International School System Leadership Certificate Program
Developing confident, capable K-12 school system leaders who align goals, vision, and resources while inspiring their teams, strengthening capacity across the system, and advancing student achievement through an equity-focused lens.
Target Audience
All leaders who impact K-12 educational systems – Directors, Superintendents, Assistants, Program Leaders, Elected Officials, Ministry Personnel, Department Heads and other Municipal Department Heads.
Program Highlights
Six connected learning modules that build leadership skills progressively:
1
Leadership for School Improvement
2
Effective Schools and Systems
3
Building Relationships and Developing People
4
Data-Informed Goal Setting
5
Leading Classroom Instruction
6
Instructional Leadership Project Plan
Grounded in research linking student achievement to effective leadership, the ISSL Program equips system leaders to recognize and support strong practice across schools.
- Aligned with the ISL Program in content, strategies and structure
- Delivered in person across three 3-day sessions during a 12-16 -months period.
- Delivered in English supported by proven strategies that allow participants to collaborate comfortably in their first language, with key documents translated to ensure full accessibility.
- Experienced instructors who have led at school system and ministry levels – with deep expertise in professional leadership learning.
- Collaborative Learning and inquiry supported by structured protocols that build trust, shared vision, and system-wide coherence.
- Guided reflection and personalized feedback at the end of each module to support professional growth.
- Intersession application, allowing leader to test new practices in their own contexts and return ready to extend learning.
- Contextualized to local priorities, ensuring cultural, policy, and system relevance.
- Self-Assessments inform the contextualizing.
- Certificate awarded upon successful completion.
Oustanding Impact!
“The ISL program [both the school and system level programs] has made a huge impact on our school system and has created coherence and alignment for all our school and system leaders. We have become better using data and identifying key factors for school improvement and it has helped us lay the foundation for our framework. The learning and commitment have increased for everyone involved and by the power of collective learning we have built capacity within our teams. The program is a good mixture of theory and practice and the instructors were very professional and structured.”
Malmo, Sweden Director
Our ISSL Delivery
The ISSL has totally reshaped my views and ultimately my perspectives, and practice on the inner workings of moving our system forward!
The International School Leadership Program has better equipped me as a system leader. I now have focus, direction and a better understanding of my role as a system leader. From building relational trust, to the strategic use of data, and the professional learning cycle to drive student engagement and achievement ...
"Relational trust and cultural and emotional intelligence forced me to reflect on how I communicate and has cleared the way for me (and my colleagues) to speak forthrightly about issues relating to student achievement and data-driven decision making. We have started to focus on the more effective use of data to make the changes and the improvement we desire in our districts".
Inquiry Questions
Module 1:
Leadership for School Improvement
- How is understanding your “why” critical to creating the system “why”?
- What does current leadership research reveal about ways effective system leaders approach post-pandemic teaching and learning? How can you apply it in your system?
- Why is Fullan & Kirtman’s research on key competencies for system change so potent and relevant today?
- What, specifically, are your leadership strengths and areas for growth?
- How is a meaningful system-level leadership framework, collectively created to reflect international literature, able to improve your leadership practices?
Module 2:
Characteristics of Effective Schools and Systems
- How is your system performing? How do you know?
- What does current effective systems research reveal to help improve your personal leadership and system performance?
- How can your school system” be mobilized to build intercultural competencies, global citizenship skills, learning organizations and all-around better outcomes and performance?
Module 3:
Building Relationships and Developing People
- How does your system build capacity? How effective is your system? How do you know?
- What are we learning from effective systems using emotional intelligence (EQ) and cultural intelligence (CQ) to create inclusive systems that maximize school performance?
- Which personal leadership attributes are most helpful to practising system leaders today?
- Why is building lateral capacity, within schools, across systems and between systems, a key improvement strategy? What can you begin to do differently to build the capacity
- How will an understanding of leadership conversations build capacity?
Module 4:
Setting Goals and Expectations Using Data Informed Decision-Making
- How is data informing decision making in your system? Are you gathering the right data? How do you know? What additional data is required?
- Are your school and system leaders working hard and not yet seeing the improvements desired?
- What are the required system-level conditions that will help you build a high-performing, data-informed culture?
- How are effective school systems organizing, implementing and evaluating improvement plans?
What might you do differently to ensure improvement? - What are some recommended strategies for system-level communications to inform your decision-making and processes for monitoring and evaluating school improvement?
Module 5:
Leading Improvement in Classroom Instruction
- How effective are instructional practices in your schools? How do you know?
- How are you creating the conditions and supporting instructional leadership in your schools? How might instructional leadership frameworks strengthen the impact?
- What important system conditions are necessary to help maximize school leader efficacy and strengthen instructional leadership in your schools?
- How can leaders across your system be fully supported in their analysis of current system-level practices and potential new applications?
Module 6:
Instructional Leadership Project Plan: The application of theory to practice
- How can you incorporate all of your new learning into an actionable plan?
Engaging and Inspirational
"I like how the activities conducted puts you right at the cutting edge of the information shared in harnessing collaboration between teachers and system leaders for students' success."
Engaging and Inspirational
"Having more knowledge ... makes it easier for me to perform my roles and connect with school leaders to work collaboratively towards improving achievements in all desired areas."
Engaging and Inspirational
" ... is a great one. It brings out team collaboration, improves self-reliance and makes system leaders introspective."
Delivery Options
Onsite Program Delivery
Contextualizing the Program
- ISL and Client Introductory Meeting
- Participant Invitations to Online Learning Forum
- Participant Self Assessment
- Program Changes
Schedule
Session 1
Modules 1 and 2
(3 days)
lnter-Session Activities
- Submission of Personal Reflection
- Program Evaluation
Session 2
Modules 3 and 4
(3 days)
lnter-Session Activities
- Submission of Personal Reflection
- Program Evaluation
Session 3
Modules 5 and 6
(3 days)
Final Activities
- Submission of Personal Reflection
- Submission of
Instructional Leadership Project Plan - Program Evaluation
12 -16 months
Hybrid Program Delivery
Program may involve online and onsite delivery to meet the needs of the client.
Online Program Delivery
The contextualized modules will:
- be delivered over a 5-week period
- synchronous and asynchronous delivery
- require 2~3 hours per week of active participation