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Skill Builders - Understanding Brain Basics

This module grounds you in the science — not the academic version buried in journals or the hype in the media, but the version you can explain to a parent or school board member in plain language.

You’ll explore:

• How the brain learns and why certain periods of childhood are especially critical for skill development
• The four core basic skills: Working Memory, Cognitive Flexibility, Inhibitory Control, and Reflection
• How these skills are the foundation of intentional learning of content, problem-solving, and helping students thrive

You’ll also begin your Capstone Project where you’ll identify a meaningful change you want to make around a real challenge in learning or thriving in your district, one you’ll continue building on throughout the entire program.

Researchers and thought leaders whose work informs this module include: Richard Huganir (Johns Hopkins University), Adele Diamond (University of British Columbia), Philip David Zelazo, Damien Fair and Stephanie Carlson (University of Minnesota), and Nelson Cowan (University of Missouri).

Date: Tuesday, October 5, 2026, 3:30 - 5 p.m. ET

Explorers and Meaning Makers - Why Skills Matter

Knowing what these skills are is one thing. Being able to make the case for why they matter — to your school board, your community, and your own leadership team — is another. This module gives you that case.

You’ll explore why these skills:

• Motivate and engage students by connecting learning to what actually matters to them
• Bring your Portrait of a Graduate statements to life in practical, measurable ways
• Represent the new readiness for school, work, and life — in addition to traditional academic measures
• Connect classroom learning to real-life readiness in a way that resonates across every audience you serve

Are just as essential for the adults leading districts as they are for the children in classrooms and will help leaders deal with the stresses in these jobs

By the end of this module, you’ll have a clear, compelling answer to the question every district leader eventually gets: Why is this foundational to everything else we are doing? You will also receive a new tool: Six Principles for Promoting Executive Function Skills.

Researchers and thought leaders whose work informs this module include: Rebecca Winthrop (The Brookings Institution), Kristine Gilmore (AASA, Âܲ·AVÊÓƵ), Brooke Stafford-Brizard (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching), Adele Diamond (University of British Columbia), Mary Helen Immordino-Yang (University of Southern California), and student voices from focus groups of high school students in Washington, DC.

Possibilities-Seekers — How Change Happens

Good intentions aren’t a change strategy. This module is about bridging the gap between knowing what you want to do and actually doing it, in your district and in your own leadership practice.

You’ll explore:

• How the basic executive function skills serve as the building blocks for everything else we ask students and adults to do
• How understanding these processes helps us learn how to learn, a skill that matters at every age
• Why setting and reaching goals starts with pursuing possibilities that are both meaningful and doable
• Why the right relationships, contexts, and cultural conditions are essential for building these skills
• Why a supportive mindset, what researchers call a Possibilities Mindset, is essential to making change stick

You’ll apply a Possibilities Mindset Process directly to your Capstone Projects, a framework you’ll continue using for the remainder of the program to turn your district challenge into a real, sustainable change, whether it’s a big change or a small one.

Researchers and thought leaders whose work informs this module include: Gabriele Oettingen (New York University), Isabelle Hau (Stanford Accelerator for Learning), Wendy Grolnick (Clark University), Ellen Galinsky (Families and Work Institute), Philip David Zelazo (University of Minnesota), and Stephanie Miller (University of Mississippi).

Perspective-Takers, Communicators, and Collaborators — Skills for Working with Others

You can have the best ideas in the room and still fail to move anyone. This module is about what actually makes communication and collaboration work, and how the real-life skills you’ve been building make both possible.

You’ll explore:

• How perspective-taking, communicating, and collaborating build on each other as connected skills, not separate ones
• How to embed perspective-taking into your programs and leadership practices
• How to quiet the mental chatter that gets in the way of clear, effective communication
• How to resolve the mentor’s dilemma of giving critical feedback to staff or students in ways that promote collaboration
• Practical, everyday ways to promote these skills in the adults and children around you

You’ll also begin to build your personalized set of Look-Fors, a practical guide to the specific things you will do and say to promote these skills in your district, and continue applying the Possibilities Mindset Process to your Capstone Project.

Researchers and thought leaders whose work informs this module include: Velma McBride Murry (Vanderbilt University), Ethan Kross (University of Michigan), and David Yeager (University of Texas at Austin).

Creative and Critical Thinkers - Skills for Problem Solving

The world students are graduating into no longer rewards the ability to recall information. It rewards the ability to make connections, think clearly under pressure, and solve problems creatively and effectively—problems no one has seen before. This module is about building those skills intentionally, in yourself and across your district.

You’ll explore:

• How making connections and relational thinking are the foundation of creative thinking, critical thinking, and problem-solving
• How each of these skills is rooted in the core real-life skills developed throughout this program
• Why creativity and critical thinking matter more, not less, in an AI-driven and uncertain world
• Easy to implement, everyday ways to promote these skills in yourself and in the children you serve

You’ll also work with a practical tool: Shared Solutions, a structured approach to collaborative problem-solving you can bring back to your district.

You’ll continue applying the Possibilities Mindset Process to your Capstone Project and adding to your growing list of Look-Fors.

Researchers and thought leaders whose work informs this module include: Alison Gopnik (University of California, Berkeley), Silvia Bunge (University of California, Berkeley), Indre Viskontas (University of San Francisco), Philip David Zelazo (University of Minnesota), Andrew Wise (Center Cass D66), Wendy Grolnick (Clark University), and Stephanie Carlson (University of Minnesota).

Learners and Thrivers

The final module asks the hardest question: what actually helps people succeed in the face of adversity, and how do we build that in children while ensuring that adversity doesn’t cause real harm?

You’ll explore:

• What makes some people more successful than others in handling challenges, and what district leaders can do about it
• Why willpower alone isn’t the answer, and why structuring situations and environments is
• How leaning into challenges, rather than avoiding them, promotes well-being over time
• How adverse childhood experiences affect development, and what that means for your district
• Why adversity is not destiny, and what it takes to help children overcome it
• Practical, everyday ways to promote resilience in yourself and in the children you serve

You’ll finish the program with two things you can use right away:

1. Principles for Promoting Community Change: a tool to help you continue strengthening these skills in your district long after the program ends
2. Your completed Capstone Project, presented to your cohort as a concrete plan for real change in your community

This final module is where everything comes full circle. You started by understanding how children learn. You’ll leave knowing how to lead a district that builds on that understanding every day.

Researchers and thought leaders whose work informs this module include: Angela Duckworth (University of Pennsylvania), Jeremy Jamieson (University of Rochester), Velma McBride Murry (Vanderbilt University), and Pam Cantor (The Human Potential L.A.B.).

Date: Tuesday, May 11, 2027, 3:30 - 5 p.m. ET