The Fellowship FAQ

The Fellowship has a multi-part application process. For the 2025-26 cohort, our application opens January 22, 2025 and closes March 11, 2025. The application consists of an initial form that collects information about your professional role and organization; a current resume; unofficial academic transcripts; and three short essays.  

Selected candidates will move to an individual interview held March 31-April 11, 2025. A final group of candidates will be invited to a final virtual interview day held either May 16 or May 17, 2025. Candidates invited to the final interview will be asked to submit two professional references prior to attending their scheduled interview day.  

Decision notifications are released late May 2025 and the program begins in October 2025. 

We encourage recommendations from individuals in your professional network who can speak to your vision, leadership, and management style, including current and former supervisors, peer colleagues, and direct reports. At least one of your references should be in a position to assess your performance at your current job. Please note: recommenders will complete a form inside our application system, so while we encourage you to identify these individuals, they should not prepare a recommendation outside of The Broad Center system. 

The Fellowship is open to senior public education leaders 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 district or agency leader.  

Fellows must work in school districts that 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 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 TBC’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​ 

While we believe deeply in the important roles of school building leaders in driving results for students within their classrooms and schools, TBF is focused specifically on supporting individuals in senior leadership roles in a school system’s central office or similar roles in a state education agency.  

No, TBF is designed for senior leaders currently working in a public school system in the United States. 

TBF is structured so that Fellows continue working full-time in large, urban K-12 school systems. Roles in post-secondary education organizations are not eligible. 

At this time, TBF is only open to candidates who are in senior leadership roles within eligible K-12 school systems in the United States. 

The Broad Center at Yale SOM’s two talent development programs are both tuition-free programs designed to support individuals working full-time in large, urban public school systems. The Fellowship for Public Education Leadership is an executive leadership program for senior-level public education leaders, particularly school district superintendents, heads of public charter networks, and the leaders of state education agencies, as well as cabinet-level leaders in these organizations. Successful completion of the Fellowship culminates in a certificate of participation from the Yale School of Management. The Master’s in Public Education Management is a degree program leading to a Master’s of Management Studies degree from the Yale School of Management. The Master’s program is designed for emerging early- to mid-career leaders working full-time in school system central or network offices who have a minimum of five years of professional working experience. 

Fellows will convene for in-person sessions four times over the course of a 10-month program from October 2025 through June 2026. The program is comprised of both in-person week-long modules on campus in New Haven, and several virtual sessions throughout the duration of the program. Both in-person and virtual sessions are required. The schedule for the 2025-26 cohort is:

Virtual Orientation: August 20, 2025
Module 1: October 6-10, 2025
Module 2: January 26-30, 2026
Module 3: April 13-17, 2026
Module 4: June 22-26, 2026

Virtual Sessions: In addition to orientation and the four in-person modules, there will be several virtual sessions to be scheduled in between modules. Exact dates will be shared with Fellows at a later date.

As senior public education leaders, we understand the competing pressures facing Fellows in their roles leading school systems. During the four in-person Modules, Fellows should be available for full days (morning through evening) from Monday morning through midday Friday. We expect Fellows to deeply engage with the collaborative learning environment with their cohort, SOM faculty, and guest speakers. For each in-person session, Fellows should expect to complete up to 15 hours of reading and preparatory work before the module kick-off.  

Each cohort of Broad Fellows is made up of approximately 20 senior leaders from large, urban school systems across the country. Fellows connect deeply with one another during the four in-person Modules and throughout the program to share experiences, reflections, and tackle tough and persistent challenges facing them in their day-to-day roles. Powerful connections and enduring peer-to-peer learning are hallmarks of the Broad experience. Diversity of background and experience is critical for The Broad Center, and each cohort will reflect a wide range of lived experiences, functional strengths, geography, roles, and school systems. 

No. The Broad Fellowship is an executive education program and does not culminate in a degree. Successful completion of The Broad Fellowship culminates in a non-degree certificate from the Yale School of Management. 

Each Fellow will have the opportunity to engage in one-on-one coaching over the course of the program. Coaches will provide individualized support to Fellows, in areas including advancing key initiatives, improving leadership competencies, or providing career advice. Fellows will have access to up to 15 hours of coaching hours while participating in the program.