Leadership Programs in Action
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Leadership for Professional Learning Symposium
The Leadership for Professional Learning (LfPL) Symposium is a recurring series of events for educational practitioners, leaders, policymakers, researchers and school leaders. Participants connect around leading and enabling sustainable professional educational learning cultures.
Previous Leadership for Professional Learning events:
- Leadership for Professional Learning Symposium
Dublin, Ireland, June 2022 - Leadership for Professional Learning Symposium
Virtual, June 2021 - Leadership for Professional Learning Symposium
Cambridge, UK, June 2019 - International Teacher Leader Conference
Florida, USA, March 2017
Date: July 17-19, 2024
The Leadership for Professional Learning Symposium will be hosted in Santiago, Chile, by Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso from July 17-19, 2024.
Miami Teacher Leadership
We have proudly partnered with Miami Dade County Public schools since 2016 to support inquiry and leadership development in their Miami Teacher Leadership Academy program. Our facilitators work with teacher leaders, assistant principals and district staff to support their use of inquiry and Communities of Practice (CoP) as a vehicle for professional growth and continued collaboration within schools.
Hillsborough Early Learning Network
In 2018, the Lastinger Center partnered with the Vinik Family Foundation and the Early Learning Coalition of Hillsborough County to build and test the Hillsborough Early Learning Network (HELN). This early childhood professional development model is designed to transform educator and child outcomes in Hillsborough County, Florida.
Over three years, directors engaged in instructional leadership development experiences and completed online coursework that articulated to the Florida Director Credential and college credit. Teachers in the program completed online coursework that articulated to a Child Development Associate credential while also receiving personalized coaching to help them apply their learning in their classroom. Coaches at the Hillsborough Early Learning Coalition engaged in collaborative professional development to enhance their coaching capacity.
During the first three-year period of the initiative, HELN:
- Supported 814 teachers and indirectly impacted more than 8,000 students
- Improved educator content knowledge by an average of 30%
- Reduced program participation attrition by 50%
- Engaged key stakeholders to begin aligning professional learning supports to create a cohesive system
Contact Ellen Zinzeleta, Ph.D., at ezinzeleta@coe.ufl.edu to learn more about the Hillsborough Early Learning Network and how you can partner with us.
“Between the relationships I create in my workplace, the mentors and instructors in HELN, and the community of practice that I have come to know and network with, I have learned the power of community. I have learned that part of being a good leader/ director is embracing your team and realizing what strengths and gifts others bring to the table. This maximizes your center’s potential and creates a stronger unit that ultimately has positive outcomes for the children in our care and offers them a rich learning experience. Thank you, HELN, for the experience of a lifetime.”
Massachusetts Early Childhood Support Organization
The Lastinger Center’s Flamingo Early Learning system was selected as an Early Childhood Support Organizations (ECSOs) for the Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC) in 2020.
As an ECSO, Flamingo Learning provides instructional leadership development to participating program leaders, which includes one-to-one coaching and targeted online professional development courses. Currently, we partner with 19 programs, supporting 40 program leaders and more than 200 educators.
“Flamingo Early Learning has been a wonderful investment of my time. It brought a small team of my teachers together and they’re all finding it beneficial to their teaching styles. I appreciate the focus on supporting each other as leaders and strengthening our team as well as the entire program as a whole; I look forward to implementing what we’re learning.”