Waddington Leadership Initiative - Vermont Principals' Association

Dr. Margaret Waddington left Vermont schools a great gift – one that could transform school leadership within Vermont.

The late Dr. Margaret Waddington was one of the many individuals transformed by CCL’s flagship Leadership Development Program (LDP)®. So much so that the pioneering neurologist and resident of Rutland became a strong financial supporter of CCL and upon her passing in 2015, entrusted the organization with a multimillion dollar estate gift to ensure ongoing access to leadership development for women, men, and the young people of Vermont.

Waddington Background Powerpoint

Efficacy Report

CCL Senior Evaluation Faculty Member, Dr. Micela Leis, has put together highlights of the data collected through Cohort #7. (November, 2020)

View 1 Page Efficacy Report, Highlighted Data (PDF Version)

View Longitudinal Study (16 PDF Slide Version)

Principal Leadership Influences Leadership “Churn”

Read the above linked Center for Creative Leadership blogpost by CCL’s Micela Leis which features Vermont data regarding principal turnover. It connects the benefits of the investment in professional learning in comparison to the costs with principal turnover. The blog also shares this great piece of data: “Additionally, 91% of Waddington participants are still principals in Vermont compared to 56% of non-Waddington participants.”

Selection Criteria Priority Ranking for Cohort Selections

VPA Membership
VPA Governing Committees Membership
Active Principal/Assistant Principal
Years as a VPA Member
All Others

Typically, new cohort applications are announced in the fall of each given school year. The announcement of cohort applications comes from via the VPA weekly newsletter.

Cohorts 16 & 17

The deadline for applications was 1/31/25

About Cohorts 16 & 17 (Read Very Carefully)

This application was different than in recent years. This application required these unique aspects:

Must be a principal/headmaster/CTE Director
Must be willing and able to bring two leadership team members with you
Must be willing to participate in either 16 or 17

Why are these cohorts different?

In partnership with the Center for Creative Leadership (CCL), cohorts 16 & 17 will be part of leadership research work that CCL is conducting. As part of our collective commitment to research and continuous improvement, we will be randomizing principal participants into two cohorts. This randomization is crucial for our research purposes, ensuring a diverse and balanced representation in each cohort. Here’s how it will work:

Cohort 16: 8 principals will be assigned to this cohort. Principals in Cohort 16 are encouraged to bring 2 leadership team members to participate alongside them.
Cohort 17: Up to 24 principals will be assigned to this cohort.

In other words, a total of 32 principals will participant in cohorts 16 & 17, but only 8 will be selected (randomly) to bring two leadership team members with them. This will be determined among the 32 selected to participate by a randomizer. Those 8 will then make up cohort 16 along with their respective invited leadership team members (2 each).

To facilitate this process, we will use a random number generator to assign principals to each cohort. We will tell you which cohort you have been assigned to. No matter which cohort you are in, you will be asked to provide a pre- and post- program school culture/collective efficacy survey to the teachers in your school.

What do you mean by leadership team?

Though only 8 will be selected of 32 participants, each participant must be willing and able to bring two members of their school leadership team (sometimes referred to as a guiding coalition). For some this may be teacher leaders, others it may be assistant principals or some combination of those roles.

Waddington Cohort 16:

Session 1 – April 29 – May 1 – O’Henry Hotel, Greensboro, North Carolina
Session 2 – July 8 – July 9 – Mountain Top Resort
Session 3 – November 3 – 4 – Mountain Top Resort

*Check-in night before for each*

Waddington Cohort 17:

Session 1 – July 22 – July 24– O’Henry Hotel, Greensboro, North Carolina
Session 2 – November 5 – 6 – Mountain Top Resort
Session 3 – February 10 – 11, 2026 – Mountain Top Resort

*Check-in night before for each*

Selection Criteria Priority Ranking for Cohort Selections Cohorts 16/17

VPA Membership
VPA Governing Committees Membership
Active Principal/Headmaster/CTE Director
Years as a VPA Member
All Others

Waddington Cohort 15, Application Process Closed 12/1/23, 5pm

Cohort 15 SESSION DATES

Session 1: July 22 – 24, 2024, Greensboro NC

Session 2: October 9-10, 2024, Vermont @ Sugarbush Resort

Session 3: February 26-27 at Mountain Top Resort

*Check-in date, the day prior for each

COST

As with the original Waddington program, all programming costs, hotels, breakfast and lunch will be paid for by the program. A value of nearly $10,000 per participant. Note: The cost of dinners, and travel is not paid, thus dinners, travel to Greensboro, and mileage to Vermont venues will be incurred by the participant (or given district). The estimated travel cost is $700.

Selection Criteria Priority Ranking for Cohort Selections