Harvard Leadership Program

2023 Applications Are Now Closed

Selected campus leadership teams serving Texas public schools will be attending the School Turnaround Leaders institute. Selected principals serving Texas public schools are eligible to attend the Achieving Excellence: Leadership Development for Principals institute. Each institute is a week-long professional development summer course taught in Cambridge, Massachusetts by faculty at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Applications for the 2023 cohorts closed on March 15. Please subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on social media to be notified when applications for the 2024 cohorts will open.

The impact of our leadership programs extends far beyond the participating principals.

We recognize the critical role of human capital in building student achievement. Absent a higher salary structure for educators, the most powerful incentive to retain effective teachers is supportive leadership. Once principals return from their transformative summer at Cambridge, we work to continuously support and develop them professionally as part of our statewide network of school leaders.

Principal alumni join the Charles Butt Foundation Regional Leadership Collaborative which connects alumni in regional groups who visit each other’s campuses, conduct instructional rounds, share best practices, and problem-solve on current issues in education. Through these groups, principals are empowered to work together to create change at the campus and district levels.

By investing in our state’s school leaders, we are investing in the future of Texas.

The Charles Butt Foundation covers all airfare, lodging, and tuition expenses, as well as a stipend for each cohort member. While at Cambridge, the Charles Butt Foundation supports principals in networking, setting goals, and developing action plans for when they return to their campuses. The Raising School Leaders program director attends the program with the school leaders. Upon returning, the program director conducts campus visits throughout the year to share resources and give feedback on the implementation of ideas and action plans from the Harvard institutes. The Charles Butt Foundation’s marketing team sends out periodic digital newsletters and also visits alumni on campus to capture personal stories about their week at Harvard. These leadership stories are told through the use of photos, videos, and other multimedia, and are published on our Stories page.