What can the Ohio Mid-Sized Schools Leadership Collaborative do for my district?

1. Support- The districts we serve all have many commonalities; whether it be issues related to serving students in a middle to lower wealth communities, connections to family involvement, student engagement, navigating indicators on the state accountability system, or the consequences related to state accountability, we need help.  While our districts are not large enough to advocate for ourselves individually, as a collective voice across the state, our members can more effectively identify and advocate for support in areas where we need assistance.

2. Best Practices- Our members believe that they can always improve, and we know that there are solutions to our challenges that can be found in districts that look like ours and serve children with challenges like ours.  This is done through collaborative conversations among our members, and through instructional rounds opportunities.  We open our doors to our colleagues in the organization to provide feedback on our work so we can grow, and at the same time we enable our colleagues to see what is working well for us.

3. Keep Current on legislation impacting mid-sized districts- Bi-weekly legislative updates and Q&A sessions on current and relevant issues related to our districts are provided to by our legislative advocate to keep our members well informed on issues that impact our district, as well as advocacy opportunities.

4. Leadership Development- The collaborative provides opportunities for superintendents and chief academic officers to collaborate and grow throughout the school year.  During the 24-25 school year the collaborative will be creating a leadership program for current principals, as well as one for potential teacher leaders.  We will be working with our member districts to ensure the design of these leadership programs align with the needs of leaders in our districts.  

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What opportunities/time commitment can you expect?

1. Superintendents will meet every other month through zoom with other member superintendents across the state to identify and then discuss current and relevant key issues, challenges and innovations.

2. A district team including Chief Academic Officers (CAOs) will meet the following month in person to learn, discuss, share and collaborate around identified key issues by superintendents, as well as learn about relevant information related to accountability indicators.

3. Semi-Annual, one-day in person meetings for all member CAOs will focus on relevant and real time key issues identified by our members.

4. Our partners can either host or participate in “Instructional Rounds” which involve teams of leaders (superintendents, curriculum directors, principals, teachers, etc.) from our partner districts providing feedback on the host’s identified “problem of practice.”  It has proven over the years to be a great learning experience for both the host district and observers.  The number of Instructional rounds each year is dependent on the needs and availability of our members. 

5. A bi-weekly call with our legislative advocate is an opportunity for our member superintendents to stay abreast of issues facing our districts, ask questions, and be informed on advocacy opportunities.

6. At any time throughout the year, the collaborative leadership team is available to provide support to the district superintendent, or to seek out potential solutions to issues from our member districts which may be of help to you.

7. For the 24-25 School year, we would like the superintendent to designate an individual in the district who will be a part of the team to design our leadership programs.