Creating an Effective School

Lisbon
Session 1: 16 - 22 June 2025
Session 2: 10 - 16 July 2025

Online
23 - 29 June 2025

Hear what our participants have to say about the course: Carrie Turunen, Kathy Patton, Todd Brink

Listen to James Dalziel answer the question: “Why should you take this course?”

The international school has unique characteristics which compel its leaders to have a sharpened view of the big picture and skill set to match. This course offers the knowledge and skills for international school leaders to articulate a vision and to design and implement a plan for an effective school that is focused on student learning. It addresses the ‘big picture’ of what international schools are and how leaders can optimize conditions to maximize learning through focusing on culture, organization and results.

What will we learn?

How do school leaders:

  • Identify the elements of an effective school that is focused on learning and constantly improving?

  • Bridge mission, vision and learning principles to day-to-day efforts and decisions?

  • Demonstrate the importance of a systematic process for the collection, analysis and use of data for school improvements?

  • Develop a school improvement goal and action plan for student learning gains and increased school effectiveness?

  • Apply principles of (social justice and anti-racism) DEIJB across all facets of school design and implementation?

  • Analyze how schools can be best organized to support learning in areas of teacher configurations and leadership roles, student groupings patterns, and learning sequences and timing?

  • Apply systematic change models to one's school and determine leverage points for impactful improvement ?

  • Recruit, hire and retain quality staff?

  • Build relationships with the parent community?

  • Identify school culture and establish leadership approaches that build and maintain a strong, positive culture, recognizing its critical role in the effectiveness of all systems?

  • Establish effective strategies for all of the above in a variety of learning environments, including hybrid and virtual?

  • Address systemically the rapid development of artificial intelligence?

The curriculum for all PTC courses is rooted in the ‘Standards of Practice for International School Principals’ and created using our design principles.