PAGE is the Science Museum of Minnesota’s flagship program for leaders in K-12 education. Dedicated to supporting diversity, promoting inclusion, increasing access, and achieving equity in educational systems, PAGE is designed to support leaders in bringing about meaningful and lasting institutional change towards greater equity and inclusion within schools and across districts. This transformative program has been developed and refined through multiple awards from the National Science Foundation and focuses on leadership, beliefs, systems, relationships, and complexity.
During PAGE, you will engage with fellow leaders and the facilitation team in critical questions and discussions about leading in complex systems and profound ways of bringing about new behaviors and actions in your context. You and your colleagues will develop skills in systems thinking; practice strategies for facilitating highly productive teamwork and collaboration; and examine the relationships between identity, systems of oppression, power, and status.
The PAGE community of educational leaders is powerful. It includes over 40 districts from five states in the Upper Midwest and collectively capitalizes on the wisdom of urban, rural, and suburban contexts. District leaders include superintendents, assistant superintendents, school board members, curriculum directors, Q-comp coordinators, principals, teacher leaders, and instructional coaches. The PAGE community also includes teams from several State Departments of Education.
PAGE is transformative. As one district leader put it, “My leadership has been shaped by PAGE PD. I lead my faculty meetings using facilitation strategies. I formulate questions to guide staff to identify disparities. My feedback to staff from either room stop-ins or formal observations are to support the lenses of PAGE. Being aware of systems helps me as I facilitate new initiatives in my school.” Another put it this way, “This experience has been life changing and career shaping. It calls me to be something better, someone better than I was before. It has opened my eyes to see things I would have missed.”
Audience
District- or school-based leadership teams are eligible to participate in PAGE. Individual team members should 1) have a passion for addressing critical issues of access and equity in education 2) provide professional development, training, coaching, mentoring and/or leadership to K-12 teachers; and 3) have a district- or school-wide perspective. We encourage teams that are culturally, racially, and economically diverse.
For the 11-day Foundations Program (see below) space is limited to 24 participants. Teams are limited to no more than 6 individuals per district or up to 4 individuals per independent school.
If you would like professional development for a group larger than 6, contact us at IDEALCenter@smm.org to learn more about a customized workshop or institute.
The 4-day Veterans Program (see below) is open to leaders who have participated in the PAGE Foundations program or the Nexus Foundations 2015-16 & 2016-17 cohorts. Participants who have been a part of other IDEAL Center programs will be considered on a case by case basis. If you have questions regarding eligibility, please contact us at PAGE@smm.org.
Program Structure
Foundations Program: We will provide approximately 70 hours of professional development across 11 days that are designed specifically for district-based leadership teams. This meets the requirements for Minnesota professional development clock hours and/or Minnesota Board of School Administrators clock hours.
The 5-day Institute takes place June 17-21, 2019 at the Science Museum of Minnesota in Saint Paul, followed by three 2-day colloquia October 24-25, 2019; February 13-14, 2020; and April 2-3, 2020. Each day runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Attending all 11 days is essential.
Veterans Program: Veterans participate in Colloquiums 2 and 3 February 13-14, 2020 and April 2-3, 2020. Each day runs from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Cost
The cost of the 2019-2020 PAGE Foundations program is $2450 per person. This fee includes 11 days of professional development, parking in the Museum ramp, consumable materials, textbooks, journals, light breakfast, and lunch. Evening meals, mileage, and hotel are not included.
For teams based in Minnesota, funds provided by Minnesota’s Legacy Amendment help support the program, bringing the cost of the 2019-2020 PAGE Foundations program down to $1450 per person. This fee includes 11 days of professional development, parking in the Museum ramp, consumable materials, textbooks, journals, light breakfast, and lunch. For Minnesota based teams traveling from outside the Metro Area, mileage, and hotel will also be provided for the 5-day institute. We are currently seeking funds to support these expenses for the three colloquia during the school year.
The cost of the 2019-2020 PAGE Veterans program is $950 per person. This fee includes 4 days of professional development, parking in the Museum ramp, consumable materials, textbooks, journals, light breakfast, and lunch. Evening meals, mileage, and hotel are not included.
Application Deadline
Applications for the 2019-2020 PAGE Foundations Program are currently being accepted on a rolling basis.
Registrations for the 2019-2020 PAGE Veterans program are due November 6, 2019.
Next Steps
Veterans: Register online here.
Foundations:
- Recruit your team of 2-6 individuals and confirm their ability to participate in the program.
- Collectively compose a Team Narrative (suggested 500-word minimum) to the following prompts:
Please identify and describe current equity and inclusion challenges in your district.
Describe a vision of how participation in PAGE might inform work on the challenges identified.
Describe the process that was used to identify the proposed PAGE team members. Include a description of the expectations of each team member to contribute to equity and inclusion efforts in your district.
- Each team member will also need to compose an Individual Narrative (suggested 250-word minimum) to the following prompts:
Describe your role as a leader in your district, school consortium, or other organization.
(This may include your job responsibilities, a description of the teachers with whom you work, structures in place for professional development in your setting, etc. Please also consider including personal and professional experiences, areas of expertise, and/or particular perspectives you bring to the PAGE community.)
Describe equity and inclusion issues you hope to learn about and work on in PAGE.
Describe the kinds of leadership opportunities you currently have, or hope to have in the future, in which you can apply what you learn in PAGE.
- One application is submitted for your entire team.
