The Consortium for Public Education offers two major initiatives—Leadership Design/Building Leadership Teams and the Middle-High Forum—aimed at helping Southwestern Pennsylvania’s public schools make the systemic improvements that lead to overall excellence.

Leadership Design Teams/
Building Leadership Teams
Working with teams in districts and their individual schools has been a key strategy since The Consortium’s inception.  Whether at the district level or within a building, these teams provide inclusive forums to discuss improvement issues and to make collaborative decisions. Consortium staff members assist in developing the teams and facilitate their operation. There are minimum membership requirements and general protocols meant to broaden the base from which decisions are made, encourage trust and provide confidence to tackle problems large and small. To function effectively, team members must each make a commitment to regularly attend monthly meetings at which all voices are considered equal.

District Leadership DesignTeams have minimum membership requirements that call for participation of: school board representatives; administrators, including the superintendent, business manager and principals from each school; a peer-selected teacher from each building; the teacher association president; and representatives from support staff including secretarial, maintenance, custodial and transportation. The Consortium also sets criteria governing the number of meetings Leadership Design teams must hold, the interaction between district and building teams, data collection, dissemination of information and other issues. Teams also must agree to participate in the annual spring Leadership Retreat that the Consortium convenes.

Building Leadership Teams interact with district Leadership Design Teams and keep building staff informed of all district Leadership Design Team actions. At a minimum, Building Leadership team participants include the school principal; anywhere from four to six peer-selected faculty; support personnel representatives and an Open Chair, to be filled by other relevant parties on an as-needed basis.

While The Consortium sets minimum team requirements, team members may expand participation as they see fit. For example, some district Design Teams may choose to have Open Chairs or some Building Teams may decide to invite student representatives to join them periodically. Some teams also choose to include community members.

Support: Questions about the Leadership Design and Building Leadership teams may be directed to Linda L. Croushore, Ed.D., at 412-678-9215, or lcroushore@tcfpe.org

Middle-High Forum
The Middle-High Forum is a medium for teams of educators to improve their districts by focusing on the major transitions students make during their school careers, particularly from the middle grades through high school. These are the critical junctures at which performance can falter. Attendance lapses, discipline referrals and class or grade failures can be early warnings of eventual dropout. Timely interventions not only may improve performance, but also graduation rates.

The Program is offered in cooperation with Duquesne University’s School of Education. The Forum affords structured opportunities to develop, implement and measure the success of interventions to make critical transitions seamless. Teams of teachers, counselors and administrators are supported with cutting-edge research and coaching. Together, they develop plans, and evaluation methods for their individual districts. They also benefit from networking within a professional learning community. Each of their interventions becomes a lens for looking more deeply into systemic problems. The teamwork lays a foundation for enhanced communications, a more cohesive culture, collaborative leadership and continuous improvement.

The Goal is to create a journey through middle and high school where all kids are cared about, thrive and succeed.

Benefits of participation include leadership development within and across buildings and districts; strategic thinking; a framework for continuous improvement; action plans; stronger communication between middle and high schools, teacher leadership and team development.

Program Design includes five full-day meetings each year, with coaching and support for data collection and evaluation; retreats for visioning, planning and reflecting; expert consultants and guest speakers and networking within a professional learning community.

Outcomes are expected to include goals and strategies for improving middle schools, high schools and transitions into and out of schools; improved communications; teacher leadership; shared long-term vision and more cohesive school and district cultures.

Participants currently include Allegheny Valley, Chartiers Valley, Elizabeth Forward, Frazier, Greensburg-Salem, Laurel Highlands, Monessen City, New Brighton Area, Sharon City, South Allegheny, Trinity Area, Upper St. Clair, West Jefferson Hills and West Mifflin Area.

Support: Questions about the Middle-High Forum may be directed to Mary Kay Babyak, at 412-678-9215, or mbabyak@tcfpe.org