PEL’s Instructional Leadership Collective (ILC): Building Capacity for Mid-Level Leaders
In addition to professional networks like SIIP and the Superintendents’ Network, PEL hosts the Instructional Leadership Collective (ILC)—a professional learning community designed for mid-level central office instructional leaders. These leaders, including directors of curriculum and instruction, instructional supervisors, and special education coordinators, play a crucial role in shaping instructional quality. Yet, they often lack professional development tailored to their unique responsibilities. Inspired by Michael Fullan’s concept of “leaders in the middle,” the ILC provides a space to help these educators develop leadership capacity to drive meaningful instructional change.
Tom Nobili, 
who co-facilitates the ILC with Isobel Stevenson, understands the lack of support for mid-level leaders. “I did this job, and I know people can become isolated in their districts. They don’t always have the opportunity to do this kind of collaborative work with colleagues across the state. Here, people can network, troubleshoot, learn.”
A Hands-On Professional Learning Model
ILC participants engage in a year-long series of learning experiences, including monthly in-person meetings and one-on-one consultations. Group sessions focus on networking, knowledge-sharing, and targeted coaching, ensuring that instructional improvement is a collective effort rather than an isolated initiative.
A key part of ILC sessions is engaging leaders in the same types of learning experiences they design for teachers and students. For example, groups of participants might tackle a student-level math task, emphasizing structured discussion and time to write. This reflective approach helps district leaders think of ways to support teachers in shifting from content deliverers to facilitators of deep thinking. As Isobel Stevenson notes, a single well-designed task can develop a broad range of learning skills.
After one exercise, Bonnie Fineman, Director of Secondary Curriculum at Windsor Public Schools, noted, “We very rarely ask teachers to develop and analyze their thinking. This is what we’re paying them to do, this is the bulk of what they do. But we don’t ask them to talk about it, think about it. If we want students to engage in deep learning, we need to create those conditions for teachers first.”
The Importance of Collaborative Leadership
ILC fosters genuine collegiality among its members. Stevenson says that just talking to one another is not enough; people need to create group interdependence. “People have to feel that it’s worth expending their energy and resources toward the group because they understand they might never get where they want to be by themselves.”
Nicole Danishevsky, Executive Director of K-12 Mathematics and STEM in Fairfield, says it’s exciting to be in a roomful of colleagues with similar leadership positions and obstacles. “These sessions keep me re-energized to make change. We’re usually giving all day, but this is a day when I will eat breakfast and lunch,” she says.
“So much of PD, especially for district-level people, is sit and get,” says Rebecca Savelkoul, K-12 Digital Learning Coordinator in Southington. “But this is modeling and experiential, so it can challenge your thinking.”
Shaping the Future of Instructional Leadership
The ILC redefines professional learning for educational leaders, offering a hands-on, collaborative approach that helps foster real instructional change. With facilitators like Stevenson and Nobili, who bring decades of experience in administration, coaching, and instructional leadership, participants receive expert guidance rooted in research and practical application.
Stevenson and Nobili do a lot of modeling of what they think equitable instruction looks like. They often ask participants “Why did we have you do this?” and “What are you taking away from this?” 
As Stevenson puts it, “There’s a lot of reflecting, because you can’t PowerPoint your way to improvement.”
To learn more about the Instructional Leadership Collective, contact Tom or Isobel.
