Delaware’s Future Ed Leader Summer Program

Have you ever experienced déjà vu? Last week, I had the pleasure of joining Paul for a discussion with this summer’s Delaware Department of Education’s Future Ed Leaders, a group of promising leaders who are passionate about education and want to gain hands-on exposure to policy work here in the state. It was a very familiar-feeling scene. Familiar, in fact, because exactly one year ago, I was a Future Ed Leader.

Collectively, this year’s six-person class claim an impressive range of experiences that have led to their increasing interest and involvement in education. Many are graduates of Delaware public high schools and/or institutes of higher education and each of them has experience instructing or mentoring through roles such as a Teach For America corps member, substitute teacher, Army veteran, basketball coach, and English teacher abroad. Under the guidance of a sponsor within the DDOE, each participant of the program has ownership over a policy project and will ultimately make recommendations at the end of the summer that address some of the state’s current education issues. Throughout the summer, they will participate in series of discussions with state leaders in education including Secretary of Education Mark Murphy, State Board of Education President Terri Quinn Gray, and Representative Darryl Scott.

The launching point for the discussion was the intersection of leadership and policy, informed by Ronald Heifetz’s “Leadership Without Easy Answers”. (Having read the book last summer, I highly recommend it!) Between the occasional World Cup score update from the waitress, we explored the difference between informal and formal leadership as well as the idea of motivating multiple constituencies to co-develop and take ownership of solutions to community problems. As someone who one day hopes to be in a leadership position, the conversation was a helpful reminder that collective decision making, although a more difficult process, can be more effective in the long-run.

Since I was a former participant, I was excited to hear of its continuation and to meet the year’s participants. Although the duration of the program is brief (just eight weeks), I know from experience that they will gain invaluable insight into education in Delaware through their research and their conversations with state leaders. Personally, the program reaffirmed my desire to pursue a career in education policy which led me to apply to be a Fellow, here at the Rodel Foundation. I don’t know where I will be next summer, but hopefully another group will get to experience the great food, great company, and great policy discussion encompassed in the Future Ed Leaders program.