Accelerate Institute Impact

Leadership Rooted in Community and Collective Growth

As a school leader of color, Principal Liz Jamison-Dunn knows that leadership can be both powerful and isolating. Through her partnership with Accelerate Institute, Liz found not only high-quality professional development but a community of fellow leaders of color who shared lived experiences, language, and purpose.

Working alongside peers and advisors who shared her racial identity created space for honest conversations about the unique challenges faced by leaders of color, both inside schools and beyond. Her advisors served not only as coaches but as mentors who understood her community deeply and supported her growth with wisdom, empathy, and practical guidance.

Accelerate Institute’s thoughtfully curated resources (articles, videos, books, and facilitated conversations) helped Liz sharpen her leadership practice and informed major decisions impacting her school community. The result was increased clarity, confidence, and connection, allowing her to lead with authenticity and strength.

Building Instructional Coherence Through Data and Rigorous Teaching

In her first year as principal of Carroll-Rosenwald Elementary, Juwanna Foster-Wells led a focused transformation of the school’s instructional systems to strengthen teaching and learning.

Grounded in the Accelerate Framework, Principal Foster-Wells centered her work on building a data-driven culture and strengthening instructional rigor. She began by selecting a high-quality ELA curriculum, Skyline English Language Arts, to ensure students had access to grade-level content. She then prioritized strong, consistent implementation by establishing a clear walkthrough structure aligned to the Rigor Walks Learning Sciences rubric.

Through regular classroom walkthroughs, Principal Foster-Wells monitored teacher execution of key indicators: objective clarity, standard alignment, and task rigor. She then used that data to coach teachers in making targeted instructional adjustments. Consistent use of this three-step walkthrough process, a core driver of Accelerate Institute’s Black Belt Teaching objective, created coherence across classrooms and elevated instructional practice schoolwide.

Accelerating Student Growth in a Challenging National Context

At a time when national data shows widening achievement gaps in math and reading, particularly for Black, Latinx, and low-income students, Mary Gage Peterson Elementary is bucking the trend.

Under Principal Yalil Nieves’ leadership, Peterson students exceeded national growth averages on both iReady and STAR360 assessments in reading and math. Students achieved an average of 118% of a year’s growth, with 35% of students leveling up a performance category in reading and 34% in math.

This growth did not happen by chance. With support from her Accelerate Institute advisor, Yalil prioritized student engagement and implemented strong data-driven instructional practices. Coaching helped her translate data into targeted action, equipping teachers with the information they needed to meet individual student learning needs.

The result: accelerated academic growth, increased rigor, and a school community proving that sustained leadership and strong instructional systems can overcome even the most challenging conditions.