← Hillsdale College K-12 Classical Education Podcast
Hillsdale College K-12 Classical Education Podcast
Apprenticing Excellence: Inside Hillsdale's School Leader Fellowship Program
00:25:57
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- [00:03]
A
Hey there, it's Scott Bertram, host of the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour. On this week's program, we talk with Dr. Miles Smith from Hillsdale College about a recent essay he penned on the cultural crisis that could be reducing the effectiveness of the US Navy. And Stephen F. Hayward, professor at Pepperdine University, senior fellow at Pacific Research Institute. He'll join us to talk about Jimmy Carter, how he shattered American confidence in the presidency and his legacy as described in his book the Real Jimmy Carter. All that this week on the Radio Free Hillsdale Hour. Find it at podcast hillsdale. Edu or wherever you get your audio, including YouTube. Thanks for listening. We're joined today by Benjamin Payne. He's director of Leader support inside the Hillsdale College K12 education office. Benjamin, thanks so much for joining us.
- [01:04]
B
Thank you for having me, Scott.
- [01:06]
A
Today we're talking about the School Leader Fellows Program and we'll give you a lot of information. You also can find it at the K12 website, which is K12 hillsdale.edu. and we'll put a link directly to this page in this show description for the School Leader Fellows Program. But now we'll tell you all about it. So, Ben, tell us, give us an overview of this K12 school leader fellows program. How does it align with the College's founding mission from 1844 to preserve liberty through sound learning?
- [01:41]
B
Yes, certainly this effort in particular, the Leader Fellow program, is because in building up our member schools and becoming part of the single greatest engine for education reform in the country and supporting Hillsdale College's mission, we need to bring in and train up the best leaders possible to lead our schools and to lead this effort. And so the Leader Fellow program has proven pretty quickly to be quite an effective method to do that. It is a one year paid program where the program consists of two primary elements. One is an apprenticeship on the ground at one of our member schools and the other element is a professional development piece that is mostly delivered virtually, but also involves attendance at all of our leader conferences on campus where Leader Fellows engage together as a cohort in professional development, both around classical education and also practical leadership capacities.
- [02:50]
A
So I'm sure there are many places where people can perhaps get experience at a fellowship program. What makes the Hillsdale K12 School Leader Fellows Program different? What makes it stand out from other training opportunities people might have in education?
- [03:07]
B
Yeah, certainly one right now, a lot of the training opportunities are just virtual. So they're, they're, and many of them are asynchronous. That's, that's a word I Never thought I'd be using, but a lot of them through this virtual environment that we've now become accustomed to. A lot of certificate programs are just sort of online courses and though they can offer really strong content that don't allow the participants to engage in conversation, to ask questions and also apply those things in the day to day world that they're working in. For our apprenticeship, all of the professional development aligns with the work that's happening on the ground in the member schools. So again, in this apprenticeship, the Leader Fellows get the opportunity for a year, basically without responsibility, to shadow really strong school leaders on the ground and learn what it's like to be ahead of school or an assistant principal or dean for a full school year. They participate in, observe parent meetings and are in on planning meetings regarding the class schedules and vacations and HR matters and the budget and everything you have to handle as a head of school. So to be able to participate in that day to day and then engage in this cohort of other Leader Fellows, where we're up to 10 or 12 now, to be able to have that conversation with them, live through our professional development is an exceptional opportunity for anyone to have that moment of growth for a full year before launching into an official leadership capacity the year after.
- [04:50]
A
The program describes strong candidates for the School Leader Fellows program as smart, humble, industrious. I guess I should apply with the commitment to forming self governing citizen. So who is an ideal applicant? What backgrounds have had good success in this fellowship?
- [05:12]
B
Yes, thank you for bringing that up. We refer to Patrick Lencioni a lot. He says smart, hungry and humble. And then we sort of taken that and adapted it to our program. Leader Fellows can come from a variety of backgrounds. We have teachers who are sort of moving up naturally into leadership. They're really strong candidates. We have executives out there in the corporate world who realize that they're being called to a greater mission. And so they've achieved excellence in the executive capacity, but want to move in education that way. We have many former military actively leading in our school network right now. And we have some strong former military in the fellowship program. We also have folks who've moved up sort of through the homeschooling model, schooling their own children and realizing that they want to give those gifts to more and more and have a calling again to the mission. One, you really have to love children and two, you have to believe in education as one of the primary ways that we're going to restore this American experiment to what it should be.
- [06:23]
A
Talking with Benjamin Payne about The School Leader Fellows Program. You can find more at k12hillsdale.edu and click through or we also have a link in the description for this episode that'll take you right to that page. Benjamin, walk us through the apprenticeship component inside the School Leader Fellows Program. How do these fellows immerse themselves in day to day school leadership? I mean there's things like shadowing, board meetings, leading projects, of course, parent engagement as well. What does that apprenticeship component look like?
- [06:59]
B
Yeah, it's a wonderful opportunity. That's one of the for those leader Fellows who have been in some leadership already, they remark at what a gift that is. So you basically are operating as an assistant principal or dean in terms of what you have access to and what you're working with, but yet you are asked to sort of take a step back and watch and engage as you can, but without the charge or stressful responsibility of making those final calls or having to make some of those tough decisions. So the fellowship program starts on July 1st and ends on June 30th. Officially that we have monthly professional development. Again that's mostly virtual. And then the apprenticeship. Think of being an administrator on the ground in a school. So if the school year starts in mid August, it's coming in a couple weeks before with the rest of the faculty, maybe three weeks before helping the leadership team prepare for the year, being of service as you can there, it's running car line, it's engaging in board meetings. It's really what the leader fellow, they can make the most of it depending on who that person is, they can ask questions, they can engage and just it's an opportunity to learn for an entire year while still having that access to all that leadership has to go through. So it's a tremendous learning environment and it really equips that person to be able to reflect on how they would handle all of these challenging situations that school leaders face. They can create their vision for all the things that they see in the school where they're having the apprenticeship, what's going well, what they would change, gives them time to plan and cast their own vision for their school moving forward after the fellowship.
- [08:56]
A
There's also intellectual and professional developments, development components to the School Leader Fellows Program that includes some core readings along the way like the Republic and something more modern like Teach Like a Champion. How do these texts, along with monthly discussions help to deepen the grasp of classical pedagogy and also leadership principles for our fellows?
- [09:23]
B
Yes, we, we have sought guidance from, from all of our school leaders out there in the Network to build up a reading list that is a nice balance of both types of texts. The Leader Fellows that we're working with right now, we just had a monthly session this week for January where we read Norms and Nobility together and had a discussion that's about Dr. David Hicks. And it's important, though many of us are already sort of well immersed in the classical pedagogy world, it's important to remain rooted in those texts and that thought because in practice we're out there in the real world and it's easy to sort of forget or not have time to really dive in and apply the best strategies and approaches rooted in the true, the good and the beautiful. So it's really wonderful and nourishing to continue to dive into those techs. At the same time, you know, we're leading real schools that are multi million dollar nonprofit organizations. The school leaders are also the custodians of upwards of 1200 students every day. So it's quite a charge. And it's not enough to just be a good person or to just, just want to do it well, but you actually have to be equipped with, with the skills and, and the leadership practices to, to do that well. So we engage with books like Teach Like a Champion, with again, Patrick Lencioni's work, some of Coyle's work, Culture Code, and also dive into to finances and board governance texts as well so that our Leader Fellows can develop the practical capacities to lead a school.
- [11:14]
A
Well, talking about the real world, as you mentioned, there are things that our leaders have to deal with that are just very basic. Financial management, fundraising for schools, teacher coaching, these practical skills that have to be developed and have to be refined. How does the School Leader Fellows program provide opportunities to do that?
- [11:37]
B
Yeah, so building off of reading some of those more practical texts like Teach Like a Champion and Culture Code, the discussions we have and the deliverables the Leader Fellows put forth every month require them to reflect on those practices. One of the tremendous benefits that I should have mentioned earlier that the Leader Fellows have is access to our K12 online library. And our K12 online library has around 3,000 resources right now for teachers and leaders and governing boards to do all that work well. So our Leader Fellows also have access to our teacher support team, that's a 11 person team that has over 170 years of experience in teaching and leading in schools. So they're a tremendous resource as well. I don't know another opportunity quite like this for an aspiring leader. Again, our leaders are the chief educators in the building. They're the teacher of teachers. They are to embody the best that we want from our students, from our families and from our faculty. So to be able to offer folks all of the resources that our office has built up over the last 16 years or so is quite an opportunity.
- [13:03]
A
Talking with Benjamin Payne about the School Leader Fellows program more at k12 hillsdale.edu or again, you can find a link to apply and more information in the description for this episode. So tell us about the capstone project for the School Leader Fellows Program. How do the Fellows develop and present their research? What kinds of topics have past Fellows explored to help advance classical education?
- [13:31]
B
This is a wonderful opportunity. So in June, the last charge that our Leader Fellows have is to attend summer conference at Hillsdale College and part of their attendance they're going to present capstone projects. So the purpose of the capstone is to allow and provide each Leader Fellow an opportunity to dive a little deeper into a topic that they feel passionate about and also a topic that if the capstone is handled well and the research occurs, that it'll actually be helpful resource and study that will benefit our entire movement. So it's impressive to see the variety that comes out of the capstone projects. Right. Just off the top of my head we have one gentleman who's working on a resource for schools to offer parents. So sort of a structure and a framework to keep parents immersed in classical education throughout the school year. So it's a 10 month offering where he's putting together readings and questions and some templates and best practices to consider when reaching out to parents and educating them on what a classical education is. We we have another Leader Fellow that who is working with students who are struggling and oftentimes in the real world in schools, struggling students, the norm out there is to sort of just dive into the popular practices of remediation in skills. And we actually in the classical world actually believe that that immersing those students more in what it is to be human and how to continue to pursue the true and the good is is actually where that that motivation is going to come from for them to to start to make up those gaps. So we have another Leader Fellow that's developing resources for for struggling middle school students that keep them attuned to the the greater mission of education and their value as human beings. So just some wonderful opportunities for the Leader Fellows to give back to the network through that capstone work.
- [15:54]
A
The School Leader Fellows Program has regular mentorship sessions. There are monthly journal reflections and those are reviewed by the K12 Education Office. So what does this process look like to ensure that our fellows receive ongoing feedback, regular feedback, and that they're achieving both professional and personal milestones?
- [16:18]
B
Yeah, that's, thank you for asking that. So our, our professional development framework, again we have monthly calls as a group. We also have one on one calls where each fellow gets coaching from someone on our school support team and then through optimal work and the self authoring suite, again that gives each fellow a framework to, to intentionally articulate a vision for themselves as individuals and as leaders. And that also helps them build a framework on how to stay focused on that vision, on that articulated vision. So it's, they're wonderful things if you, if you have a chance to, to look up optimal work. It's not something that's, that's just for our leaders, but that's available to anyone out there and it's a wonderful framework that's, that's built on classical philosophical principles and, but is an accessible method for applying that in their day to day life. And then self Authoring suite, you know what we're, we're so caught up in our, in our modern world with the immediate satisfaction and everything that's going on in front of us with all this information that's at our fingertips all the time. And the future authoring and self authoring suite provides that, that moment for, for each of us to be mindful of not just doing things for our current self and community, but for all of our future selves moving forward. So to the, the power of articulating that in written word and the impact that that can have on your life is now well researched and documented through the work of Dr. Jordan Peterson and others. And so our, our fellows get to get to benefit from both of those constructs throughout the year of the Fellowship.
- [18:09]
A
Where have we seen some real success stories from past Fellows? How do you think the program's prepared them to found schools or lead schools? What impact have they had since leaving the School Leader Fellows program?
- [18:25]
B
That's the real beauty. We're seeing our past leader Fellows flourish. One leader Fellow is a principal at one of our, one of our schools. It's, that's a curriculum school converting to be a member school right now. So step right into leadership there. We have another past Leader Fellow who is a upper school director at one of our member schools and we have another that's, that's moving into a founding Head of school effort as well. So whether it's filling in for, for a school leader vacancy that's upcoming or getting to move right into a founding head of school role where you're building a school from scratch. Or some of our fellows just find that they're, they're ready to move into a number two type position, into an assistant principal or upper school or grammar school director position and step into that leadership right away for the network. It's really helpful because our again, our program has been designed over these many years and it is very specific and we need leaders who have that mission heart, who understand what strong instruction looks like, who are knowledgeable about our curriculum and our curricular resources and are ready to lead this engine moving forward.
- [19:50]
A
Talking with Benjamin Payne about the K12 School Leader Fellows Program. You can find more at K12Hillsdale.edu and click through or right in the description for this episode. You'll find a link directly to the page with more information and the opportunity to apply. So let's talk a bit about that. For this school year there are fellowships available at places like Hillsdale Academy here in Michigan, Cincinnati Classical Academy, others. There are diverse sites across the country, Idaho and Michigan and out East. How does that provide varied experiences in classical school environments?
- [20:31]
B
Yes, we, there's a lot of criteria on how we select campuses to host Leader Fellows, but we want to make sure that we do have opportunities across the country. The Leader Fellow does relocate to get that experience on the ground in the apprenticeship. And so we want those leaders to be with some of our best leaders in the network and at schools that are performing well. So we have something called the Salvatore Prize which is given to the best classical school in the nation. That applies every year. So the Salvatore winner and any Salvatore runners up, they tend to be sites that we, that we have for Leader Fellows. That's Seven Oaks Classical School won the Salvatore Prize this past school year in Cincinnati was a runner up. So those are two of our locations. We have a wonderful member school out in Orange County, California, way out there. So we can't forget about them. We're excited to have a Leader Fellow there, Ivywood and Michigan and others that you can, you can find go to our website to find out the latest list of spots of locations for a Leader Fellowship. And we we also have partner fellows in Idaho where you after moving out to Idaho. The, the idea is that you'll stay in an Idaho school. We have a similar situation with the Liberty Classical schools in Georgia. So it's a real variety out there. Some of our fellowships go straight into founding head of school opportunities like the Terrence Wall Fellowship in Madison, Wisconsin. So it's we Want to offer all those, all of those experiences out there to make sure that we have something for all of these potential school leaders. We know that there are family factors in there and other elements that, that are important when thinking about taking on the charge and responsibility of being a school leader. And so we want to open our doors and make it available to as many strong leaders as possible.
- [22:26]
A
This is a paid one year fellowship as part of the School Leader Fellows program. What are those key benefits for those who take part? I know there's conferences and school visits and of course networking within the Hillsdale network of teachers and leaders in the K12 office. What do people tend to say they get out of taking part in this program?
- [22:49]
B
Well, you just named, you named a lot of it there. It is a paid fellowship that is also something that's not necessarily the norm. So not only do they, says the leader fellow, benefit from all this professional development, apprenticeship, but they're also earning a full salary on site. So that, that's a wonderful opportunity. Our conferences are great. We have a leader boot camp that we have every fall. And so that, that is our primer on how to become a classical school leader in our network. We have a school leader conference every February. We're about to host our 2026 conference here in a few weeks. That brings all of our heads of school from all over the nation together for our member schools and many of their assistant principals and deans and, and that's a, that's a wonderful opportunity to be around the best of the best in our country and to have those conversations and to network and make those connections. And then obviously summer conference. Our summer conference hosts over a thousand teachers from across our network every, every summer for professional development opportunities as well as just providing that, that community at Hillsdale College to be immersed and again, the best of classical education every year. So it's a great opportunity for the fellows. And then again, I'm going to go back to a little bit of the trend right now is that we're all learning online and we're all distant and separate and there's a lot of opportunity there, which is great. As a result, you and I are able to have this podcast even though we're several states apart right now. Yet what we're miss missing is that human factor and that human engagement interaction. So for our leader fellows to be able to go to those conferences to visit other member schools, all our leader fellows will visit two to three other member schools during the program and then to meet and have conversation regularly. You go through this experience together, and our Leader Fellows are forming bonds and friendships with other really strong leaders that will last the rest of their careers and lives. So I know you've been a part of such efforts where when you go through things like this together, it strengthens you both as an individual and as a group. So I'm blessed to be able to help lead this program. And watching these Leader Fellows move through, it's a and is a responsibility and a great honor.
- [25:26]
A
People can find more information and apply K12 hillsdale.edu click through or there's a link in the description for this episode. We have just a minute here left. Benjamin, for people who are curious and perhaps thinking about completing that application, what kind of advice would you give them?
- [25:46]
B
I would have them just dive in and research as much as possible about American classical education. There are many different, different ways that classical education can look that the Hillsdale model and being so rooted in our American founding and the principles of Hillsdale College, I think makes it the most exceptional of those classical education models out there. So dive into that. We have member schools and curriculum schools all around the country. You can go on our website, find out where those are. All of our schools are open to visitors and you'll see what that excellence looks like on the ground. And then whenever you're ready, just reach out, go to our website and apply.
- [26:27]
A
All right. Benjamin Payne is director of Leader Support for Hillsdale College's K12 education office. And again, if you're interested in the School Leader Fellows program, you can find a link for more information and the opportunity to apply in the description for this episode. Benjamin, thanks so much for joining us here on the Hillsdale College K12 Classical Education Podcast.
- [26:48]
B
Thank you, Scott. Enjoy the day.