The Perrone-Sizer Institute for Creative Leadership (PSi) was founded by Linda Nathan and Carmen Torres in 2015 as the Creative Educators Leadership Institute (CELI) at Boston University. PSi has added a cohort per year since, and in 2021, left the Center for Artistry and Scholarship to become one of Hale’s professional development programs. We invite you to meet our participants.

COHORT 6 (2021–2022)

Meet our current cohort.

COHORT 5 (2020–2021)

COHORT 4 (2019–2020)

COHORT 3 (2018–2019)

COHORT 2 (2017–2018)

COHORT 1 (2016–2017)

CELI (2015–2016)

Core Faculty

Sung-Joon “Sunny” Pai, Co-Director

Sunny is Director of School and Professional Programs at Hale. Previously he held several roles at Charlestown High School, including Director of Systems and Innovation and Director of the Diploma Plus (DP) Programs. Sunny and his team created DP’s performance-based model for students who have not yet been successful in high school. DP is committed to establishing a culture of growth, where all students—especially students who have struggled in traditional academic models—can achieve at the highest levels. Sunny has also served as Chief of Staff at Charlestown High, facilitated teams such as the Leadership Team, Guidance Team, and Math Team, and consulted with the Office of High School Support for Boston Public Schools. Sunny began working in BPS as a student teacher in 1998 at Fenway High School. The following year, he became a founding faculty member at Boston Arts Academy (BAA). He was also on the founding faculty of Rainier Scholars, an enrichment program for BIPOC students in the Seattle Public Schools. Sunny completed both the Principal Residency Network principal-training program and the Boston Principal Fellowship. In 2005, Sunny was also founding principal at the Media Communications Technology High School (West Roxbury Educational Complex) and served there for four years. Sunny was recognized in 2016 by the Boston Globe as a Bostonian of the Year for his leadership with the DP program, and he is a winner of the Lawrence W. O’Toole Award.

Linda Nathan, Co-Director

Linda Nathan, Ed.D., Co-Founder of the Perrone-Sizer Institute for Creative Leadership, is also an Adjunct Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she teaches a course called “Building Democratic Schools: Studio Design Workshop.” As an experienced leader in education, Dr. Nathan actively mentors teachers and principals, and consults nationally and internationally on issues of educational reform, leadership, teaching with a commitment to racial justice and equity, and the critical role of arts and creativity in schools. Dr. Nathan facilitates workshops and conversations about issues of race, equity, and culturally relevant pedagogy for school leaders, teachers, parents, and students across the nation. She blogs about many of these issues at www.lindanathan.com. Dr. Nathan’s widely praised book, The Hardest Questions Aren’t on the Test (2009), is about teaching and leadership in urban schools and was published in both English and Spanish. Her second book, When Grit Isn’t Enough (2017), was released by Beacon Press. Previously, Dr. Nathan previously served as Faculty Director of the Creative Educational Leadership Institute at Boston University School of Education, Special Advisor to the Superintendent of Boston Public Schools, and Founder and Executive Director of the Center for Arts in Education. Dr. Nathan was also Founding Headmaster of Boston Arts Academy, Boston’s first public high school for the visual and performing arts, and Co-Director of Fenway High School, one of the first pilot schools in the Boston Public Schools. Dr. Nathan founded two nonprofit organizations: El Pueblo Nuevo, which focused on arts and youth development, and the Center for Collaborative Education, which works on issues of school reform. She began her teaching career in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and then came to Boston to work as a bilingual middle school teacher. Dr. Nathan holds a Doctor of Education degree from Harvard University, master’s degrees from Emerson College and Antioch University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Will “Will. C.” Chalmus, Curriculum Developer and Lead Faculty Member

Will Chalmus (aka Will C.) is a highly skilled facilitator of personal, communal, and leadership development. Will C. is currently an adjunct professor at Brandeis University with an Ed.M. from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education and a B.A. in Theater Arts from Brandeis. He is most known for his work with the Centre for Playback Theatre, an organization that runs the international school of this community-building form of improvisation theater based on personal narratives. In addition to serving on the board of directors and as faculty for the Centre for Playback, Will C. has also founded various Playback Theatre companies in New England and has led programs and provided consultations for many non-profit organizations in the US, Canada, Germany, Brazil and Australia. Will C. is also a highly respected poet, playwright, hip-hop artist, and M.C. that performs solo acts and with numerous groups nationally. He is also a teaching fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Education as well as a teaching assistant for multiple courses in the Education Department of Brandeis University. Will C. is currently building a Playback Theatre company in Cambridge Port as a Flow Grant recipient from the Cambridge Arts Council.

Guest Faculty

Hervé Anoh

Dr. Hervé Anoh is the founding headmaster of the Mary Lyon Pilot High School, a fully inclusive school for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities. He received his Ph.D. from Lesley University, a CAGS & a Master in Biogeography and Climatology from the University of the Ivory Coast, a Master of Science from the University of Massachusetts at Boston, and a Master of Education from Wheelock College. Previously, Dr. Anoh worked as a teacher and program director at the Mary Lyon K-8 School. For the past 24 years, Dr. Anoh has worked to create or change conditions enabling all students to maximize their potential in a fully inclusive environment for students with emotional and behavioral disabilities. Dr. Anoh serves as mentor for principal interns in various principal training programs including the Principal Residency Network (Northeastern University) and Harvard Graduate School of education. He also serves as an inclusionary practice consultant both at the national and international level.

Yarima Ariza

Yarima Ariza is Director of Professional Learning and Instruction at the Boston Arts Academy where she facilitates the Instructional Leadership Team and leads efforts in the areas of professional development, instructional coaching and educator evaluation. Yarima moved to the US from her native Colombia in 1994. She earned a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a MA in Interdisciplinary Arts at Columbia College. In 2004 Yarima became a National Board Certified Teacher in Art and recently renewed her certification making her the only NBCT in Art in BPS. Yarima has been an art educator for 19 years. She has taught in Chicago and Miami and at the Mario Umana Academy in East Boston where, in addition to being an Art Teacher, Yarima served as a Teach Plus/T3 Teacher Leader facilitating and leading the work of the Specialties team. In 2012, Yarima earned a Masters in Arts in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where she was honored with the ‘Leadership in Education Award.’ After graduating from Harvard, Yarima became an Education Pioneers’ Graduate School Fellow. She worked at the central office of the Boston Public Schools under the guidance of the Chief Academic Officer, developing a tool for school administrators to assess culturally proficient practices in the classroom. This tool focused on channeling efforts to support teachers in closing the opportunity gap through the gradual implementation of practices that improve the performance of underachieving students, mostly students of color, English language learners, and students from marginalized groups. Yarima is a founding member of the BPS ALANA affinity group. In 2014 she also became an instructor and mentor in the areas of Visual Arts and Specialties for the BPS Accelerated Community to Teacher (ACTT) Program, an initiative of the Office of Human Capital to increase the number of top teachers in the district who reflect the racial, cultural and linguistic diversity of our students and our community. Since 2015 she has served as the ACTT lead designer and program coordinator. In 2017, Yarima was awarded a Conant Fellowship to pursue a second graduate degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she received a Master of Education in School Leadership-Principal Licensure strand.

Lydia Cochrane

Lydia Cochrane is Co-Principal of the St. Johnsbury School, St. Johnsbury, VT. Before this Lydia was an Extended Learning Time Director with Citizen Schools in Chelsea, MA. Lydia fell in love with teaching as a middle school math teacher at the Washington Irving Middle School in Roslindale, MA. She is passionate about educational leadership and works with PSi to get the right people in leadership roles. She currently lives in Peacham, VT with her partner Avery, their foster kiddo, two dogs (soon to be three!), two cats, three goats, two ducks, and eight chickens.

Kati Delahanty

Kati is Transformation Instructional Coach at Brighton High School, Boston Public Schools. She taught English Language Arts for 9 years at Charlestown High School and was a founding teacher and program developer for the Diploma Plus program and Chief Academic Officer there. Kati has her M.Ed. from the Boston Teacher Residency program and a B.A. in English from the University of San Diego and is an alum of PSi (in its earlier iteration as CELI, Boston University). Kati also teaches a Literacy Across the Curriculum course for Boston Teacher Residency.

Angie UyHam

Angie UyHam is the founder of the Cambridge Educators Design Lab which uses community driven-design to address pressing challenges in education and beyond. The Design Lab strives to change the historically top-down approach in education, to create opportunities for students and educators to invent novel solutions, and to leverage community partnerships in a powerful new way. Angie received her M.B.A. from Babson College, M.Ed. from Boston University, and B.A. from the University of Michigan. For two decades, she worked as a classroom teacher as well as literacy coach and reading specialist. Currently, she is the District Design and Innovation Coach for the Cambridge Public Schools. Angie is passionate about the intersection of education, innovation and social change and is working on how school districts can change the way problems are identified and addressed. She believes that all students and educators are innovators when given the time, space, and opportunity to do so. In addition to her work with the Cambridge Public Schools, Angie leads a Community Design Lab supporting the opportunity for multiple stakeholders to be shared visionaries and decision makers in their communities.

1. Almi Abeyta, Superintendent, Chelsea Public Schools
   Mirko Chardin, Head of School, Putnam Avenue School, Cambridge Public Schools
   Steven Cohen, Senior Lecturer in Education and the Peace and Justice and American Studies programs, and Adjunct in the History Department, Tufts University
   Sue Crumbaker, Program Design Coordinator, Hale
   Monica Hall, PhD, Leadership Development Administrator, Boston Public Schools
   Kiame Mahaniah, MD, Chief Executive Officer, Lynn Community Health Center
   Seth Racine, CEO, Open Architects
   Megan Reed, Director of Leadership Development at Boston Public Schools
2. David Rosenberg, Partner, ERS
   Damon Smith, Principal, Cambridge Rindge and Latin School
   William Thomas, Head of School, New Mission High School & BCLA, Boston Public Schools
   Gene Thompson-Grove , Professional Learning Facilitator
3. Patrick Tutwiler, Superintendent, Lynn Public Schools
   Bethy Verano, Principal/Directora, Hurley K-8 Dual Language School, Boston Public Schools
   Robert Vinci, MD, Chairman, Department of Pediatrics, and The Joel and Barbara Alpert Professor of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine
   Sarah Westbrook, Director of Professional Learning, Right Question Institute

PSi’s curriculum develops leaders from the perspective of three lenses:

• Artist – accessing inspiration and utilizing creativity, design, risk taking, and experimentation to solve complex problems; artists persist and consider, refine, and illuminate many different approaches.
• Educator – committed to racial justice and equity, and informed and driven by research and data; drawing upon a deep knowledge of child and adolescent development; and applying a profound understanding of theories of learning to prepare students for academic and personal success.
• Community-Based Leader – employing a culturally competent understanding of the assets and needs of youth and families in a given community to engage effectively in a dynamic collaborative process of community growth, development, and networking.

We ensure participants develop and grow as creative leaders, head teachers, community organizers, visionary resource managers, chief talent developers, and skilled politicians across seven domains:

• Anti-racism—continually confronting racism, in self and in others, policies, systems; a contender in the fight for racial justice; centering BIPOC voices; learning from individuals as well as scholarship; embracing intersectionality
• Community mobilization—advocating and organizing for systemic change; convening the community around common values, a common mission, and a dynamic strategy
• Continuous reflection—seeking the community’s expertise and growing in self-knowledge by consciously considering our own experiences, actions, feelings, and responses and our impact on the individuals, groups, and systems in which we engage and lead; broadening this reflection to accurately and continually diagnose the dynamic needs of those individuals, groups, and systems
• Creativity—engaging, risking, experimenting, and persisting; using a design thinking approach to address complex challenges
• Effective communication—listening and communicating regularly, proactively, clearly, inspirationally to engage hearts and minds for action
• Ethics—exhibiting moral courage; practicing sound management and transparency; embracing human imperfection and uncertainty in the service of justice
• Informed instruction—demonstrating data-driven and performance-based instructional leadership and deep commitment to the academic/intellectual/social/emotional/civic/ professional development of youth and adults

PSi partners with Cambridge College, which has developed and offers the Perrone-Sizer Institute for Creative Leadership Certificate program. If you are interested in applying to this program, please click here for more information, or email Rudy Thomas or call him directly at 617-873-0417.

For participants seeking to qualify for Massachusetts principal licensure, PSi provides significant coaching support to complete PAL Tasks at no additional cost. Participants seeking to qualify for Massachusetts principal licensure are also required to arrange their own placement in a 500 hour apprenticeship under the supervision of a licensed principal in a Massachusetts public or charter school. Learn more at the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website. Also see the MA DOE Administrative Leadership Guidelines and Rubric.

August and April Intensives and Monthly Cohort Sessions

PSi requires participant attendance at, and active participation in, all PSi classroom sessions, field experiences, and events, including multi-day August and April Intensives and one or two full-day class sessions each month from September through June. In addition, participants will attend a 1- to 2-hour online Section Group meeting each month, to be scheduled. District Fellows will also have an additional 1- to 2-hour online meeting each month for district-specific conversations, to be scheduled. See the current 2021-2022 PSi Syllabus and Schedule.

Monthly Assignments in Preparation for Sessions and Projects

On time completion of monthly reading and homework assignments in preparation for each session is required. Participants are notified of assignments at least one month in advance.

PSi Capstone Leadership Project

The PSi Capstone Leadership Project, which PSi builds toward throughout the year, is participant-driven and independently designed to suit the professional goals and interests of each individual in the cohort. The Capstone Leadership Project must: (1) address an opportunity for growth in the participant’s learning community AND (2) leverage a partnership between a community-based organization and their home organization. Participants are expected to develop a project that improves outcomes for youth and families using the resources of their home organization as well as a community-based organization.

Cost

The full annual fee for the Perrone-Sizer Institute for Creative Leadership is $5,000. We know programs like PSi require significant investment both in time and funds. Past participants have pursued financial support from many sources. Please do not let cost be a barrier to applying. Contact PSi Program Manager Lisa Sankowski if you would like to discuss cost.

PSi partners directly with school districts to provide PSi district fellowships tailored to meet each district’s leadership development goals. If you are an employee of our current partner districts Boston, Chelsea, or Salem, of if you are a district leader interested in establishing a partnership with PSi, please contact PSi Program Manager Lisa Sankowski for more information.

Vito Perrone

Vito Perrone was a professor of education at the University of North Dakota and Harvard University. He was a leading advocate for humanistic and regimentation – free public education. Upon receiving an award from the Cambridge Peace Commission, he spoke of his apprehension about public school systems that encourage teachers to “accept the message of test scores rather than go beyond them.” He always used questions to further his students’ thinking and in this instance asked, “What if our children and young people learn to read and write but don’t like to and don’t? What if they don’t read the newspapers and magazines, or can’t find beauty in a poem or love story? What if they don’t go as adults to artistic events, don’t listen to a broad range of music, aren’t optimistic about the world and their place in it, don’t notice the trees and the sunset, are indifferent to older citizens, don’t participate in politics or community life?” With a teacher’s rhetorical urgency, he added, “Should any of this worry us?” Vito mentored countless generations of emerging teachers and leaders. He is also the author of the book “Letters for Teachers.”

Ted Sizer

Ted Sizer founded The Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) in 1984 when he was the ctair of the education department at Brown University. At its height, CES had over 1,000 member schools in the US and around the world that subscribed to a set of 10 common principles such as: “Student as work; teacher as coach;” “Learn to use one’s mind well;” “Less is more: depth over coverage;” “Personalization.” These were revolutionary ideas in the early 1980s and many still consider CES’ focus on democracy and equity as essential to the healthy development of schools and communities. In 1994, with his wife, Nancy, they founded Francis W. Parker Charter School in Devens, Massachusetts. Sizer is best known for his trilogy of books: Horace’s Compromise, Horace’s School, and Horace’s Hope—that deeply influenced generations of progressive educators, school reformers and school leaders.