Collaboration Starts Here
This intensive Principal Leadership Academy serves both aspiring and veteran principals who want to deepen their leadership impact.
You'll begin with a deep dive into leadership models—from traits-based to transformational approaches—while examining your own assumptions, biases, and beliefs about what it means to lead. From there, you'll explore the critical differences between leading children and leading adults, learn how to build high-performing teams, and master the art of leading initiatives through both success and challenge. Whether you're preparing for your first principalship or refining decades of experience, you'll walk away with proven tools and greater confidence to intentionally shape school culture that will impact student learning and staff growth. After all, “Culture IS the strategy of leadership.”
Principal Leadership
The instructional coach role is among the most complex in education. While most professional development in this arena is built around single coaching models, this course addresses deeper dynamics that other trainings often miss.
Participants will examine how five anchors of Coaching Clarity* lead to measurable growth and lasting results: clarity of role, establishing professional boundaries with teachers and administrators alike; clarity of outcomes, connecting coaching directly to teacher and student learning; clarity of time, prioritizing the right work; clarity of process, using consistent structures for planning, observation, feedback, and follow-up, and clarity of evidence, using specific measures of success to show impact.
*Coming Soon: Simeral, A. (2026). Five Anchors of Coaching Clarity
(in publication)
Instructional Coaching
“Within every school, there is a sleeping giant of teacher leadership that can be a strong catalyst for making change.” (Katzenmeyer and Moller, 2001)
Skilled teachers have the power to make a real difference in the lives of students; but those who demonstrate leadership skills within the field are able to make an even greater impact. Teachers leaders who learn to translate their successful classroom practices into a shared vision can help drive the school, the district or even the industry forward. This professional learning experience empowers K–12 teachers—no official title required—to invest, influence, and inspire their peers. Participants build the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to guide colleagues’ growth, foster collaborative school cultures, and lead professional learning both formally and informally. The result is a cadre of teacher leaders ready to elevate teaching and learning for all.
Teacher Leadership
This course reimagines classroom observation and evaluation—often reduced to a checklist and compliance exercise—as drivers of genuine professional growth. What if the primary classroom look-for was student learning? Participants will examine how to redesign observation structures so that they spark inquiry and reflective practice, transforming routine evaluations into authentic learning experiences for both teacher and observer. Drawing on Grant Wiggins’ insight that “feedback is information about one’s efforts toward reaching a goal,”
the session frames feedback as neutral, goal-focused information—neither positive nor negative. Educators leave with concrete strategies and tools to provide feedback, structure evaluations, and cultivate a school culture where every observation fuels growth, empowers teachers, and advances student learning in measurable, lasting ways.
Observation, Feedback, & Evaluation
Let’s face it. Most leaders struggle to lead data conversations that truly drive learning. Data Analysis that Works changes that by showing how to turn insight into impact and build a culture of reflection. Through the Data Conversation Protocol: Validate, Calibrate, Motivate, leaders equip teachers to question, interpret, and act on student achievement data with clarity and purpose. Learn to guide purposeful, goal-focused discussions that honor teacher expertise and spark professional inquiry. Discover practical ways to turn numbers into meaningful insights, connect findings to instructional decisions, and motivate next steps that improve student learning. Walk away with clear strategies to make data conversations constructive and inspiring—so teachers see data as a trusted partner in elevating teaching and learning, not just a set of reports.
Data Analysis that Works!
The High-Impact Presenter Workshop Series combines over two decades of presenting expertise with Alisa’s passion for building capacity in others. Designed for school districts eager to cultivate outstanding speakers and trainers from within, this course goes far beyond slide design or stage presence. Learners sharpen their ability to clarify a core message, structure content for lasting impact, and connect with adult audiences from the opening words to the final call to action. They refine storytelling skills to make ideas memorable and persuasive, practice commanding presence, read the room, and adapt on the spot. Strategies for fielding tough questions and handling disruptions round out the experience. By the end of this fast-moving course, you’ll leave with refined skills, practical tools, and the confidence to inspire every audience you face.