DESCRIPTION OF
PENNSYLVANIA INSPIRED LEADERSHIP (PIL) COURSES
What courses do I need and should I enroll?
 Any educator becoming an assistant principal or principal for the first time as of 1/1/2008
must enroll in an Induction program. This program must be completed within five years of
being hired as an administrator. There is NOT a moratorium on Principal Induction. The
Induction program consists of NISL Courses 1 and 4. Administrators should enroll in Course
1 first and then Course 4 the following year. The Induction Course 1 is either NISL Course
1A or Course 1C.
 Experienced administrators have their options of a few different PIL trainings. There is the
NISL training (Course 1B) or the LEAD 2.0.
o The NISL course is an 8-day training on World Class Schooling. Topics in this course
include the educational challenges administrators face, thinking strategically, elements of
a standards-based instructional system and the foundations of effective teaching.
o The LEAD 2.0 is a new course. For those administrators that have completed LEAD in
the past, you are welcome to enroll in this new training. LEAD 2.0 will explore the
essential skills needed by today’s educational leaders for the new realities of public
education. The participants will identify the new leadership skills required in an era of
increased demands and decreased resources. The course will also help school leaders to
develop a strategic plan that incorporates the use of new technology to develop new
models of educating all students. Pennsylvania’s new Teacher and Principal Evaluation
Systems will be explored in the context of school leadership. Total Leaders 2.O, Leading
in the Age of Empowerment; Charles Schwahn and William Spady and Inevitable, Mass
Customized Learning, Learning in the Age of Empowerment; Charles Schwahn and
Beatrice McGarvey are the two main resources for this training.
 The Early Childhood Executive Leadership (ECEL) is a program for administrators primarily
working with younger students. In this training, participants will acquire the deep knowledge
and leadership skills needed to successfully identify and navigate the challenges and
opportunities confronting Pre-K-to-Grade 3. Administrators are strongly encouraged to invite
a Child Care Director or other agency director working with young students to develop a
partnership in delivering coordinated, aligned, and coherent learning experiences to students
(from Birth through Grade 3).
 The NISL Coaching Institute is a three-day training that introduces an instructional coaching
model based on the work of Peter Hill’s principles of learning and teaching, Lev Vygotsky’s
Zone of Proximal Development, and Joyce and Showers’ research on student achievement
through staff development. The training focuses on each step of the instructional coaching
process as well as the use of various tools to help develop effective coaching skills. The
training involves analyzing and role-playing coaching scenarios for both individual and group
approaches to coaching. Prerequisite for this training is completion of NISL Course 1.