Dear Friends and Supporters of the Philadelphia Academy of School Leaders,

In 2015, the Philadelphia Academy of School Leaders launched our flagship program, the Neubauer Fellowship in Educational Leadership, based on a simple belief: There are no great schools without great principals. We invested in proven school leaders and provided results-driven development experiences to improve student outcomes and drive equity across the educational system. More importantly, we aimed to change the trajectory of students’ lives in the city of Philadelphia.

Six years later – based on the understanding that leadership is the key catalyst for change – School Leaders continues to develop, engage, and retain principals and system leaders. Following a competitive selection process, participants build capacity as instructional leaders and enterprise managers. Leaders engage in skill-building institutes and coaching to support strategy implementation and leadership growth. They build deep relationships, collaborate, and learn from a cohort of peers so that they can transform schools, dramatically improve student outcomes, and drive systemic change to prepare all Philadelphia students for college, career, and life.

Today, we serve nearly 100,000 Philadelphia students every day across all programs. We are proud of the 128 Neubauer Fellows and celebrate that 23 have been promoted to system leadership roles for the current 2021-2022 school year. Leadership continuity matters, and Fellows are retained at higher rates at the school, principal, school system, and city level, even after controlling for individual- and school-level characteristics. Schools led by Fellows deliver larger growth on state tests; greater proficiency and growth with Black students in elementary and middle school; and fast-paced growth in attendance rates, which remain higher than other schools.

As we share this Annual Report, we do so with immense gratitude for the principals and system leaders we serve. We never envisioned a year of such educational upheaval for students, families, and teachers. Faced with navigating a global health crisis and engaging in necessary conversations and actions around race and equity, principals and system leaders showed unwavering focus and perseverance. They tirelessly exhibited the competencies – or Leadership Levers – underlying all of our programs: they led authentically, developed people, advanced equity, and drove results. They fostered cultures of support, accountability, and continuous improvement both in-person and virtually. They designed innovative solutions to complex and ever-changing challenges. They advanced instruction while addressing health, safety, and social-emotional needs. Through it all, their focus on students remained resolute.

It is inspiring that the Neubauer Fellowship and the programs we subsequently launched – Leaders of Leaders and Performance Partners – so quickly created such a vital, collaborative community delivering results for students. We remain committed to the same vision we had in 2015 because it is working. We hope you share in that pride and commitment. Please join us in saying “thank you” to these incredible educational leaders.

Sincerely,

Believe

Principals and system leaders are the reason for our organization. Their work and positive impact on thousands of Philadelphia students are why we exist. Philadelphia Academy of School Leaders is proud to provide leadership development experiences and critical resources to these educational leaders, and we are inspired by all that they do for the City of Philadelphia and our young people. We recognize all Neubauer Fellows and 2020-21 Performance Partners here. We salute you for your tireless dedication to leading authentically and advancing equity.

“Connections to other leaders outside of my network has been a complete game-changer for me. It made me a better leader to learn from others who are in similar circumstances but have very different perspectives.  I am a more confident leader and feel far less burned out and thus am more likely to continue in my role for years to come.”

– Margaux Munnelly, 2019 Neubauer Fellow

Equity and Racial Justice

The Philadelphia Academy of School Leaders was founded on a pillar of educational equity so that every student in every Philadelphia neighborhood would have the opportunity to attend an excellent school that prepares young people to attain their dreams. Last year, as the nation faced heightened social injustice, we made a commitment to reassess and improve our practices to combat the harmful role that racism plays in education as it relates to access, opportunities, and outcomes.

Rooted in the understanding that we could not change school systems unless we changed ourselves, we made it a priority to clarify our beliefs and values, engage in courageous and open dialogue, diversify our faculty, staff, and governance committees, incorporate an explicit focus on equity and anti-racism in our programs, and develop goals that hold us accountable as measured by improvements for student subgroups in student, school, and system level outcomes.

While our mission for a more equitable education system is a work in progress and there remains much work to do, we took the following steps:

• Analyzed participants’ school data by race to identify strengths, trends, and actions to address areas with disproportionate outcomes
• Grounded programming in a leading for equity lens so leaders consistently reflect and identify strategies to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion
• Increased diversity of staff (25% to 50%), leadership (0% to 60%), Board (0% to 33%), faculty (26% to 53%), and guest speaker series (20% to 100%)

Board of Directors