Developing Leadership in Nebraska’s Schools

The Nebraska Educational Leadership Institute (NELI) was conceived in 2002 to provide strategic long-term support for the development of leaders in K-12 schools across the state of Nebraska. The goal of the institute is to help each and every participant achieve his or her full potential as a leader, while striving through exemplary leadership development practices to enhance the full capacity of teachers and students throughout the Nebraska educational system.

The NELI program breaks the participants into learning teams and assigns a superintendent to each team to act as coach and facilitator for one year. The institute spans the length of the academic calendar (September-June) and is comprised of several core elements: three two-day leadership development workshops, monthly learning team meetings, maintaining reflective journals, pre and post activity assessments and feedback, and the development of a leadership plan and personal vision focusing on what each participant wants to accomplish.

The initial meeting of the participants and coaches provides a comprehensive assessment of the leadership skills each individual brings to the program and sets the framework for reflection and progression toward successfully implementing a leadership development plan. Included in NELI are core models of leadership development including Gallup’s strengths-based model and the model of authentic leadership development being validated by the Leadership Institute at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The central theme for the second cohort group participating in NELI is to build, “teacher engaged, student centered schools.” This core concept advocates increased student participation and responsibility for their education by creating an environment that gives teachers and students more accountability and authority in educational process.

The theme for this year’s NELI was obtained from the publication “Breaking Ranks Two,” which focused on ways to reinvent what constitutes the high school experience. The inaugural NELI think tank session held in Omaha helped to refine this particular focus. The think tank brought together superintendents from across the state for a two-day discussion on future directions in leadership development in Nebraska and the nation. The second think tank session is scheduled for February 2005. The Nebraska Educational Leadership Institute will hold bi-annual think tank sessions to discuss pertinent issues that face administrators and educators and how they can be explored and addressed through the leadership development programs offered by the institute.

In sum, the long-term mission of NELI involves developing a strategic focus for continually improving how leaders at all levels within the educational enterprise can enhance their leadership potential and performance impact. The focus of NELI will continue to be on developing the leadership of superintendents, principals, teachers, school board members, and the students within the Nebraska educational system.

For more information on the NELI, visit the website at www.gli.unl.edu.