Penn GSE wins $50,000 grant for Pennsylvania leadership lab

The Leadership Synchronization Lab will convene superintendents, Intermediate Unit leaders and district executives during the 2026-27 academic year.

Catalyst @ Penn GSE has received a $50,000 Remake Learning Moonshot Grant to launch the Leadership Synchronization Lab for Pennsylvania education leaders.

Catalyst @ Penn GSE has received a $50,000 Moonshot Grant from Remake Learning to launch the Leadership Synchronization Lab, a one-year research-practice partnership for Pennsylvania education leaders.

The initiative will bring together superintendents, Intermediate Unit executive directors, senior leadership teams and district executives to work on leadership challenges across Pennsylvania schools.

The Leadership Synchronization Lab is being developed by Catalyst @ Penn GSE in partnership with the Pennsylvania Association of Intermediate Units and Penn GSE’s Center for School Study Councils.

Implementation will begin during the 2026-27 academic year, using Pennsylvania’s Intermediate Unit network to engage leaders from rural, suburban and urban communities.

The program focuses on workforce sustainability, leadership efficacy, organizational health and human flourishing, with an approach that combines systems thinking, adaptive leadership and neuroscience-informed leadership strategies.

Lab targets system leadership

The Leadership Synchronization Lab is being positioned as an alternative to traditional professional development for school leaders. Rather than a single training course, the pilot will operate as a statewide learning community for leaders working across district and Intermediate Unit systems.

Tim Foxx, Director of Penn GSE’s Center for School Study Councils, says the project starts with a central question: “What conditions must exist for educators, leaders, and students to thrive?”

That framing gives the lab a broader remit than executive training alone. The initiative will examine how leadership practices can support the conditions in which teachers, administrators, students and communities are able to work and learn.

Catalyst @ Penn GSE says the pilot will test a new approach to systems leadership using statewide infrastructure, Intermediate Unit leadership networks and cross-sector expertise.

Pennsylvania network gives the pilot statewide reach

The use of Pennsylvania’s Intermediate Unit network is central to the design. Intermediate Units provide regional education services across the state, which gives the Leadership Synchronization Lab a way to convene leaders from different local contexts while still working within existing public education infrastructure.

Michael Golden, Executive Director of Catalyst @ Penn GSE and former Pennsylvania Deputy Secretary of Education, is serving as principal investigator for the project.

Golden links the pilot to the operational pressure facing school systems: “Public education systems are confronting a level of complexity never before experienced,” he says. “From workforce shortages and technological disruption to increasing student needs, educational leaders are being asked to manage growing challenges. Our Leadership Synchronization Lab seeks to address those realities through a new model of leadership development grounded in research, practice and cross-sector expertise.”

The program will bring together district and Intermediate Unit leaders at a time when education leadership roles are being shaped by workforce shortages, technology change, governance expectations and rising student and community needs.

Remake Learning backs education leadership model

The $50,000 award comes through Remake Learning’s Moonshot Grant program. Since 2021, Remake Learning has supported more than 100 Moonshot ideas, with more than $4.5 million invested in future-of-learning projects.

Foxx says the Penn GSE project matched the Moonshot Grant model because it combines innovation, collaboration and learner-centered design while building on statewide school leadership infrastructure.

The grant also extends Catalyst @ Penn GSE’s role beyond convening. Foxx says the opportunity positions Catalyst and the Center for School Study Councils “not simply as facilitators of learning, but as participants in a statewide learning community.”

The Leadership Synchronization Lab will begin implementation during the 2026-27 academic year, with Pennsylvania education leaders from rural, suburban and urban communities expected to take part through the state’s Intermediate Unit network.