Recognizing that the quality and effectiveness of education is influenced by credible leadership, the Educational Leadership Center for the Wiregrass (ELCW) is dedicated to improving student performance by promoting the development of outstanding school principals who are knowledgeable, effective, supportive, and bold school leaders. The ELCW Fellows Program provides school principals with premier professional development opportunities centered on five fundamental transformational leadership premises:
1. relentless organizational leadership that values collaboration and teacher empowerment;
2. robust instructional leadership that demands effective, rigorous, relevant, and engaging practices designed to meet the needs of all learners;
3. strong cultural leadership that assures conducive learning climates with high expectations for students and teachers;
4. courageous influential leadership that envisions and advocates for the future of students; and
5. ethical personal leadership that models, guides, and demands high levels of professionalism, integrity, competence, and passion for the work.
Link to ELCW Leadership Model
Purpose
The purpose of the ELCW Fellows Program is to positively affect student performance by developing stronger instructional leaders within a five-county region of southeast Alabama. Recognizing the impact of leadership on the effectiveness of schools, the ELCW strives to develop savvy, confident, and courageous leaders who are ready, willing, and able to tackle the tough challenges facing schools.
Research Component
The ELCW consists of four components: a Fellows Program, a Special Events Component, a Research Component, and a Networking Component. These four distinct components unite to provide a comprehensive program that directly addresses the advancement of school principals (Fellows Program), other administrators (District Fellows; Special Events Component), and aspiring leaders (teams within the Fellows Program). The Networking Component supports all administrators with access not only to each other, but to experts, resources, and important sites (real and electronic) as well.
The Research Component provides the school systems within the five-county service region of the ELCW with access to professional researchers. School system personnel may use the ‘Research Request Form’ to initiate a research query with the ELCW researchers. The researchers will respond to the query by preparing a research brief with a concise review of literature and a summary of current research findings related to the requested research topic.
The Research Component is offered to the school systems in the five county service region as a professional service. The Research Component is designed to support educational leaders as they investigate the needs within their school systems and as they make important school-related decisions.