The HOPE Foundation (Harnessing Optimism and Potential through Education) and The School Improvement Network (SINET) today announced The Courageous Leaders Network committed to building a professional community of educators that examine and develop best practices to improve achievement for all school students.  Using SINET’s industry leading PD 360 platform, The Courageous Leaders Network will facilitate an online community of learners focused on what’s working to turn around low-performing schools and sustain overall student success.  

The aim of the Network is to connect the readers of Alan Blankstein’s best selling book Failure Is Not an Option®: Six Principles that Guide Student Achievement in High-Performing Schools with one another and to other professionals focused on closing achievement gaps within their schools.  The HOPE Foundation will develop a three-part international Webcast series focusing on topics such as ‘Closing the Gap’ and ‘Assessment and Data’ to teach educators the solutions and techniques needed to sustain learning communities, stay motivated to face difficult situations and develop frameworks for success. This series will be available to Network members only.

“This new initiative provides us with a unique opportunity to further develop the collaborative culture needed for accelerating student achievement,” said Nancy Shin, Executive Director of the HOPE Foundation.  “Real change comes from administrators and schools taking a collective responsibility for student success and to support a Failure Is Not an Option® learning community. By reaching more educators, we reach more students.”

“Partnering with HOPE allows SINET to provide accessible solutions and services to educators on our web-based platform, which can help bridge the ‘knowing-doing’  gap common in professional development,”  said Curtis Linton, co-owner of SINET and the co-author of Courageous Conversations About Race: A Field Guide for Achieving Equity in Schools.  “We understand that for sustainable school improvement, educators must shift school cultures to assure high-quality instruction across the board – that’s what Failure Is Not an Option® does, and what this network will support.”

The Courageous Leaders Network (CLN) is an online professional development group created to increase courageous leadership across schools and districts by connecting like minded educators together. Members of the CLN will not only have access to the new Webcast series, but also online access to the complete Failure Is Not an Option® DVD collection, sample chapters of the Soul of Educational Leadership series and discounts for upcoming events and conferences.  This week marks the first CLN event in Carefree, Arizona.
 
About the HOPE Foundation:
Since 1989, the HOPE (Harnessing Optimism and Potential through Education) Foundation – a non-profit 501(c)(3), whose Honorary Chair is Archbishop Desmond Tutu – has led the way in tapping into the passion, collective wisdom and leadership within learning communities to create schools where failure is not an option for any student. HOPE helps build leadership capacity to sustain student success. 
 
About School Improvement Network:
Founded in 1991 by teachers, the School Improvement Network provides comprehensive, research-based professional development anytime, anywhere.  As the home of The Video Journal of Education, PD 360, and the Leadership and Learning Framework, School Improvement Network resources focus on the most relevant topics, feature the top experts, and show educators how to put theory into practice.   School Improvement Network works with thousands of schools and districts in every state and around the world and has visited over 3,000 classrooms to document best practices in action.  Learn more at www.schoolimprovement.com. 
  
About PD 360:
PD 360 is the leading, on-demand professional learning resource for schools and districts. Over 500,000 educators subscribe to PD 360.  Teachers, administrators, professional learning communities, coaches, mentors, instructional leaders and paraprofessionals have hundreds of indexed and searchable video segments that present real, best-practice classroom examples and feature respected education experts, such as Michael Fullan, Rick DuFour, Doug Reeves, Rick Stiggins, and many others available at their fingertips.  Educators can instantly find the help they need on nearly every topic, including differentiation, assessment, English language learners, leadership, and more.  PD 360 can also be used to create a structured learning experience for an individual teacher, a PLC, or even an entire school. PD 360 bridges the gap between training and classroom implementation with job-embedded follow-up, tracking, and reflection tools. PD 360 gives educators access to an online community of teaching professionals that allows interaction and collaboration either within a district or across the United States and the world. PD 360 includes nearly 1000 research-based video learning segments and is the most comprehensive web-based library of professional development resources available.  See a demonstration at www.pd360.com.
 
Where There is HOPE, Failure Is Not an Option®

Tags:   Alan Blankstein · Failure is Not an Option · HOPE Foundation · professional developmentNo Comments