--- title: Lead the Charge! The Importance of Leadership Training description: Comprehensive literacy training grounded in evidence-based practices provides crucial foundational knowledge to empower school and district leaders to create a culture and vision for literacy instruction. However, this cannot be done in a day. Leaders need opportunities to discover effective instructional practices and high-quality curriculum and assessment tools. They need to learn how to create a literacy plan that will support their district's mission and strategic priorities as well as the plan’s implementation for lasting change and classroom application.  image: https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/hubfs/Creating-Your-Own-Classroom-Learning-Center-2.jpg --- [![AIM Institute 2025 Landscape Subtitle CMYK (1)-1](https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/hs-fs/hubfs/AIM%20Institute%202025%20Landscape%20Subtitle%20CMYK%20(1)-1.png?width=2725&height=750&name=AIM%20Institute%202025%20Landscape%20Subtitle%20CMYK%20(1)-1.png "AIM Institute 2025 Landscape Subtitle CMYK (1)-1")](https://institute.aimpa.org/) Search Search Translate Website Select Language Afrikaans Albanian Amharic Arabic Armenian Assamese Aymara Azerbaijani Bambara Basque Belarusian Bengali Bhojpuri Bosnian Bulgarian Catalan Cebuano Chichewa Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Corsican Croatian Czech Danish Dhivehi Dogri Dutch Esperanto Estonian Ewe Filipino Finnish French Frisian Galician Georgian German Greek Guarani Gujarati Haitian Creole Hausa Hawaiian Hebrew Hindi Hmong Hungarian Icelandic Igbo Ilocano Indonesian Irish Gaelic Italian Japanese Javanese Kannada Kazakh Khmer Kinyarwanda Konkani Korean Krio Kurdish (Kurmanji) Kurdish (Sorani) Kyrgyz Lao Latin Latvian Lingala Lithuanian Luganda Luxembourgish Macedonian Maithili Malagasy Malay Malayalam Maltese Maori Marathi Meiteilon (Manipuri) Mizo Mongolian Myanmar (Burmese) Nepali Norwegian Odia (Oriya) Oromo Pashto Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Quechua Romanian Russian Samoan Sanskrit Scots Gaelic Sepedi Serbian Sesotho Shona Sindhi Sinhala Slovak Slovenian Somali Spanish Sundanese Swahili Swedish Tajik Tamil Tatar Telugu Thai Tigrinya Tsonga Turkish Turkmen Twi Ukrainian Urdu Uyghur Uzbek Vietnamese Welsh Xhosa Yiddish Yoruba Zulu - [Who We Are](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-are) - [AIM Leadership](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-are/aim-leadership) - [Institute Team](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-are/institute-team) - [FAQs](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-are/frequently-asked-questions) - [Institute News](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-are/institute-news) - [Careers](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-are/careers) - [Contact Us](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-are/contact-us) - [Calendar](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-are/calendar) - [Who We Serve](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-serve) - [What It's Like to Work With AIM](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-serve/what-its-like-to-work-with-aim) - [For School & District Leadership](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-serve/for-school-district-leadership) - [For Educators](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-serve/for-educators) - [For Higher Education](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-serve/for-higher-education) - [For Departments of Education](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-serve/for-departments-of-education) - [State Training Partnerships](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-serve/state-training-partnerships) - [What We Provide](https://institute.aimpa.org/what-we-provide) - [What is AIM Pathways?](https://institute.aimpa.org/what-we-provide/aim-pathways) - [AIM Knowledge Navigator](https://institute.aimpa.org/what-we-provide/aim-knowledge-navigator) - [Comprehensive Learning](https://institute.aimpa.org/what-we-provide/comprehensive-learning) - [Skill Builder](https://institute.aimpa.org/what-we-provide/skill-builder) - [Essentials](https://institute.aimpa.org/what-we-provide/essentials) - [AIM Coaching](https://institute.aimpa.org/what-we-provide/coaching) - [Wilson Language Training® at AIM](https://institute.aimpa.org/what-we-provide/wilson) - [Micro-Credential Opportunities](https://institute.aimpa.org/what-we-provide/micro-credentials) - [Purchase Classroom Resources](https://aimpa.myshopify.com/) - [Learn More](https://institute.aimpa.org/what-we-provide/learn-more) - [Registration Details](https://institute.aimpa.org/what-we-provide/registration-details) - [Research & Impact](https://institute.aimpa.org/research-impact) - [Research to Practice Symposium](https://institute.aimpa.org/research-impact/research-to-practice-symposium) - [Research Advisory Board](https://institute.aimpa.org/research-impact/research-advisory-board) - [Researcher Conversations](https://institute.aimpa.org/research-impact/researcher-conversations) - [Classroom Impact](https://institute.aimpa.org/research-impact/classroom-impact) - [Partnerships](https://institute.aimpa.org/research-impact/partnerships) - [Connect & Learn](https://institute.aimpa.org/connect-learn) - [AIM Nexus](https://institute.aimpa.org/connect-learn/introducing-nexus) - [Literacy Webinars](https://institute.aimpa.org/connect-learn/webinars) - [Ask AIM](https://institute.aimpa.org/connect-learn/ask-aim) - [Deep Dives](https://institute.aimpa.org/connect-learn/deep-dives) - [Videos](https://institute.aimpa.org/connect-learn/videos) - [Science of Reading Blog](https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/aim-resources) - [Hollis Scarborough's Reading Rope](https://institute.aimpa.org/connect-learn/reading-rope) - [Integrated Literacy Model - ILM](https://institute.aimpa.org/connect-learn/integrated-literacy-model-ilm) Menu Translate Website Select Language Afrikaans Albanian Amharic Arabic Armenian Assamese Aymara Azerbaijani Bambara Basque Belarusian Bengali Bhojpuri Bosnian Bulgarian Catalan Cebuano Chichewa Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Traditional) Corsican Croatian Czech Danish Dhivehi Dogri Dutch Esperanto Estonian Ewe Filipino Finnish French Frisian Galician Georgian German Greek Guarani Gujarati Haitian Creole Hausa Hawaiian Hebrew Hindi Hmong Hungarian Icelandic Igbo Ilocano Indonesian Irish Gaelic Italian Japanese Javanese Kannada Kazakh Khmer Kinyarwanda Konkani Korean Krio Kurdish (Kurmanji) Kurdish (Sorani) Kyrgyz Lao Latin Latvian Lingala Lithuanian Luganda Luxembourgish Macedonian Maithili Malagasy Malay Malayalam Maltese Maori Marathi Meiteilon (Manipuri) Mizo Mongolian Myanmar (Burmese) Nepali Norwegian Odia (Oriya) Oromo Pashto Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Quechua Romanian Russian Samoan Sanskrit Scots Gaelic Sepedi Serbian Sesotho Shona Sindhi Sinhala Slovak Slovenian Somali Spanish Sundanese Swahili Swedish Tajik Tamil Tatar Telugu Thai Tigrinya Tsonga Turkish Turkmen Twi Ukrainian Urdu Uyghur Uzbek Vietnamese Welsh Xhosa Yiddish Yoruba Zulu Search ## Main Menu - [Who We Are](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-are) - [Who We Serve](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-serve) - [What We Provide](https://institute.aimpa.org/what-we-provide) - [Research & Impact](https://institute.aimpa.org/research-impact) - [Connect & Learn](https://institute.aimpa.org/connect-learn) ![](https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/hubfs/Creating-Your-Own-Classroom-Learning-Center-2.jpg) # Lead the Charge! The Importance of Leadership Training Published by [AIM Institute](https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/aim-resources/author/aim-institute) on Jun 16, 2023, 1:53:56 PM ![Creating-Your-Own-Classroom-Learning-Center-2](https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Creating-Your-Own-Classroom-Learning-Center-2.jpg?width=1200&height=624&name=Creating-Your-Own-Classroom-Learning-Center-2.jpg) Comprehensive literacy training grounded in evidence-based practices provides crucial foundational knowledge to empower school and district leaders to create a culture and vision for literacy instruction. However, this cannot be done in a day. Leaders need opportunities to discover effective instructional practices and high-quality curriculum and assessment tools. They need to learn how to create a literacy plan that will support their district's mission and strategic priorities as well as the plan’s implementation for lasting change and classroom application.  **But which leaders need to be trained?** With our nation’s NAEP scores so low, ***all* administrators need to become literacy leaders** so they have the ability to support their teachers as they transform literacy research into practice within their classrooms. Think about this scenario, if a principal walks into a 6th grade classroom and sees a student writing and struggling with vocabulary words, they *should* be able to collaborate with the teacher about using evidence-based practices such as morphology or semantic maps to assist the student. Unfortunately, many times this is not the case because school leaders really do not know *what* they should be looking for in the area of best evidenced-based literacy practices. A recent report from the [Research Partnership for Professional Learning](https://annenberg.brown.edu/sites/default/files/rppl-building-better-pl.pdf) found that coaching and teacher collaboration are key strategies for effective teacher training. Having leaders trained in the same structured literacy materials as teachers helps them develop deep knowledge of the science of reading and create a structured literacy implementation plan in their schools or districts to support teachers. Overall, developing school leaders’ knowledge of evidence-based literacy instruction so that they recognize their need for systems-level changes that allow teachers to effectively implement their professional learning is essential. **AIM’s Pathways to Literacy Leadership** is available for administrators to develop knowledge of the science of reading and create a structured literacy implementation plan in their schools or districts. Mississippi is an example of a state that has recently seen great growth in their reading scores and training in evidence-based literacy practices played a major role in this shift. During the 2022-2023 school year, the Mississippi Department of Education partnered with AIM Institute for Learning & Research to provide Pathways to Literacy Leadership training to leaders in order to better support implementation of structured literacy into classroom practice to benefit students. “Our leaders are able to help teachers take the research and translate it into practice in the classroom,” said Kristen Wynn, State Literacy Director (K-12) with the Mississippi Department of Education states, describing the benefits of leadership training. “They're able to monitor and really be instructional leaders within their building. In Mississippi, we are really trying to empower our leaders to move into the instructional space. Training was a great way for us to do that...to move our leaders..to lead the charge for literacy within their building.” **Are you ready to LEAD THE CHARGE in your school or district to create and maintain systems in your school that make literacy success a reality for all?**[Watch this video](https://institute.aimpa.org/resources/improvedliteracymindset) of Dr. Ernesto Ortiz Jr., a former elementary school principal, discussing his work on creating a culture of literacy in his school with literacy researcher Dr. Julie Washington of the University of California, Irvine. As Dr. Ortiz states, “I think people have a fixed mindset that it's the classroom teacher's job or responsibility to teach literacy. The gym teacher can do it. The art teacher can do it. The music teacher can do it...anyone can do it...Families can do it...We're all literacy teachers for \[our students\].” [![Contact Us](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/39622625/74c7de19-d019-405c-bc20-698d5c644dbb.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/39622625/74c7de19-d019-405c-bc20-698d5c644dbb) Tags: [Professional Development](https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/aim-resources/tag/professional-development), [Leadership](https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/aim-resources/tag/leadership) [Back to Blog](https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/aim-resources) - [Tweet](https://twitter.com/share) ## Related Articles ## [“I Fell in Love With It”: One Coach’s Literacy Journey in Louisiana](https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/aim-resources/i-fell-in-love-with-it-one-coachs-literacy-journey-in-louisiana) When Louisiana emerged as the only state to show gains in fourth-grade reading scores on the 2024... [Read More](https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/aim-resources/i-fell-in-love-with-it-one-coachs-literacy-journey-in-louisiana) ## [Improve Student Writing through Effective Reviewing and Revising Strategies](https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/aim-resources/improve-student-writing-through-effective-reviewing-and-revising-strategies) Ask any teacher and they’ll tell you that writing is not just about stringing words together—it’s... [Read More](https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/aim-resources/improve-student-writing-through-effective-reviewing-and-revising-strategies) ## [The Genre Shuffle: How Writing Instructional Planning Has Evolved & Why Interleaving is Winning](https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/aim-resources/the-genre-shuffle-how-writing-instructional-planning-has-evolved-why-interleaving-is-winning) Written by Tina Zampitella (AIM Academy) and Leslie Laud (think SRSD) Once upon a time—not that... [Read More](https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/aim-resources/the-genre-shuffle-how-writing-instructional-planning-has-evolved-why-interleaving-is-winning) **AIM Institute for Learning & Research** 1200 River Road Conshohocken, PA 19428 (215) 483-2461 F: (215) 483-4597 [consulting@aimpa.org](mailto:consulting@aimpa.org) **The AIM Institute for Learning & Research provides evidence-based professional development to build strong, sustainable literacy instruction.** *The Academy In Manayunk (DBA as AIM Institute for Learning & Research and AIM Academy) is a registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization. Federal Tax ID# is 01-0849648. Contributions are tax deductible as allowed by law.* - [Linkedin](https://www.linkedin.com/company/aiminstitutepa/) - [X](https://x.com/AIMtoLearn) - [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/aiminstitutepa/) - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/aiminstitutepa) - [Find Your Training Pathway](https://institute.aimpa.org/what-we-provide) - [Get AIM News](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-are/institute-news) - [Contact Us](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-are/contact-us) - [Research to Practice Symposium](https://institute.aimpa.org/research-impact/research-to-practice-symposium) - [Careers at AIM](https://institute.aimpa.org/who-we-are/careers) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "AIM Institute", "url" : "https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/aim-resources/author/aim-institute" }, "dateModified" : "2023-06-16T17:54:54.898Z", "datePublished" : "2023-06-16T17:53:56.000Z", "headline" : "Lead the Charge! The Importance of Leadership Training", "image" : [ "https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/hubfs/Creating-Your-Own-Classroom-Learning-Center-2.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/aim-resources/the-importance-of-leadership-training", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://blog.institute.aimpa.org/hubfs/AIM%20Institute%202025%20Landscape%20Subtitle%20CMYK%20(1).png" }, "name" : "AIM Institute for Learning & Research" } } ```