February 2025 — Florida charter schools are committed to building a teacher and leadership pipeline from within. What started as an idea to support FCSA member schools transformed into the School Leaders Fellowship, a thriving program that successfully prepares future charter school principals.
A Florida Department of Education grant supports the School Leaders Fellowship, a dynamic “Grow Your Own” movement. Now in its 5th year, the Fellowship provides training and mentorship to passionate future charter school principals. The program also allows Fellows to learn strategies, best practices, and lessons from the state’s premier charter school operators, founders, and stakeholders. At the February 2025 training session, the Cohort 4 Fellows (pictured) met Mrs. Kathryn Perkins, Executive Deputy Director of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership at Florida Charter Institute. Mrs. Perkins covered Standard 6: Recruitment & Professional Learning — providing Fellows with insightful tips and best practices for developing an effective progress monitoring plan and a high-quality professional learning initiative that leverages the power of what cognitive science tells us about adult learning to support educators on campus. Her presentation included scenarios to support veteran and new teachers. Ideas included the creation of practice clinics for new teachers on individual techniques led by instructional leaders and assigning one instructional coach per grade level to provide feedback and host follow-up sessions based on grade-level trends.
“The School Leaders Fellowship program aims to develop a pipeline of prepared principals who have the tools and relationships with colleagues, field experts, and mentors who will help them on their leadership path,” explains Lynn Norman-Teck, FCSA Executive Director. The School Leaders Fellowship, developed by the Florida Charter Schools Alliance (FCSA) and funded by a generous grant from the Florida Department of Education, is a cornerstone of leadership development for Florida’s charter school community. The Fellowship provides ongoing resources, training, and mentorship to individuals committed to making a lasting difference in education. With the graduation of the Cohort 4 Fellows in spring 2025, the program will have proudly graduated 70 well-prepared and visionary future charter school leaders—many of whom have already stepped into impactful leadership roles across the state.
About the FCSA: The Florida Charter School Alliance (FCSA), advocates for, defends, and collaborates with public charter schools to influence legislative policy and environments.The voice of the charter school movement, FCSA is the only statewide non-profit, member-driven association representing charter schools throughout the state and the more than 397,000 students they serve.FCSA member schools run the gamut of choice educational programs – from urban to rural campuses, programs specializing in exceptional students or drop-off prevention to unique classical curriculum, and college-prep programs in high-need areas. Yet all our member schools have a common thread – a steadfast commitment to raising the bar on public education and providing a quality education option to the children and communities they serve.