Chicago Principal Fellowship

Chicago Principals Fellowship

Northwestern Fellowship Bridge Year

Since 2014, The Chicago Principals Fellowship has provided executive leadership support to Chicago’s most talented principals. The Fellowship is a hands-on policy and leadership experience for Chicago’s top principals, led by Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and CPS’ Department of Principal Quality. Fellows participate in academic sessions with Northwestern faculty and policy sessions with the district. At the end of the Fellowship, groups of participants present district policy recommendations to district leaders on a topic of their choice. In 2020-21, the program evolved from a one-year to a two-year model, and academic and policy sessions focused on school sustainability and system-level leadership. The Fellowship is often leveraged as a pipeline to district leadership to develop principals’ leadership pathways and options while honoring that their journey is nonlinear. The last cohort of fellows concluded their work in May 2022. The presentations resulted in CPS’ Chief Education Officer, Bogdana Chkoumbova, writing a memo that addressed the Fellows’ initial recommendations and provided a shared commitment on a path forward to improving the district’s work.

For SY22-23, we plan to support up to 75 Fellowship alumni to engage in a culminating Fellowship Bridge Year.