Growing your next leaders
Build the leaders your schools will need next, and keep what they learn.
CoLab hosts the cohorts behind your leadership pipeline, from aspiring leaders and principal apprentices to new principals, so they work on real problems with peers in the same role, all year.
The challenge
Leadership is learned in sessions, then practised alone.
Preparation is heavy on coursework and light on practice. Once leaders start, few have a mentor or a peer in the same role to call.
1 in 5
public school principals don’t return to the same school the next year.
NCES, Principal Attrition and Mobility Survey, 2021-22
46%
of principals say their preparation included the hands-on practice that readied them for their first year.
Learning Policy Institute, Developing Effective Principals
1 in 4
elementary principals had a mentor or coach in the past two years. In high-poverty schools, 1 in 10.
NAESP and Learning Policy Institute, 2020
A year in your leadership program
Preparing to lead
“The program is all theory. I want to see how real leaders handle it.”
Aspiring leaders work on real problems from their own schools, alongside principals who’ve done the job.
Practice, not just coursework.
Stepping into the role
“I’m a new principal, and there’s no one I can call.”
New leaders join a cohort of peers in the same role, with mentors a message away.
No one leads alone.
Midway through
“I only find out how the cohort is doing at the end.”
Program leads see the challenges coming up and who’s stuck.
Facilitators step in before the next session.
The next cohort
“When a leader moves on, what they learned leaves with them.”
The problems worked through stay, and graduates come back as mentors.
Your pipeline builds on itself.
What you’ll be able to do
Support your leaders while the cohort is still together.
Focus sessions on the challenges leaders raise most
Build a library of problems of practice your own leaders solved
Identify who’s ready to mentor the next cohort
More on insights
How we work with you
Your measure of success is ours.
01
Goals that matter.
We track what’s changing in schools, not logins.
Strong principal pipelines keep new principals longer and lift achievement. RAND, 2019
02
Built on what you have.
Your standards, materials and experienced leaders are the foundation.
03
A real partner, not a help desk.
Former K-12 educators, alongside your team.
Program runs with a university or leadership association? CoLab works alongside them.
For PD partners
