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LIDERA: Building Better School Leaders — Together

Posted on by Luz María Guzmán

LIDERA marks the launch of a new Chile–U.S. collaboration focused on advancing evidence-based school leadership, bringing together research, practice, and leadership networks to strengthen decision-making in complex, real-world contexts.

Why does this matter?

School principals make daily decisions that influence the learning conditions of millions of students. However, much of their training remains theoretical. Few opportunities exist for leaders to practice complex decisions, reflect on their thinking, and learn collaboratively with peers.
LIDERA seeks to change that.

What is LIDERA?

At its core, LIDERA uses realistic leadership simulations — immersive scenarios based on real challenges principals face — delivered through the platform SchoolSims. In this learning process, 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: help leaders make better decisions for 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. 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.
But today:
  • Experience is lost when leaders leave
  • Decision-making patterns are rarely studied
  • Knowledge doesn’t circulate across schools
  • Leaders often work in isolation
LIDERA aims to help build something education systems have long lacked: an infrastructure that captures, strengthens, and shares leadership expertise.

Launching the Pilot in Chile

Starting in April 2026, LIDERA will launch its initial 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 pilot phase, the team will:
  • Test and refine leadership simulations
  • Measure how decision-making evolves
  • Study how peer networks influence professional judgment
  • Generate evidence to inform future scaling
This pilot represents the first step toward building a long-term infrastructure for leadership learning and shared expertise.

Our vision

We believe leadership can be trained, judgment strengthened, and experience captured and shared. LIDERA is about building a living network of leaders who learn from practice, because when we strengthen those who make decisions, we strengthen the entire education system.

¡Stay tuned! — we will be sharing updates soon.