LIDERA marks the launch of a new Chile–U.S. collaboration focused on advancing evidence-based school leadership. Currently in its Foundations Phase, the initiative brings together research, practice, and leadership networks to develop, capture, and systematically disseminate professional learning, strengthening decision-making in complex, real-world contexts.
Why does this matter?
School principals make daily decisions that shape the learning conditions of millions of students. Yet, much of their training remains theoretical. Few opportunities exist for leaders to practice complex decisions, reflect on their reasoning, and learn collaboratively with peers.
At the same time, valuable professional knowledge is constantly being generated in practice—but it remains fragmented, tacit, and often lost.
LIDERA seeks to change that.
What is LIDERA?
LIDERA is a research–practice partnership designed to build an infrastructure for leadership learning. At its core, it combines:
- Simulation-based learning: realistic, immersive scenarios based on real challenges principals face, delivered through the SchoolSims platform
- Social Network Analysis (SNA): to understand and strengthen how knowledge, advice, and expertise circulate among school leaders
- Knowledge capture and dissemination: systematic processes to make visible, refine, and share professional judgment, tools, and micro-innovations emerging from practice
Through this integrated model, leaders can:
- Practice complex decisions in a safe environment
- Reflect on their reasoning
- Learn from diverse perspectives
- Strengthen their professional judgment
- Connect with peers facing similar challenges
The goal is simple but powerful: to improve leadership decision-making and advance more equitable schools.
A Binational Collaboration
LIDERA brings together academic collaborators from Teachers College (Columbia University), Boston College; University of California San Diego and Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile , alongside Fundación Impulso Docente as the implementation partner in Chile.
The initiative is supported by three national leadership centers in Chile, together with key collaborators such as Universidad San Sebastián and CENIA (the National Center for Artificial Intelligence), and philanthropic partners Fundación Mustakis, Fundación Luksic, and Fundación Ilumina.
Drawing on its experience convening institutions across Chile and the United States, ChileMass plays an integrative role in the partnership, connecting research, leadership networks, and real school contexts. Through this role, we helps ensure the collaboration translates into practical learning, shared knowledge, and sustained capacity for educational improvement.
Why This Matters
In Chile, more than 9,000 principals serve over 3.5 million students. Leadership is one of the most powerful levers for improving educational equity.
Yet today:
- Experience is lost when leaders leave
- Decision-making patterns are rarely studied
- Knowledge does not circulate across schools
- Leaders often work in isolation
LIDERA addresses this by building what education systems have long lacked:
a professional infrastructure that captures, strengthens, and circulates leadership expertise at scale.
Launching the Foundations Phase in Chile
Starting in April 2026, LIDERA will implement its Foundations Phase in partnership with Fundación Impulso Docente, working with principals serving high-vulnerability communities through Academia Impulso Directivo and the Premio LED network.
During this phase, the team will:
- Test and refine leadership simulations
- Conduct initial Social Network Analysis to map professional connections
- Study how decision-making evolves in context
- Analyze how networks influence professional judgment
- Generate rigorous evidence to support future scaling
This phase is critical for validating the model and building the basis for long-term system transformation.
Our Vision
We believe leadership can be trained, judgment can be strengthened, and experience can be captured and shared. LIDERA is about building a living, intelligent network of leaders—one that learns from practice, makes expertise visible, and continuously improves how decisions are made.
Because when we strengthen those who make decisions, we strengthen the entire education system.
Stay tuned — we will be sharing updates soon.