There are many frameworks that lay out leadership competencies and provide detailed descriptions of the knowledge, skills and dispositions that are essential school leader practices. In our conversation, Gene Wilhoit added another critical dimension that I had not thought about, which is that these competencies must always be understood through context. As Gene identified new competencies for transformational leadership, he was careful throughout the conversation to remind us of the contextual questions that we all need to pay attention to. These include the impact of the community’s historical relationships with schools, understanding cultural norms, and how issues such as trust and reciprocity are valued and need to be continuously attended to, to meet ambitious goals.
– Nancy Gerzon
With Gene Wilhoit, Gerzon and Jones discussed the following topics:
- Transformational leadership that support schools and districts to address equity and inclusion
- Examples of partnerships that help to engage students, families, teachers, and district and state leaders and that build on the strengths of local communities
- Re-imagining assessment to improve student autonomy and agency, and advance equity
Curated segments of this conversation can be played in the Padlet below. Please click on the play button in the upper left corner to play the video directly in Padlet. An audio recording of the entire conversation and session materials can also be found on this page.
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Gene Wilhoit is the Executive Director of the National Center for Innovation in Education (CIE), where he leads national initiatives to advance systems that seek greater equity in how children develop the identity, community, agency, and competency that pave the way for greater equity in our larger society. Through his tenure, CIE has contributed to developing and sustaining a wide variety of learning communities for leaders, educators, and community members committed to build and reshape systems so that they are, by design, always seeking greater equity. Prior to his work at CIE, Gene led educational initiatives at all levels as a classroom teacher, district leader, state superintendent, and national policy advisor. While at Council of Chief State School Officers, Gene spearheaded the states’ collective action to adopt the Common Core Standards, and founded the multi-state Innovation Lab Network. He brings expertise focused on transformational leadership, reshaping educational priorities, and re-envisioning assessment and learning to generate student autonomy and agency, and advance societal equity goals.
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