PIVOT’s First Years: What We’ve Learned After 2 Years
Andre Warren, Leadership Coach
PIVOT launched our very first cohort in the 2023–24 school year, and since then we’ve had a lot to reflect on.
Now, as we review the outcomes from our second cohort and execute our third, we’re building on what we’ve learned along the way. Looking back across these first two years, a few lessons stand out:
1. Principals want community and safe spaces to be learners.
We knew this going in, but our first two years made it even clearer. Our leaders showed up to learning events with joy and enthusiasm. They wanted to be there. They pushed themselves, engaged deeply, and brought their whole selves to the work. They role-played, applied feedback in real time, and even shared their own coaching experiences with their teams to normalize the growth journey in their schools.
We’ve worked to honor and build on that enthusiasm by creating more opportunities for hands-on learning, for principals to share openly, and for the group to collectively reflect on individual growth.
2. People leadership skills are crucial—and too often underdeveloped.
Our field has made progress in developing principals as instructional leaders. While there’s wide variation, most principals think they should be doing walkthroughs, coaching, and leading some version of professional development. But many assume that pushing their teams too hard will hurt retention—especially in today’s tough labor market.
In reality, the opposite is true. High accountability paired with high support—delivered with positivity and in the context of strong relationships—is what keeps great teachers. That requires exceptional people leadership skills.
The challenge is that principals rarely get a chance to build those skills. They aren’t often taught how to create positive, collaborative cultures, set clear expectations, establish accountability systems that build trust, or retain staff through strong leadership. Leaders in many other professions get training and coaching on these very things, but principals often don’t. And these skills are just as critical as instructional leadership.
For many members of our first cohort, PIVOT was the first time they’d ever received direct support to develop as people leaders. Because of that, we’ve made people leadership a central focus of our work.
3. When principals grow, schools are stronger and students learn more.
This is why we created PIVOT, and we’ve seen it validated in real time. In our first year, the schools led by principals in our programming showed measurable improvements across key indicators: reading and math achievement, student growth, chronic absenteeism, teacher retention, and graduation readiness.
Results from the 2024–25 school year show the same upward trend—we are excited to release them soon in our annual report, and we are excited to keep building on this momentum with our third cohort.
If you think you or your team members might be a good fit for PIVOT’s programming, learn more here.
