Leadership Academy
Build Your Leadership Skills to Drive High-Quality Education for Every Student
The Leadership Academy is a one-year cohort experience and development program for individual school leaders at all levels who want to deepen their leadership skills and create lasting impact in their schools.
Through strategic planning, professional development, personalized coaching, and a cohort experience, Leadership Academy helps participants:
- Develop proficiency in tools and practices that drive student outcomes
- Create and execute an actionable Strategic Plan aligned to school goals
- Strengthen leadership skills across key domains including strategic thinking, communication, and change management
- Build confidence in leading effective teams and implementing strategies that positively impact student learning and school culture
Who Should Join the One-Year Leadership Academy?
The Leadership Academy is designed for principals, assistant principals, deans, instructional coaches, and other school-based leadership team members who are committed to continuous growth and improving student outcomes.
Our typical Leadership Academy participants include:
- Principals in their first five years of principalship
- Experienced principals who want to continue to grow and learn
- Assistant principal or leadership team members with at least one year of experience in their role
Pricing
$5,650 per leader
Scholarships
If you are a principal in one of these regions, click on your city below to see if you quality for one of our scholarship options:
All Leadership Academy programming takes place in a virtual classroom; there are no additional travel costs.
How It Works
The Leadership Academy combines the best of cohort learning, individualized support, and practical application to help school leaders develop the skills needed to create high-quality educational experiences for all students.
The program is grounded in three core principles of what schools need:
- Systems, structures, and adult mindsets that align with the expectation that all students will achieve
- A positive, relationships-based culture that fosters student belonging and is conducive to high levels of achievement
- Instruction that centers on what (and which) students learned, with support to make high achievement possible
Leaders grapple with content in small groups, assess and reflect on the current state of their school and their own personal leadership skills, and develop an 80/20 Strategic Plan and customized Leadership Development Plan that drives meaningful progress toward school and personal leadership goals.
Program Timeline and Commitment
Leadership Institute* (program start): July 13-16, 2026 or August 3-6, 2026
Forum Sessions: 2x/month (1 hour each) from September through April
Coaching: 2x/month (30 min each) one-to-one coaching from September through May
Expected Commitment
- Attend the 4-day Leadership Institute
- After Leadership Institute, 3 hours/month
The Leadership Academy is a one-year commitment with the option to continue professional development through additional Accelerate Institute programs and supports.
*Please note – the Leadership Institute consists of four full days (9:00 am-4:00 pm CT). These live sessions take place in a virtual classroom as part of a nationwide cohort. Participants get the most out of the Institute when they have off-campus time for this work, so please connect with your manager and/or team to ensure there is a plan for you to participate fully on the above dates.
What's Included
Leadership Institute (July or August)
- Choose: July 13-16 or August 3-6
- Four days of live professional development sessions focused on: strategic planning, leading effective teams, building a data-driven culture, and strengthening school culture
- Creation of a School Strategic Plan aligned to your school context and your role within the school
- Customized Leadership Development Plan
Post-Institute (September-May)
- Cohort forums (2x/month, 1 hr): Live, virtual sessions for ongoing professional learning, cohort problem-solving, and progress monitoring of your Strategic Plan
- Examples of previous forum topics include:
- Accelerate Framework: From Overwhelm to Excellence
- Data Driven Leadership: Focus on Outcomes. Get Results
- Strategic Influence: The Art of Managing Up
- How Leaders Achieve More by Doing Less: Mastering the 80/20 Rule
- Communicating with Clarity
- Using Meetings to Provide Clarity Around Progress to Goals
- Leveraging Change Management to Develop a Positive and Equitable School Culture
- One-to-one coaching (2x/month, 30 min): Personalized coaching sessions to support you in progress monitoring and course correcting against your Strategic Plan
- Connection to a robust peer network of school leaders across the country
- As a Leadership Academy alum, you will receive the alumni discount rate (20%) on select supports
Accelerate Institute Leadership Tools and Resources
- Leadership Assessment
- Access to the Accelerate Online platform with your Leadership Development Plan which includes your leadership goals, key results, and progress tracking towards those goals
- 24/7 access to Accelerate Online’s resource library and 40+ online leadership courses
More to Consider
Check out our other solutions or, for more comprehensive support, look at our most popular pairings.
Ready to get started? Still have questions?
Talk With Us
