Leadership for Authentic Learning

This program was offered through a collaboration between the Gardner Carney Leadership Institute (gcLi) and Penn GSE. Leaders engaged in a comprehensive experience designed to enhance their capacity to lead and implement high-quality project-based learning (PBL) and other forms of student-centered authentic learning in their educational settings. This program focused on several core components of project-based learning and instructional leadership, including: guiding teachers to design compelling exhibitions as the culmination of projects, engaging 'users' and 'experts' to make projects authentic, equipping teachers to create high-quality PBL deliverables and assessments, developing a portrait of a PBL teacher, and building a professional learning plan. Leaders also designed and led signature adult learning experiences to build teachers' capacity to bring PBL to life, manage changes required to activate high-quality PBL, and articulate their department's, school's, and/or systems's unique approach to PBL and authentic learning. Throughout the program, participants reflected on their leadership and instructional practices, identify barriers, and devise strategies to overcome these barriers, ensuring a holistic approach to PBL implementation.