School culture shapes how students, staff, and families experience and connect within a school community. This interactive two-day training equips leaders with practical strategies to assess their current culture, define a clear vision, and take actionable steps to build a positive, inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and student success thrives.

Join school and district leaders from across Alabama for the CLAS Law Conference, the state’s premier professional learning event dedicated to education law and policy. Designed for today’s educational leaders, this conference provides timely updates and practical guidance on the legal issues shaping schools and districts.

Supporting students with IEPs requires strong leadership and clear decision-making. As a required member of every IEP team, the LEA representative-often a principal or assistant principal-serves as the meeting process leader, ensuring compliance, collaboration, and sound instructional decisions.

CLAS, in partnership with the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP™) and the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education (ADECE) will provide participants with an understanding of developmentally appropriate practices to enhance instructional leadership capacity to align Pre-K programs or early childhood education with K-3 learning. All content in the NAESP™ Pre-K-3 Leadership Academy, a cohort of principals, is aligned to the NAESP™ foundational competency guide, Leading Pre-K-3 Learning Communities: Competencies for Effective Principal Practice.

New to the principalship? Join fellow first- and second-year principals for an engaging two-day experience designed to support and strengthen leaders in the early years of school administration. Through collaborative discussions and practical learning opportunities, participants will explore the realities, responsibilities, and challenges of today’s principalship.

In this training, author and supportive discipline innovator, Joseph Cope, will share a transformative approach centered on teaching self-responsibility and strengthening students’ “self-control muscle.” Drawing on real-world success from schools across North America, Cope will demonstrate how this approach has reduced behavioral incidents by up to 80% while fostering stronger relationships and a more positive school culture. Return to school with practical strategies to empower students, improve academic outcomes, and build a school environment where both educators and learners thrive.

Designed to help students become confident, resilient, and leadership-ready, this Institute will equip participants with tools to prepare young people for the real-life journey ahead. Anchored in two powerful beliefs — that students must learn how to ground themselves in an ever-changing world, and that leaders must lead from hope rather than anxiety — this training provides an actionable framework for supporting student growth through care, conversation, and intentional skill-building.

Stay informed on the latest legal developments shaping education in Alabama and across the nation with attorney Julie Weatherly. This Leadership Institute will examine significant judicial decisions, legislative updates, and agency guidance issued in the last year, with a focus on the practical implications for Alabama educators. Participants will gain valuable insight into emerging legal trends and take away practical lessons that can be applied in schools and districts statewide. What’s Going on in the Area of Special Education Law? will provide educators and administrators with timely updates, expert analysis, and practical guidance to help navigate the challenges facing schools today.

This interactive four-hour leadership session focuses on the personal side of leadership and the intentional work required to lead people well. Participants will explore how personality, core values, leadership style, and communication habits impact relationships, decision-making, conflict, and school culture. Through reflection, discussion, structured collaboration, and practical leadership scenarios, attendees will examine how leaders serve as the “thermostat” that sets the emotional and professional climate of a building. This highly interactive session includes leadership and personality reflections, collaborative exercises, communication practice, and practical takeaways leaders can immediately apply to lead with greater clarity, consistency, authenticity, and purpose.

Many schools have PLC time built into the schedule. Teams are meeting, collaboration is happening, and data conversations are taking place. Yet despite the activity, student learning outcomes are not consistently improving. Meetings can become routine, conversations lose focus, and collaboration shifts from meaningful collective work to simple compliance. The question leaders must ask is: Are we doing PLCs… or are we doing PLC Lite?