Fellowship Admissions

The Fellowship for Public Education Leadership is open to senior public education leaders, particularly superintendents and cabinet-level leaders, currently working in large urban K-12 public school systems in the United States, including school districts, public charter organizations, and state education agencies. Applicants should currently serve in the top role in their district or agency, or should report directly to the school system or state education agency leader.  

Additionally, applicants must work in an eligible organization. Eligible school districts serve at least 15,000 students drawn primarily from historically underserved communities. Eligible public charter organizations operate a minimum of five school sites and are located in areas that would otherwise qualify under the district size eligibility requirements.  

In addition to the eligibility requirements, TBC at Yale SOM seeks Fellows that show strength across five competency areas and demonstrate capacity in six personal traits we believe are necessary for success in K-12 education leadership. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are essential to The Broad Center’s mission of empowering school system leaders to achieve the dual goals of excellence and equity, therefore our admissions team looks for evidence of a commitment to equity across the other competency areas and traits.   

Equity​: Demonstrates leadership in improving outcomes for historically underserved student groups and communities through specific actions across other competency areas and traits​ 

Vision: Creates and communicates a compelling and meaningful vision and mission for their organization and achieves buy-in for that vision among staff, constituents, and partners  

Strategy: Ensures the overall vision and mission are accompanied by clear strategies to achieve them, including making connections and synthesizing data and evidence to determine course of action. 

Management: Leads effective management of people and projects across the organization, while focusing on talent recruitment, retention, and development. 

Navigation: Identifies, understands, and builds strategic alliances and coalitions to support and sustain key strategies. 

Communication: Clearly and effectively communicates the work of their school system, including building relationships across people of different backgrounds and perspectives. Communicates with authority, credibility, and calm in times of crisis. 

Personal Traits for K-12 Success: Demonstrates self-awareness, development orientation, flexibility, empathy, optimism, and courage​