Beyond a Job-Alike Group: A Purposeful Leadership Network for School Leaders
School leadership can be rewarding, challenging, and—at times—isolating. Riverside Learning’s Principal and Assistant Principal Leadership Network provides school leaders with a space to step away from the day-to-day demands of the principalship, engage in meaningful professional dialogue, examine leadership practice, and learn alongside colleagues who understand the work.
This network is more than a traditional job-alike group. Each of the 10 virtual meetings is rooted in The Purposeful Principal: Practices for Leading Joyful, Successful Schools by Jamie Almanzán, Aaron M. Johnson, and Graig Meyer. Every participant receives a paperback copy of the book as part of the $695 registration fee.
Together, participants will explore the book’s leadership competencies and connect them to the real challenges of leading schools. Conversations will move beyond simply discussing the chapters. Participants will reflect on their own leadership, examine systems and practices, share experiences, wrestle with difficult questions, and identify practical actions they can take in their schools.
Leadership Themes
Across the network, participants will engage with themes including:
The Purposeful Principal — Developing an Every Single Student Mindset and leading with purpose
The Adaptive Principal — Building trust, strengthening communication, engaging in inquiry, exercising judgment, and navigating conflict
The Service-Oriented Principal — Vision, systems thinking, change management, delegation, time management, and organizational leadership
Inclusive Leadership and the Community — Responsiveness, results orientation, customer focus, creative thinking, environmental awareness, and a global perspective
The Self-Reflective Principal — Personal responsibility, ethics and values, sensitivity, and reflective leadership
Instructional Leadership for Every Single Student — Learning theory, adult learning, coaching, and student-centered learning environments
The Audacious Principal — Developing the courage and confidence to challenge the status quo and take meaningful action
What Makes This Network Different?
This network is designed around the belief that leadership development should be practical, reflective, collaborative, and connected to the work leaders are actually doing.
Participants will have opportunities to:
Reflect. Examine their own leadership practices, assumptions, decisions, and areas for growth.
Connect. Build relationships with principals and assistant principals from different schools and districts who share the challenges and opportunities of school leadership.
Question. Engage in honest dialogue around difficult leadership issues, including culture, equity, systems, change, conflict, adult learning, and instructional improvement.
Apply. Translate ideas from the text into concrete leadership actions that can be implemented immediately.
Challenge. Consider what it means to be an audacious principal—a leader willing to disrupt ineffective practices and create better conditions for every student.
Grow. Develop a deeper leadership toolkit while gaining perspective from colleagues and experienced practitioners.
A Professional Space for Honest Leadership Conversations
The best professional learning does not always provide easy answers. Sometimes it creates the right questions.
The Principal and Assistant Principal Leadership Network is intentionally designed to create space for authentic conversation, professional reflection, practical problem-solving, and courageous leadership thinking. Participants will be encouraged to bring real leadership dilemmas to the conversation and consider how the principles and competencies in The Purposeful Principal can inform their response.
This is a network for leaders who want to move from knowing to doing.
Included with Registration
$695 per participant
Registration includes:
10 virtual leadership network meetings
Paperback copy of The Purposeful Principal
Facilitated professional conversations
Chapter-based leadership reflection and application
Opportunities for peer collaboration and problem-solving
Practical leadership strategies and resources
PDPs offered
Who Should Participate?
This network is designed for:
Principals
Assistant Principals
School-based administrators
New and aspiring principals
Experienced school leaders seeking continued professional growth
Whether you are new to school leadership or have been leading for years, the network provides an opportunity to pause, reflect, reconnect with purpose, and sharpen your leadership practice.
Come ready to read. Come ready to reflect. Come ready to question. Most importantly, come ready to lead.
Riverside Learning’s Principal and Assistant Principal Leadership Network: Beyond the Job-Alike. Beyond the Book Study. A professional learning community for purposeful, courageous school leadership.
October 5 1pm-2pm Virtual via Zoom
November 2 4pm-5pm Virtual via Zoom
December 7 1pm-2pm Virtual via Zoom
January 25 4pm-5pm Virtual via Zoom
February 22 1pm-2pm Virtual via Zoom
March 15 4pm-5pm Virtual via Zoom
April 12 1pm-2pm Virtual via Zoom
May 10 4pm-5pm Virtual via Zoom