Chapter 2: Planning a Pathway to Leadership Development: One School System’s Story

System leaders struggling to fill assistant principal positions perceive a need for a succession plan to develop home-grown, “next level innovative” aspiring leaders with the knowledge, skills, and abilities required for success. To meet this need one school district partnered with a nearby university to develop and implement a Future Instructional Leader Academy (FILA). The 18-month academy included a rigorous application and selection process, competency-based experiences, opportunities for self-assessment and reflection, support from mentors, and feedback from system leaders and university faculty. This chapter details all aspects of the inaugural cohort and includes lesson learned for the FILA team to consider as they move forward with plans for Cohort Two.