Aspiring School Leader Network

The goal of the Aspiring School Leader Network is to establish the mindset, leadership intelligences, and community of peers necessary for aspiring administrators to envision themselves as future learning leaders. This network is designed to serve pre-service leaders.

APPLICATION Fee: $750

Applicants may qualify for a $500 scholarship (awarded on a first-come, first-served basis) reducing the final registration cost to $250.

The Application Fee includes:

• IPA Aspiring membership
• All Network Sessions
• IPA Education Leaders Annual Conference Welcome Reception
• IPA Education Leaders Annual Conference (Day 1)
• Opportunity to add Day 2 of the Conference for $50
• Illinois State Capitol Advocacy Tour
• The Principled Principal: 10 Principles for Leading Exceptional Schools book by Jeffrey Zoul and Anthony McConnell

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the impact that learning leaders have on their learning organizations.
2. Explore the School Leader Paradigm, specifically investigating the intelligences that make you who you are as a leader.
3. Understand the administrative job search process.
4. Expand your tool box for leading deep systems change to improve learning through shared leadership.
5. Understand the value of a Professional Learning Network (PLN).

Leading Objectives

All members of the Network Team are experienced educators and school leaders. The Team Leaders will present the activities at all sessions which will be highly interactive and provide new learning, application strategies, pitfalls to avoid, reflection, and collegial sharing as well as resources and tools to support leadership development and actions. In addition, they will be available to individually support network members throughout the program.

Dr. Anthony McConnell, Superintendent, and IPA Consultant

Lemont-Bromberek Combined School District 113A

As a school administrator, Dr. McConnel has served as both an assistant principal and principal as well as an assistant superintendent. As principal of Kipling Elementary School in Deerfield, IL, Dr. McConnel led the school in construction of STEM learning spaces, implementation of 1:1 learning, and adoption of The Leader in Me process. In his final year as principal, Kipling was recognized as a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence. Read more about Dr. McConnell.

New principals, assistant and associate principals, and administrators face new tasks, responsibilities, and decisions on a regular basis and need an “expert” to not only coach but to mentor and provide instructional mentoring. As part of the comprehensive leadership development offered by the Illinois Principals Association, highly trained and experienced mentors are available to IPA professional development program participants and districts. Find out more here.