Department Chair Leadership Series

Learn Alongside Peers​

Academic Leaders do their best work when they can connect with colleagues across schools to share goals, challenges, and successes.

Designed specifically for current department chairs, this series includes five live, online 90-minute workshops offered throughout the 2026–27 academic year. Each session addresses a core challenge, from leading meetings and mentoring colleagues to navigating difficult conversations and classroom observations.

Through peer collaboration and research-informed guidance, participants will build the skills and confidence to lead with clarity and impact.

Each session is 90 minutes and will run from 12:00pm to 1:30pm ET.

October 7—Mentor, Coach, Evaluator: Which Hat Are You Wearing
November 5—Meetings as Professional Learning
December 9—Observation is More than a Checklist
January 28—When Teachers Struggle
February 25—Your First Team

Register in the Portal

  • “As a current department chair moving into an assistant division head role, I found the Preparing to Lead a Mission-Aligned Curriculum Audit course to be quite valuable in terms of giving me a starting point for thinking about broader curriculum work. I especially enjoyed reading about the experiences of peers at other schools, to hear what did and did not work for them when they engaged in similar work.”

    Sam McCoy, Assistant Middle School Head for Curriculum & Professional Learning, Sacred Heart Greenwich

  • "Once again, One Schoolhouse and the Association for Academic Leaders deliver on its promise of robust professional development. I leave the Onboarding (and Keeping) New Faculty course with a new, inspiring perspective on faculty onboarding."

    Eric Walters, Director of STEM Education, Marymount School of New York

  • “As a current department chair moving into an assistant division head role, I found the Preparing to Lead a Mission-Aligned Curriculum Audit course to be quite valuable in terms of giving me a starting point for thinking about broader curriculum work. I especially enjoyed reading about the experiences of peers at other schools, to hear what did and did not work for them when they engaged in similar work.”

    Sam McCoy, Assistant Middle School Head for Curriculum & Professional Learning, Sacred Heart Greenwich

  • "Once again, One Schoolhouse and the Association for Academic Leaders deliver on its promise of robust professional development. I leave the Onboarding (and Keeping) New Faculty course with a new, inspiring perspective on faculty onboarding."

    Eric Walters, Director of STEM Education, Marymount School of New York