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Center on Education and Lifelong Learning

Our Guiding Principles

Collective standards that guide who we are and what we do

Our work is:

  • Transformational
  • Knowledge-driven
  • Community-minded
  • Sustainable
  • Participatory
  • Mission-driven

Our work is principled, powerful, and focused.


Follow the links at left to learn more about each of our key focus areas.

Consultation and Planning: We work at the state, district, and school levels to conduct needs assessment and develop action plans that are integrated and aligned with accountability requirements and improvement plans.

Targeted Professional Development: Online training modules and regional workshops focus on developing participants' awareness, understanding, and new skills.

Intensive Technical Assistance: We work on-site to develop internal capacity for ongoing coaching and problem solving in order to ensure sustained implementation.

Culturally Responsive Practice: Difficult conversations about race, ethnicity, and equity are necessary.  Data indicates that the benefits of even the most successful evidence-based interventions are not guaranteed to be equally effective for all groups (Skiba, Horner et al., 2008).  Therefore, we design our work to be culturally responsive and to promote equity. We investigate identity, power, and privilege. We support educators in developing the skills necessary to restructure school and society. We challenge deficit perspectives and redesign the systems that support them. (Further Resources)


We would be happy to work with you and your district to develop a plan of professional development that would meet your unique needs or provide you with additional resources. Feel free to contact us at 812-855-6508.



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To see how CELL's guiding principles align with Standards for Professional Learning, recently adopted by Learning Forward (newly named National Staff Development Council) with the contribution of 40 professional associations and education organizations.  These Standards for Professional Learning rather than Professional Development signals the importance of educators taking an active role in their continuous development and places emphasis on their learning.