Central Office Leadership

The Oakland University Superintendents ‘ Executive Leadership Academy is actively committed to supporting new and veteran superintendents through a variety of programs and leadership activities responsive to district needs and priorities. 

Superintendent Mentoring program

The Galileo Institute has developed a mentoring network for new and recently appointed superintendents by connecting them with retired school superintendents from across the region and offering professional development opportunities upon request.

Systems Change Model  

Schools and school districts are offered opportunities to collaborate with Oakland University's Galileo Institute and members of the university faculty in a systems change project of their choosing which provides support for their  school and district leadership initiatives. 

• Westover, Jay. Districts on the Move: Leading a Coherent System of Continuous Improvement: The How-To  Resource for Developing Cultures, Building Capacity, and Creating Coherent Systems. Corwin Press, 2020.
• Podcast with Jay Westover: Leading Sustainable School Improvement with Collaborative Inquiry and Coherence

Deep Learning Connects Six C’s and Four Learning Design Elements

• The SIX GLOBAL COMPETENCIES FOR DEEP LEARNING
• Podcast with Mag Gardner, Senior Global Capacity Building Facilitator, N.P.D.L.

Podcasts for Leaderful Schools

The following list of podcasts has been selected to support district leaders. 

• Creating School Environments for Deep Learning - Will Richardson, co-founder of the Big Questions Institute
• The Epic Design Challenge - Will Richardson, co-founder of the Big Questions Institute
• Shared Leadership is not about your title, but your actions - Mary Kay Gallagher, Superintendent of Northville Public Schools
• Purposeful Leadership: Building Relationships, Distributed Leadership, Reimagining Education - Dr. Chris Delgado, Superintendent of Farmington Public Schools
• Leading with an Equity Based Strategic Plan - Dr. Dania Bazzi, 2022 M.A.S.A.’s Superintendent of the Year
• Robert McCann, Executive Director of the K-12 Alliance of Michigan - Making Funding Wraparound SErvices to Support Students’ Unique Needs a Priority

Five Minutes for Leadership (5M4L) newsletters feature summaries of articles on topics of interest to district level leaders

• Five Dimensions of Leadership to Address Complex Challenges
• 4 Things High Achievers Do Differently by Ruth Gotian
• Learning that Matters: An Expanding Universe
• How learning loss is framed shapes how it’s addressed , K-12 Dive Opinion