World Leadership School

Association of Colorado Independent Schools

ACIS partnered with World Leadership School in the first-ever Salmon River Program for School Heads during the 2022-23 school year. This yearlong leadership development program began with a 5-day rafting adventure on Idaho’s Salmon River, which Ross Wehner co-facilitated with ACIS Executive Director Alan Smiley. Ross also presented on risk management at the 2016 ACIS Annual Leadership Conference, facilitated a daylong workshop for ACIS heads in 2018, and ran a “Leadership 2.0” seminar for ACIS division directors in 2021.

Association of Independent Maryland & DC Schools

WLS Executive Director & Co-Founder Erin Hawk facilitated a workshop with business officers and CFO’s about how to engage stakeholders (students, teachers, parents, community partners, etc.) to build a culture of safety using WLS’ simple and timeless framework for risk management.

WLS has partnered with The Association of Independent Maryland & DC Schools in a variety of ways from virtual workshops to in-person conferences. Erin Hawk, WLS Executive Director, will keynote at the April 2024 AIMS Annual Conference.

California Association of Independent Schools

The California Association of Independent Schools is the sponsor for the 2024-25 Salmon River Program for School Heads, which is a yearlong leadership development program that begins with a 5-day rafting adventure on Idaho’s Salmon River. Ross Wehner is co-facilitating the program with Deb Dowling, CAIS Executive Director, and Steve Morris, RG175 Search Consultant and former head of The San Francisco School.

East Asia Regional Council of Schools

Ross Wehner will keynote and deliver a variety of workshops at the EARCOS Annual Leadership Conference in October 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand. EARCOS is an organization of 216 member schools in East Asia serving 178,000 students.

International Council Advancing Independent School Accreditation (ICAISA)

WLS is an Associate Member of ICAISA alongside other thought leaders in K-12 education. Our work is centered around ICAISA’s mission to have a “transformative impact on the independent and international school landscape by advancing accreditation globally.” We believe that accreditation is a key lever to help schools make the shift to purpose-driven, human-centered learning environments.

New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS)

Jessica Catoggio facilitated a three-part virtual series called “Design with Purpose” in 2023 for NYSAIS, which serves 203 independent schools in the state of New York. The workshop series allowed educators to design and receive feedback on a new learning experience that integrated thinking, feeling, and doing.

Northwest Association for Independent Schools

The Northwest Association of Independent Schools sponsored the 2023-24 Salmon River Program for School Heads, which is a yearlong leadership development program that begins with a 5-day rafting adventure on Idaho’s Salmon River. IN 2020 Ross Wehner helped facilitate a 2-day virtual retreat for NWAIS Division Directors, including a half-day session: “Is Purpose the Future of Leadership?” In 2019 Ross facilitated a daylong workshop for NWAIS heads. The focus was helping leaders articulate their purpose, build a map of action, and explore strategies for achieving a tighter fit between essence (who we are on the inside) and form (how we show up in the world).

Rocky Mountain Association of IB World Schools

Ross Wehner keynoted at both the 2023 and 2024 winter conferences for the Rocky Mountain Association of IB (International Baccalaureate) World Schools. The 2023 keynote explored the theory and science of purpose and helped educators explore their unique gifts and impacts to build a purpose statement and corresponding purpose map. The 2024 keynote explored Purpose Learning and how it relates to the IB mission and key elements of the IB framework, including the Extended Essay, CAS (Creativity, Activity and Service), and Theory of Knowledge course.

Tennessee Association of Independent Schools

Ross Wehner and Jessica Catoggio keynoted at TAIS’ 2023 Annual Conference themed “Inspiring our Purpose,” as a follow-up to Ross’ TAIS keynote in 2016. Speaking to a room of 1,000 educators, they explored the individual purpose journey for educators by doing a “flash” version of Calling Cards to help participants put words to their gifts. A storytelling activity allowed participants to experience Purpose Learning, a framework that describes the shift to human-centered learning.

In afternoon breakout sessions, attendees had two choices to go deeper into the work. Jess Catoggio offered a deep dive into Purpose Learning, including the use of experience maps and WLS Purpose Planner to design learning through a lens of thinking, feeling, and doing. Ross Wehner offered a workshop on leading with purpose, which allowed school leaders to create purpose statements and purpose maps as they explored strategies for creating a “tighter fit between essence and form.”

Tri-Association

Serving schools in three geographic regions (Central America, Mexico, Colombia, Caribbean), Tri-Association has worked with WLS in a variety of ways:

• In the Summer of 2023, our team delivered a Design with Purpose virtual workshop over three sessions. Using their foundational understanding of student-centered learning, these participants “leveled up” their practice by exploring strategies for bringing greater purpose to learning.
• In early 2024, WLS team members are running a series of “‘small-bite” workshops called TriKit Tuesdays focused on strategies for engagement, student reflection, assessment, global learning, improving advisory, and more.
• In September 2024, Ross Wehner and Jess Catoggio will keynote at Tri-Association’s Annual Conference. We are also delivering a daylong preconference workshop on Purpose Learning, followed by workshops during the conference itself focused on best practices for student advisory, risk management for off-campus learning, strategies for increasing student engagement, phases of purpose-driven schools, designing learning with the WLS Purpose Planner, and leading with purpose.

Virginia Association of Independent Schools

Through our academic partnership with the Virginia Association of Independent Schools, we engage VAIS member schools in a variety of ways. Ross Wehner keynote at the 2023 VAIS Annual Conference, and he and Jessica Catoggio presented several workshops around student engagement and purpose-driven learning. We continue to participate in the VAIS conference each year.