For over 50 years, the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) has worked at the local, state, and national levels, and increasingly within communities, to bridge longstanding political, racial, and systemic divides. As a trusted thought leader focused on real-world solutions to complex challenges and as a creator of tools and strategies for policy and practice to better serve children, youth, and families, IEL accomplishes its work through three centers that address crucial pillars of success required for young people and their communities to succeed:


Connecting community with public education to support the learning and development of young people. IEL’s Center for Family, School, and Community helps ensure students and families have access to effective, integrated academic, youth development, and health and social services within and linked to public schools, often the only viable public institution in a growing number of historically under-served neighborhoods. IEL leads the Coalition for Community Schools, an umbrella group of more than 200 local, state, and national partners that advocate for more coordinated, efficient, and effective delivery of opportunities and supports to students before, during, and after school and on weekends.


Building more effective pathways into the workforce to help all young people transition to adulthood. IEL’s Center for Workforce Development has improved the capacity of policymakers, program administrators, and youth service professionals in the education and workforce development systems to provide comprehensive, coordinated transition services to all youth, including those with disabilities. Funded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy, IEL runs the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth which assists state and local workforce development systems to better serve youth with disabilities and other disconnected youth.


Preparing generations of leaders to drive cooperative efforts at all levels. The Education Policy Fellowship Program, part of IEL’s Center for Leadership and Policy, continues to provide leadership, policy, and networking experiences for a wide range of professionals in early childhood development, K-12, higher education, and policy. Through our Leaders for Today and Tomorrow (LT2) initiatives, IEL is growing a network of non-profits, school districts and schools of education committed to retooling pre- and in-service leadership learning and evaluation. LT2 supports the catalytic role of principals, assistant principals and district leaders as community stewards serving schools in highly challenged communities across the U.S.