The following resources might be helpful to school districts and the community partners who work with them.

Universities, Districts and Others Join Hands to Redesign Principal Preparation Programs  Seven universities, school districts and other partners have succeeded in establishing strong working relationships that enabled them to jointly rethink and begin overhauling principal training, according to a report released today. The report by RAND, Launching a Redesign of University Principal Preparation Programs: Partners Collaborate for Change, examines the first year of a four-year, Wallace Foundation-funded effort to improve university school leadership programs so future principals can meet the demands of their jobs in the 21st century, especially how to lead schools in disadvantaged areas to improve teaching and learning. Interested in learning more about how the seven universities are seeking to better prepare school principals for the real-world demands of the job? We invite you to view a nationally broadcast panel discussion on December 12, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. ET, to hear from one of them, Florida Atlantic, along with its district partners.

Collaboration is Key: Networked Improvement Communities  Networked Improvement Communities, or NICs, are groups of education stakeholders from a variety of backgrounds who are working to improve student outcomes through iterative research and honest conversations at the local level. AIR experts work with schools and districts to support and study NICs to discover what works.  See a Michigan NIC in action.

Applications for Uptake.org’s Spring 2019 cohort of our Data Fellows program are now open! Whether you’ve simply just heard about the program, have applied in the past, or have been recommended to us from Uptakers themselves, we encourage you to apply.  To apply, please use this link and select “Apply now to be a Data Fellow!” If you have submitted an application in the past, be sure to let us know what has changed since you last applied. Many of our past Data Fellows have applied more than once, and we are always excited to see your growth.  The Uptake.org Data Fellows program is a six-month fellowship designed to connect data professionals at non-profits, foundations, government agencies and social enterprises to experts in data science. The fellowship begins with a week in Chicago to meet with mentors, learn hard skills in data science and network with like-minded data-for-good professionals. It continues remotely over the course of six months. All travel expenses and logistics during your week in Chicago are covered by Uptake.  Applications close on Wednesday, December 5, 2019.