Ensuring high academic achievement for every student
by attracting and preparing outstanding leaders and supporting the schools they lead, at scale.

Become a New Leader

New Leader Profiles

Meet some of our New Leaders who are making tremendous strides in urban public schools across the country:

Elizabeth Gallo
School: Telpochcalli Elementary School
Location: Chicago Resident

"My primary motivators are children; children deserve to receive an exceptional education regardless of class, race, or naturalized status. Ultimately, children are fundamental facets of the human race; we as leaders should not only sponsor their rights to an incomparable education, but promote their inalienable privileges as the key to our civilization. "

Cohort Collaboration
"Our Chicago Cohort consists of 21 fabulous people, most of whom are from Chicago, with one person from Memphis, Tennessee. We have a diverse group with ethnicities such as African American, Mexican American, Peruvian American, Caucasian, and Asian American. I have made strong bonds with many people who share my educational philosophy, enjoy outgoing personalities, and always make time to discuss education on their off time. We have spent many nights planning together, studying for city exams, and relying on each other for feedback on various city mandates as well as for completing New Leaders residency assignments. We also rely on each other to gain perspective on questions or decisions that must be made at our residency site. I know we will continue to rely on each other long after the residency year."

Pursuing Progress
"As a New Leaders Resident, I am continuing to be an advocate for progressive practices in education with focused goals. These practices include full support of educating the community through informal means such as youth and community organizations. I construct my objectives around the needs of the community by readily making myself available to help support the association of youth conferences and parent workshops."

Becoming a New Leader
"The New Leaders practice has steered me towards a focus on a data-driven culture. Through courses in data-driven instruction, I have been graciously exposed to the process of data analysis and goal development. I can now appropriately utilize data to provide meaningful guidance in the process of continuous improvement. New Leaders has also reinforced my solid beliefs about the realities of education through the Summer Foundations program and through the seminar experiences. Summer Foundations has given me a basis to becoming a well-rounded instructional leader; the seminars have endowed me with the necessary tools for becoming an instructional leader prepared to take on the challenges of the twenty-first century. The seminars have also equipped me to become a leader who can resourcefully manage the day-to-day activities that occur in schools."

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David Kovach
School: Cameron Elementary School
Location: Chicago New Leader

"A true and just society is dependent on the highest quality education provided to all students. New Leaders is unwavering in their expectations of themselves to meet this goal, and this drives me to meet my goals for myself as a leader in an urban school."

Being Part of Something Different
"There are many paths to instructional leadership, but New Leaders was the perfect fit for me. The components that drew me to New Leaders were the cohort model, the model of training, and the mission of the organization. These elements make New Leaders far superior to the traditional models of education. When looking into principal preparation programs, I wanted to be part of something different, a new direction in urban education. I found that in New Leaders for New Schools."

Reflection and Rejuvenation
"During my residency year, I worked closely with my mentor principal, met with my leadership coach, and attended classes with my cohort. The reflection, discussion, and learning during this time were the greatest forces shaping me as a leader. The New Leaders support systems available to me now that I am a principal have expanded in scope while also becoming more focused to meet my individual needs. Being afforded this network pushes me to continue to learn, grow, and improve, and this has shaped me as a leader. Fellow New Leaders and Residents also provide emotional support through friendship. It's this time spent that provides both the laughter and the tears that either rejuvenate or center me. The rejuvenation gives me the energy and stamina to continue to fight the good fight in the midst of challenges. The centering keeps me focused on our mission at hand."

Real-Life Learning
"The New Leaders model of training better prepared me for the real work of a principal. Many programs are focused on theory in a classroom for a majority of the time with little time for the practice. The focus of New Leaders training is the one-year residency. This is practice that is real, and I had a coach helping me reflect and learn. Although the theory I learned from New Leaders during Foundations and at our cohort classes was vital, the residency learning prepared me to be the principal of a school. No substitute can replace the experiences of doing the work."

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Glen Allen
School: Frances Starms Discovery Learning Center
Location: Milwaukee Resident

"During my residency, I am learning that I am capable of being a leader. It's one thing to prepare for it during a five-week training through conversations and theory. It's quite a different experience when you are actually in a school trying to implement change. I am realizing that the passion I have always had for improving the lives of children can be transformed into action that transforms schools."

Building Confidence and Competence
"The New Leaders experience has given me a broader view of what schools and principals are facing in order to increase student achievement. Slowly but surely, I am becoming a more competent leader through each experience, conversation, and act of leadership. The New Leaders experience has steadily increased my awareness. I have become more courageous and committed to improving student performance and instruction in the classroom. I am trying to seek ways to improve all students in the school through data analysis, teacher observations, and project leading. There have been many challenging moments; however, I feel as though I am moving closer each day toward becoming a competent leader who leads through change."

Better Lives for Students
"For me, New Leaders for New Schools is an organization that stands for improving students. The bottom line for the organization is to provide better learning experiences and better schools for the children of urban cities. It is an opportunity for me to make a difference in the lives of children who for so long have been given mediocrity in the schools that they attended. New Leaders' focus and goals are unique in the city of Milwaukee, and I am thrilled to be included in the process that gives students hope, confidence, and skills to be ready to attend college, further their education, and live better lives."

Sharing and Caring
"The atmosphere of Foundations was incredible. Never before in my career have I been around more than 100 people who all shared the same vision for improving America's schools. I can still remember the first evening when we had dinner, and the hall was filled with such a diverse group of people who wanted the best for children. As the weeks went on, I could sense the purpose in the conversations I heard and the learning activities that we participated in. Most important for me was the camaraderie that was displayed both in the city and national cohort. Being away from family for five weeks was challenging, but having a new network of friends and colleagues enabled us to stay focused on the beauty of our work and the need for us to institute change in our schools. The atmosphere was one of sharing, caring, support, and love."

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Wanda Varela-Katz
School: Wedgewood Park International School
Location: Milwaukee Resident

"A school that focuses on a data-driven curriculum and instruction is more likely to succeed. My job is to make that data available to my staff so that they too feel the urgency and act upon it."

Supporting Staff Members
"As a New Leader, I have to make my staff aware of our current educational challenges and 'urgent facts' when it comes to student performance and achievement. I have to build capacity within my staff so that they feel empowered, have access to the resources needed, and hold themselves accountable for attaining our common goal. I also have to make sure that staff members are provided with ongoing opportunities to collaborate and become each other's best resource."

Enhancing Instruction
"I am working diligently to support my staff by conducting ongoing observations in order to provide them with descriptive, timely feedback and the resources needed to enhance their instruction. Being in the classroom allows me to develop a strong bond with my staff members as well as with my students. Staff and students have the opportunity to see me as an instructional leader rather than as a disciplinarian."

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Natalie Butler
School: D.C. Preparatory Academy, Edgewood Campus
Location: Washington, D.C. New Leader

"We know that our children, our school buildings, even our own personal problems create obstacles to student achievement, but ultimately, we cannot allow these obstacles to prevent students from learning. We have to do whatever it takes for students to be successful. The New Leaders experience has helped me to develop this focus and also to build that same energy and drive among my school team."

Movement for Students
"I was thrilled to learn of the adoption of New Leaders in D.C. and the potential to participate in a movement and not just a graduate program. The idea of learning from actual experience, hands-on training, mentoring from an outstanding principal, and being given the opportunity to apply my learning, not just reading about it, were all very appealing to me. Additionally, I was intensely drawn to being part of a community of learners whose entire focus was student achievement in a school and a district- not just a classroom."

Opportunity for Education
"I feel very fortunate in that growing up I had many outstanding educational opportunities presented to me. Therefore, I would say my motivation is my kids- the ones I taught and those in my school now. I have developed this desire to ensure they are learning, happy, grabbing every opportunity that comes their way, and growing both socially and academically. So, coming to work, hugging my babies, seeing them in their reading groups, teaching them myself, and knowing that in the end they will be afforded the same opportunities I had growing up motivates me each day."

Defining Leadership
"I learned so much about myself as a Resident, and that experience has really defined my school leadership now. I was placed in a very challenging school with students who displayed lots of behavioral challenges. Ultimately, however, the students wanted to learn. They wanted to be able to read, be successful on their standardized tests, and be loved. There were also many people on staff who tried to reinforce these messages to the kids, but unfortunately, weren't always successful. I spent a great deal of my residency thinking about how to build a positive school culture. I have to put in place the systems that will support all kids."

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Duke Bradley
School: Joseph A. Craig Elementary School
Location: New Orleans Resident

"New Leaders has helped shape me as a leader because of the lengths to which they go to ensure my success. New Leaders is to be credited for not only casting a comprehensive leadership vision for its principals, but for providing the kind of ongoing support necessary to extend our leadership capacity."

Preparing for the Prinicipalship
"Summer Foundations is the toughest, yet most fulfilling aspect of the New Leaders experience. It challenges you intellectually and touches your spirit. It reminds you of the urgency of the work that needs to be done, and the delicacy in which it must be executed. It challenges your beliefs and assumptions, yet allows you to develop new habits of mind. It is an experience that connects you to something much greater than yourself. It presents an opportunity to impact students' lives in a way you've never before experienced."

Creating Cohesion
"As a Resident, my greatest professional challenge has been finding a way to inspire a shared vision among the faculty members at my school. Entering into this Residency experience, I believed that securing collective buy-in was a leadership strength I possessed. Effecting positive organizational change, providing instructional leadership, and ushering in a new optimistic spirit are all essential aspects of the Residency experience. However, these objectives are not easily achieved. Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of being a New Leader is that despite the challenges that Residents encounter, there are support systems in place to help us negotiate them with skill and sophistication."

Leading in the Big Easy
"New Orleans is very unique, and despite the challenges the city currently faces, it is a place of tremendous opportunity. As a New Leader, I am motivated by how great my impact will be for a city that has been ravaged by one of the most devastating natural disasters this country has ever seen. I view my work in New Orleans as reformist. It is a place where I have a chance to be an engineer of sorts, to help rebuild a city by educating and empowering its children. I am motivated and inspired by the chance to help fulfill the very promise that this opportunity embodies."

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Glynis Jordan
School: Fairmont Heights High School
Location: Prince George's County Resident

"I envision myself as a fully-invested partner in the mission of New Leaders for New Schools by working through adults to increase academic proficiency and promote character development using strategies that are rooted in ethical and effective philosophies."

Learning and Growing
"My residency experience has immensely surpassed the expectations I had for it during Summer Foundations. I expected to work with a mentor principal that would be a vital stakeholder in my development; however, my mentor principal, Ms. Nicholson, exceeded my utmost hope. Ms. Nicholson, her administrative team, and staff work tirelessly to promote student achievement as a strong collegial force that has made significant gains in just two years. As a part of this team, I am learning how to refine and expand my instructional leadership capacity to build pedagogical capability in an effort to move children forward. Our relationship has been fundamentally vital to my successful development as a Resident principal."

Motivation and Inspiration
"As an urban school leader, I face daily challenges despite my unwavering commitment and fervent passion for student achievement. The need for internal motivation is paramount, especially when external factors of inspiration are silent. After discovering that my father, who was an extremely intelligent man, had to drop out of school in order to help support his family, I intrinsically resolved as a young teenager that no child should be denied a quality education because of circumstance. I am constantly motivated by that internal vow that I made with myself years ago."

Foundation for Leadership
"Through Summer Foundations, I evolved in my own leadership practice to restrict the imposition of my attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions. I learned to see beyond the presentation and to hear beyond the discourse of others so that I can develop a strategic plan to help shift their attitudes and beliefs. I learned that attitudes and beliefs are at the core of all behaviors; therefore, behaviors cannot change without addressing attitudes and beliefs."

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Rikki Hunt Taylor
School: Scott Montgomery Elementary School
Location: Washington, D.C. Resident

"As a New Leader, I am certain that I am receiving outstanding training that supports student achievement in an integrative approach that combines courses in teaching and learning, professional development, and school management and operations."

Putting Students First
"New Leaders is unique in that you are surrounded by a body of scholars who hold fast to the belief in the success of all children. Every course, every assignment, every conversation with faculty underscores this belief system. I am part of a growing network of learners and practitioners who share the same philosophy. We support, encourage, and push one another in this work. Having this support system has been tremendously beneficial in my residency year, as I constantly seek guidance and support that provides real impact on student achievement and school improvement."

The Role of a Principal
"New Leaders has helped me to understand that schools are not changed by one person. The role of the principal is a facilitator of change, providing direction for the students, faculty, and staff. A principal's vision becomes a compass for change, but moving student achievement is not done in isolation, void of the rest of the school community."

Support for Students and Friends
"The coursework at Summer Foundations was fast paced and intense, but I learned things about myself that I never knew, and I have a solid foundation for improving student achievement. The support system that was introduced and the friendships that I developed with New Leaders are invaluable. Our cohort has become very strong since Summer Foundations. We meet weekly for a sacred community time where we debrief our week. We visit each other's schools, providing assistance and direction based on our own expertise. We have truly become friends as well as colleagues. I cannot imagine completing the New Leaders experience without their support."

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Nominate a Great Candidate to be a New Leader
To nominate a New Leader candidate, click here to use the Nominate a New Leader form, or contact Shira Epstien at 646-792-1070 or email at info@nlns.org.