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Apply to CAO Academy
Where Academic Leaders Become Executive Leaders.
CAO Academy is an immersive executive learning experience for current and aspiring senior academic leaders ready to strengthen their ability to lead beyond curriculum and instruction and across an entire organization.
The next cohort will convene in:
Atlanta, Georgia
November 11–12, 2026
If you are ready to strengthen your executive leadership, expand your national network, and turn strategy into execution, we invite you to apply.
Apply to CAO Academy→Is CAO Academy Right for You?
CAO Academy is designed for leaders who are responsible—or preparing to become responsible—for moving teaching and learning across an entire system.
Participants include Chief Academic Officers, Deputy and Assistant Superintendents, Chiefs of Teaching & Learning, Executive and Senior Directors, and high-potential academic leaders preparing for greater executive responsibility.
This experience may be right for you if you are ready to:
- Move from leading a function to leading across a system
- Translate academic priorities into disciplined execution
- Align systems, culture, instruction, and people
- Strengthen your influence with cabinet colleagues, principals, and other leaders
- Develop other leaders while building organizational capacity
- Use evidence to make better executive decisions
- Build trusted relationships with peers who understand the complexity of your role
Come for the Academy. Leave as a Fellow. Stay for the Network.
Investment
Individual Leader
$6,500
Includes the two-day Academy experience, Academy materials, hotel and meals, 90 days of individual executive coaching, and entry into the CAO Fellows Network.
District Team of Three
$18,000
Bring three leaders from your organization and build shared executive capacity while saving $1,500 compared with individual enrollment.
Need information to support district approval? Contact us at and we'll be happy to provide additional program, investment, or professional learning documentation. [email protected] and we'll be happy to provide additional program, investment, or professional learning documentation.
Ready to Take the Next Step?
CAO Academy is intentionally designed as a small executive cohort to preserve the candid conversation, individualized attention, and peer relationships that distinguish the experience.