The Indian Country School Leadership Institute (ICSLI)

School leadership is a critical component of an effective school, district, and community. The Indian Country School Leadership Institute (ICSLI) is designed to help build capacity amongst school and district leaders serving Indigenous communities. This institute is open to current and aspiring leaders for positions such as principal, assistant principal, superintendent, assistant superintendent, and other district-level leadership roles.

The ICSLI program will help school and district leaders develop and enhance leadership skills that align to serving Indigenous populations including cultural awareness, communication skills, problem solving, conflict resolution, community and governmental relationship building, policies and procedures, as well as other leadership skill sets to effectively work with Indigenous students, staff, leaders, and community members. The ICSLI program will guide leaders through collaborative discussions, problem solving, establishing platforms and philosophies for leadership development; as well as, applying leadership skills and research to build leadership capacity to serve indigenous populations.

Indian Country School Leadership Institute participants will engage in reviewing leadership topics, conducting literature reviews, and developing an action plan for increasing leadership capacities and conduct a thorough leadership action plan resulting in a Indigenous leadership guide for present and future leaders in Indigenous education systems.

Leaders create pathways for those they serve to succeed. ISCLI will help any school or district leader build capacity to become the best leader possible for the communities they serve.

Harnessing Our Leadership Skills to Leverage Indigenous Students and Communities (Robert Koerperich, Superintendent, Holbrook Unified School District)

This seminar by the Indian Country School Leadership Institute (ICSLI) aims to enhance the capabilities of school and district leaders working with Indigenous students and communities. It focuses on developing essential skills such as communication, problem-solving, conflict resolution, community and government relationship building, and policy and procedure development. Additionally, the seminar will explore the integration of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education into leadership and school contexts. Participants will identify relevant leadership topics for their schools, review related literature, and create a practical leadership practice guide to implement and share with colleagues. This seminar is open to current and aspiring leaders for positions such as principal, assistant principal, superintendent, assistant superintendent, and other district-level leadership roles.

ICSLI Seminar schedule 2025

Downloadable PDF above

Benefits of program participation

Upon completing the program, the following will be granted:

Certificate of completion with 30 seat hours noted for professional development
$500 stipend provided upon completion
Self-authored practice guide is published on INE website
Connected to a diverse community of educational leaders with a shared commitment to culturally responsive schooling

Participants in the ICSLI are motivated, intellectually curious school or district leaders who want to build capacity for serving Indigenous communities and have high expectations for their students.

Application Process

Step 1: Confirm Eligibility

Please carefully read the “Eligibility criteria” and “Time Commitment” sections to confirm your eligibility.  This includes ensuring that you can attend ALL in-person and virtual meetings.

Eligibility criteria

Employed full-time in a school/districts serving over 25% Native students
Employed in a publicly-funded or tribally-funded school/district in Arizona
Employed in a leadership role(i.e., principal, assistant principal, superintendent, assistant superintendent etc.), or aspiring to a leadership role
Ability to attend ALL in-person and online meetings (See 2025 ICSLI Program Calendar here)

Time Commitment

You will earn 30 Seat Hours for Professional Development through the following activities:

1 online orientation session
8 online seminar sessions
1 in-person Saturday session
1-day in-person Showcase in November at NAU’s Flagstaff campus
Scheduled time for reading/writing each week

Step 2: Submit your application

The application is completed via Google forms, which requires you to complete and submit the entire application at one time. Please be sure you allow sufficient time to do this; we recommend approximately one hour.

The application includes two short paragraph questions each answer should be 300-600 words. The questions are:

“Please explain why you are interested in participating in ICSLI, and describe a specific way you could integrate this seminar topic into your practice.”

“Through this program, you will write a culturally sustaining/responsive leadership practice guide that you will implement in your school/schools. Please describe a topic or theme that you are interested in writing your practice guide about.”

It may be helpful to draft your response in a Word/Google Document (or something similar) then copy and paste your response into the application when you are ready to submit.

Step 3: Notification of acceptance

The Institute for Native-serving Educators will inform you of your application status by March 3, 2025.

Ready to get started?

Apply to ICSLI!

Click the link above to be taken to the application page.

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