On Our Minds
Third LELA Cohort Graduates
The morning after the 2016 presidential election results came in, ten school district leaders from across the country came together with their district teams in Washington DC as the final component of a six-month personalized learning fellowship. The 60 educators worked together, with mentors and graphic facilitators, to codify their visions for preparing students for college and career.
The Lexington Education Leadership Award Fellowship was designed to support districts in their efforts to personalize learning. Launched in April 2015, this celebration marked the graduation of its third cohort, bringing the total number of districts to 30.
Selected through a highly competitive application process, the district leaders were from across the country and districts varied by size, percentage of student qualified for free and reduced lunch, and stage in their personalized learning journey. The 10 fellowship graduates are: Donald R Bavis (Marion Central School District, NY), Scott Todd Feder (Millstone Township School District, NJ), Jill Gildea (Fremont School District 79, IL), Alicia Henderson (Bellevue Union School District, CA), Dr. Brian Lane (Mehlville School District, MO), Dan Lawson (Tullahoma City Schools, TN), Irene Parisi (Greenwich Public Schools, CT), Tara Paul (Estherville Lincoln Central CSD, IA), Quiauna Scott, Ed.D (New Haven Unified School District, CA) and Chris Summers (West Oso ISD, TX).
“The LELA Fellowship has been one of the best professional learning experiences I have participated in during my 22 years in education. As a district leader, the LELA program has allowed me to develop the competency and confidence levels of all my district leaders and teacher leaders around personalized learning,” said Chris Summers, Director of Curriculum and Instruction in West Oso ISD.
The Lexington Institute selected California-based Education Elements to manage the fellowship and provide support to the district leaders. Through a combination of virtual working sessions, on-site strategy sessions, webinars and the graphic facilitation, LELA fellows worked with their teams on their vision and plan. Read More About the Cohort Here.