succeed. As day schools face unprecedented levels of change and uncertainty, effective school leadership has never been more important. YOU Lead was created to address the growing need in the Jewish day school field for targeted, practical training for emerging day school leaders. It’s common for educators to advance into administrative roles without training that prepares them for the demands of the work. Through YOU Lead we invest in emerging day school leaders in order to strengthen their leadership capacity for the roles they currently hold, and for the roles they will hold in the future.

cost

YOU Lead tuition is $3,000. Tuition is generally covered (at least in part) by the participant’s school. Scholarship funding is available.

how to get started

To apply to the 2020-21 YOU Lead program, complete the application by July 15, 2020.

Do you know an emerging day school leader who could benefit from YOU Lead? Nominate them here.

Questions? Contact Yael Steiner, Associate Director of Leadership Development.

“YOU Lead was so many things for me--both a theoretical and practical deep dive into the most pressing leadership and school issues and practices aligned to each season of the school year. I learned--quickly--about best practices for interviewing and hiring, for example, at the precise moment of strategic implementation. Perhaps most critically, however, YOU Lead was an opportunity to work closely and confidentially with a diverse network of school leaders. While private schools are so siloed, school leaders are even more isolated, and so this sort of supportive, collaborative sharing of professional challenges and solutions, of “dilemmas of practice”, was and continues to be a source of strength and growth for me.”