APEX Program Aims to Prepare School Leaders

Great Hearts offers a series of short courses designed for developing leaders of classical education through a program called APEX, which is launching a new website with enhanced features to make the program more accessible than ever before. The program provides targeted, in-service topics pertaining to school culture, instructional and operational excellence, and management philosophies. Rooted in centuries of classical wisdom and decades of practical experience, APEX is a program designed to give you the skills you need to lead a virtue-centered learning community.

“We are very excited about the launch of the new website, which gives potential participants a much more comprehensive picture of the program,” said APEX Program Manager, Andreea Balan. “Our vision is to make Great Hearts the leading provider of classical education leadership development, and to support all classical schools in their work to develop leadership excellence. As we continue to grow APEX and enhance our offerings, we invite all to visit our website and stay in touch with us about the needs of their respective schools.”

Balan is not only enthusiastic about the expansion of the site, but also the expansion of courses being offered in the new spring term like Operationalizing Vision in a School.  Participants can not only learn more about each course on the website, but they can now register online as well.

“We have designed the courses to be limited and specific in their approach in order to make them manageable for our participants — assistant headmasters, deans, and experienced teachers who are always juggling significant responsibilities on their campuses,” said Helen Hayes, Great Hearts Vice President of Academics. “We have a focus for each course so that a participant could take on a topic that is relevant to their immediate needs. We call it ‘just in time’ professional development, and this is why we don’t have a specific course sequence – for some people, there is a need to focus on student culture, and for others, the immediate need is to help their headmaster with the hiring process. We aim for a weekly time commitment of three hours, with most of the courses being four weeks long.”

With more transparency of information throughout the site and the current explosion of classical education schools throughout the nation, the new site will expand resources outward to a new audience, not just Great Hearts.

“As a leadership recruiter for Great Hearts, I have enjoyed working with the APEX Program to enhance the site for broader access to external-to-Great Hearts participants, particularly those who want to learn more about the classical education leadership vision of Great Hearts,” said Alison Chaney, Great Hearts Leadership Recruiter and APEX Course Designer/Facilitator. “Our APEX courses are first and foremost a valuable resource for aspiring internal leaders, and the new site creates more clarity about the program offerings, structure, and workload.”

“The APEX program aims to prepare school leaders to address challenges that arise in the life of the school while emphasizing the Great Hearts mission,” added Hayes. “The courses, which have all been designed by former school leaders, draw on our experiences in leading schools over the last two decades, and case studies are a recurring feature of the program. Key to our thinking is the idea that school leadership is not a talent with which one is born; individuals learn and grow in their knowledge of particular areas of school culture, vision, and operations while also addressing the philosophy and pedagogy foundational to leadership and liberal education.”

Learn more about APEX and view the new website firsthand at https://apex.greatheartsamerica.org/

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