Founder Aqua Stovall started The Special Education Leader Fellowship (SELF) in New Orleans in 2015 in response to the alarming rate at which special education leaders were leaving New Orleans public schools. High turnover created an educational ecosystem in which consistency and long-term improvement were difficult to achieve, and disabled students were not receiving the high-quality programming they deserved. The first SELF cohorts were formed with the hope that investing in training and supporting school-based leaders of special education and response to intervention would result in systemic change that improved outcomes for young people.
In its first year, SELF trained 10 special education leaders in a unique two-year fellowship program:
- exposing them to national models for special education programming
- offering individualized coaching and specialized training
- helping leaders to build and leverage a powerful network
All with the goal of guiding and sustaining their efforts in to creating excellent school-based programs for disabled students.
The results were phenomenal. Leveraging the skills and expertise gained from SELF’s programming and the professional connections created during the fellowship, SELF fellows were forming a powerful network of advocates for students across the city. And most importantly, they were staying. SELF fellows were more likely to remain in New Orleans Schools and to take responsibility for leading the transformational change necessary for schools to become communities where all learners can achieve and flourish.
Now a standalone non-profit organization, SELF has evolved to provide programming for leaders, teachers, and school-based leadership teams, serving over 70% of the schools in New Orleans and expanded our work nationally to include Los Angeles, Denver, Washington D.C., and more. As we have expanded, so has our mission: at SELF, we work to empower schools to create welcoming and effective communities that enable ALL students to achieve their fullest potential.