The Mind Trust accepting applications for fifth Indianapolis cohort of Relay National Principals Academy Fellowships
INDIANAPOLIS — (December 4, 2020) — The Mind Trust, an Indianapolis-based education nonprofit, is now accepting applications for the fifth cohort of Indianapolis school leaders to participate in Relay Graduate School of Education’s National Principals Academy Fellowship (NPAF), a nationally-recognized fellowship that provides school and school systems leaders with powerful instructional and cultural professional development.
“Students benefit when their school leaders have the resources they need to become exceptional instructional and cultural leaders,” said Brandon Brown, CEO of The Mind Trust. “Relay’s fellowships have become highly sought after due to their effective, research-based programming. The Mind Trust is proud to continue supporting this opportunity for Indianapolis leaders in partnership with the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation.”
In 2019, the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation awarded The Mind Trust a $990,000 grant to help sponsor Indianapolis school leader participation for three years, through the 2022-2023 cohort. Since 2017, 101 Indianapolis school administrators have participated in Relay school leader fellowships with support from the Fairbanks Foundation.
“High-quality school leaders are essential to ensuring students achieve their full potential,” said Claire Fiddian-Green, President and CEO of the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. “Relay’s exceptional training program provides school leaders with the skills needed to transform instruction and school culture. The Fairbanks Foundation is proud to continue partnering with The Mind Trust and Relay to grow the supply of world-class school leaders in our city.”
The Fellowship is an intensive, one-year program focused on transformational school leadership. All NPAF participants will attend a summer online session and four additional “intersessions,” during which they focus on Relay’s key instructional pillars: observation and feedback, data-driven instruction, positive student culture of high expectations, adult professional development, instructional planning, an aligned staff culture, and strategic leadership. The current cohort is participating in programming virtually, and Relay will assess when in-person programming may resume.
To apply for the program, participants must hold full-time leadership positions within a school or school network – such as principal supervisor, principal, assistant principal, department head, instructional coach, or lead teacher. Applicants may be employed at any public school in Indianapolis, including those outside of Center Township.
The Mind Trust is seeking applicants who have the motivation and work ethic to continue refining their craft as a leader and who have a strong sense of personal responsibility and belief as it pertains to student learning.
The Mind Trust also strongly encourages cohorts of leaders from the same school or network to apply as a ‘team’ to increase the impact on their students. Where applicable, application teams that include a strong principal manager who has the ability to influence leaders across multiple locations may strengthen the overall application.
The application opens today, Friday, December 4, 2020. The deadline to submit applications is Monday, January 11, 2021, and final participants will be announced in Spring 2021. Interested applicants can complete their application at the online portal.
For more information about the application, contact Tina Seymour, Senior Director of School Support, at tseymour@themindtrust.org or visit themindtrust.org/npaf.
###
About The Mind Trust
The Mind Trust is an Indianapolis-based education nonprofit that works to build a system of schools that gives every student in Indianapolis, no exceptions, access to a high-quality education. The Mind Trust does this by building a supportive environment for schools through policy and community engagement, empowering talented, diverse educators to launch new schools, and providing existing schools with the support they need to hire world-class talent and achieve excellence. Since 2006, The Mind Trust has supported the launch of 37 schools, 14 education nonprofit organizations, and has helped place more than 1,600 teachers and school leaders in Indianapolis classrooms. More information can be found at themindtrust.org.
About Relay Graduate School of Education
The Relay Graduate School of Education is a national, accredited, nonprofit institution of higher education whose mission is to teach teachers and school leaders to develop in all students the academic skills and strength of character needed to succeed in college and life. With 8,000 alumni, Relay is now serving over 3,700 teachers in 19 cities and more than 1,200 leaders nationwide. Relay is committed to using practice and feedback to become the place where a new generation of continuously improving, results-focused, diverse individuals can fulfill their destiny in the world’s greatest profession. For more information, visit the Relay website (www.relay.edu) or follow Relay on Twitter (@RelayGSE).