Fellowship Overview
Now Accepting Applications for the 2026 Cohort!
The Promise Network is one of the Southern Education Foundation’s flagship leadership development fellowships. Formerly known as the RELN fellowship, the program launched in 2017 and has since supported dozens of district leaders across the South. The fellowship has evolved to meet the moment for district leaders navigating today’s complex educational and political landscape.
This 18-month fellowship is designed for executive leaders in Southern school districts who are deeply committed to transforming systems so that every child has equal access to the opportunity-rich lives that they deserve.
Each cohort includes up to twelve district leaders who are ready to deepen how they lead both within and beyond their systems. Fellows strengthen their leadership within their systems by sharpening their leadership posture, learning strategies to navigate shifting district demands, and influencing the critical conditions for student success. They also expand their leadership outside of their systems by learning how to translate their work into the broader ecosystem through advocacy, policy influence, and coalition building.
Together, fellows explore how to lead courageously in a rapidly changing political landscape and defend every child’s civil right to a high-quality education.
About the Fellowship
Fellows participate in five, two-and-a-half-day in-person convenings focused on essential levers for educational opportunity and systems transformation. Between convenings, fellows engage in coaching, peer learning, and a guided inquiry process that helps them identify and address a system-level challenge in their district—and translate those lessons into the larger educational and policy conversation shaping the South.
Each fellow assembles a district-based design team of 3–5 colleagues to collaborate on the implementation of their identified challenge. The design team approach ensures that the work is distributed, supported, and sustainable across the district.
Fellows also complete a mini systems assessment early in the program to analyze district needs and priorities, using it to shape their system challenge and align efforts with measurable improvement goals.
Network Benefits
As members of The Promise Network, fellows should walk away from this experience with a more nuanced understanding of the existing and emerging challenges that may affect students’ access to opportunity and their civil right to learn and thrive. They will be provided with a cadre of tangible tools and resources in the form of critical time and space to strategize, peer networking, access to experts, coaching, and technical assistance.
Additionally, fellows will have the opportunity to engage in thought partnership with in-district coaches to strategize how best to address their challenges and explore how their insights might inform broader conversations about education policy and practice. Fellows may also earn a chance to assert themselves as thought leaders through opportunities for shared publication and peer-to-peer learning.
Finally, fellows will receive a host of suggestions for ways to utilize their current teams and resources more efficiently and promote buy-in for future initiatives, positioning them to scale their efforts and sustain impact well beyond the fellowship.
Fellowship Features
- Time & Space: An opportunity to step away from daily pressures and demands to engage, reflect, and share both intellectually and practically as educational leaders.
- Peer Networks: Fellows will have an opportunity to share and receive lessons and support from other district leaders who understand the unique complexities of leading in the South in today’s climate, while capitalizing on opportunities for peer learning, mutual advising, and alliance-building.
- Access to Exclusive Networking & Learning Opportunities: Fellows and their district colleagues will be invited to participate in exclusive Promise Network events that allow them to engage with other thought leaders, policymakers, and innovators in the field of education.
- Education Transformation-in-Action Inquiry Cycle: Fellows will receive support identifying a challenge, designing an approach, executing a strategy, and reflecting on progress and lessons learned. Fellows will also have access to resources that enable effective implementation and opportunities to share emerging insights with peers and partners across the region.
- Coaching & Technical Assistance: Fellows will work with SEF faculty to co-design the support needed for their respective district teams to advance an education transformation agenda. Coaching and technical assistance could include, but is not limited to:
- Communications Strategy
- School Finance and Resource Allocation
- Community Schools Strategy Development
- Systems-level Strategy Development
- Executive Coaching and Team Development
- District Audits
- Listening Campaigns