APEX Announces New Fall Courses for School Leaders

The APEX Program for School Leadership is happy to announce that Fall Courses are now open for enrollment! And there are five options for aspiring and current leaders in classical education to choose from.

Great Hearts offers a series of short courses through the APEX Program for School Leadership that are designed for developing leaders of classical education. The program provides targeted, continuing education pertaining to school culture, instructional and operational excellence, and a classical philosophy of leadership. Rooted in centuries of classical wisdom and decades of practical experience, APEX is a program designed to cultivate the prudence you need to lead a virtue-centered learning community.

Erin Diaz, the Instructional Designer for the National Professional Development Team said she is excited about the five new offerings. “They are best suited for current or aspiring campus leaders and teacher-leaders,” shared Diaz. “We offer courses seasonally, so don’t wait – register now so you don’t miss out! If you have questions about the courses, APEX program, or your personal career pathway, please contact us!”

The five new Fall Courses offered are:

• Case Study in School Leadership
  This course takes participants through specific “on the ground” challenges encountered by real headmasters as they make decisions in their first year as leaders of a young school. At the same time, it is designed to encourage future school leaders to think about the meaning of education in a specific community. Ultimately, the course seeks to inculcate the vision of a school as a learning community dedicated to excellence in a way that embraces the larger communities of parents and neighborhoods.

• Building a Strong Student Culture
  Building a Strong Student Culture uses the classical virtues as a paradigm for cultivating a healthy student body in partnership with teachers. The objective of this course is to develop your ability to integrate a consideration of virtue and an orientation toward virtue into the practical, day-to-day decision-making processes of a school teacher.

• Essentials of Public Speaking
  Perhaps one of the most important roles a leader assumes is that of an orator. Leaders frequently deliver speeches to a variety of audiences: students, teachers, parents, colleagues, and more. This course aims to develop a leader’s oration skills in style, technique, delivery, and composition. Sessions contain important readings, video demonstrations, and assignments designed to grow your abilities and confidence as an orator.

• Personal Leadership I
  This course builds upon the wisdom of the three Delphic maxims inscribed in the Temple of Apollo: “know thyself,” “nothing in excess,” and “certainty brings ruin.” It combines classical models of leadership with modern management practices. Its anchor, however, remains the medium of tragedy, the realm of truth and self-discovery par excellence. The lyric voice will also feature prominently, as the “star to every wand’ring bark,” as Shakespeare writes in Sonnet 116.

• Hiring for Mission Fit
  As Jim Collins famously said in his best-selling leadership book, Good to Great, “It is better to first get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats, and then figure out where to drive.” Extraordinary organizations are built by leaders capable of aligning their teams around a common vision, pursued by a diverse team of competent, committed members – and hiring is crucial to that end.

Visit apex.greatheartsamerica.org to enroll in or learn more about these courses.

Do you have a story or know of one that you would like to see featured at Great Hearts? Please contact jmoore@greatheartsamerica.org.

Submit a student application to a Great Hearts Academy by visiting: https://www.greatheartsamerica.org/enroll/.