Leadership Intensive Course Series Leadership for Today

Transform talent into expertise, learn practical skills, earn high school credit

No student is born with a set destination, and talent development takes many forms. We know that talents, passions, and goals are discovered through exploration, challenge, dedication, and mentorship.

Many gifted and advanced learners have already mastered many of the concepts and skills that make up grade-level curriculum expectations in traditional schools and are looking for advanced courses that meet core requirements.

Northwestern is a comprehensive research university that is deeply interdisciplinary across multiple schools and units. Recognized globally as a leading global enterprise, Northwestern University is dedicated to delivering academic excellence.

It  is one of only four top-10 national universities also ranked in the top 20 in four graduate school rankings.

Since 1982, Center for Talent Development (CTD) has been part of Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy. It offers a wide variety of courses and programs that allow students to accelerate academically, providing early access to advanced content, opportunities for faster pacing, and credit for successful completion of course work.  As an accredited institution, CTD issues high school credit to students successfully completing credit-bearing courses. *

Leadership Intensive Course Series

Leadership for Today

Begin your leadership exploration here! Engage in interactive workshops on leadership topics, learn from business and nonprofit leaders, and develop critical thinking and public speaking skills. Expand your leadership capacity through reflective learning opportunities and build community in a supportive online classroom.

Upon successful completion of this course, students will:

• Be familiar with multiple models of leadership methods and identify one’s own personal leadership style and strengths

• Have developed better communication, problem solving and critical thinking skills

• Be able to dissect complex information from a variety of sources to form a decision or opinion

• Be able to identify practical strategies for self-care

• Be able to apply learned leadership skills in group settings

• Understand how to engage in civic leadership and demonstrate skills in guiding and assisting others to act

Honors Elective Online Program

Credits:  0.5 equivalent credit course within the Honors Elective program

CTD has been accredited through Cognia® & NCAA

Accreditation not only means CTD adheres to high quality standards; it also means CTD can grant academic credit for the rigorous high school courses offered through its various programs.

6-12 or 7-12

27 January - 24 March 2025

9 weeks

Leadership for Today is designed to allow each student to explore their strengths and potential as a leader.

Students should expect 2-3 hours of independent course work per week

• Weekly live, online class sessions

• Self-paced assignments, lessons, and reflections

• Virtual guest speakers

Qualified thinkers looking for a flexibly paced Leadership / Entrepreneurship / Service Learning equivalent.

The field of Leadership & Community Builder

(Details in flyer)

Resources, websites, and readings will be provided in Schoology, CTD’s Learning Management System.

Qualified students include those who are performing at or above the 95th percentile on a grade-level assessment, students who are demonstrating high achievement in school via a portfolio of grades and an educator recommendation, or students who have participated in above-grade-level assessment (e.g., ASSET Testing or CTD’s Emerging Talent Identification Program). Students applying for admission to the Machine Learning course by portfolio (without qualifying test scores) have prior introductory level knowledge of the Python programming language.

Cognia Accreditation: CTD is accredited by Cognia (formerly AdvancEd). As CTD is accredited by Cognia, public and private schools also accredited by Cognia should grant credit to students successfully completing credit-bearing courses at CTD per Cognia accreditation standards unless it is otherwise prohibited from doing so by state regulation. You can go to https://home.cognia.org/registry to find out if your school is also Cognia accredited.

NCAA-Approved: CTD Online Honors courses are NCAA-approved, which means that NCAA has determined that the courses meet all NCAA standards for online courses and will be recognized as equivalent to a course covering similar content taught in a traditional face-to-face school environment. Aspiring collegiate scholar-athletes can be assured NCAA-affiliated colleges and universities will recognize core CTD Online Honors courses toward satisfying academic eligibility requirements for participation in college intercollegiate athletic competitions.

*Acceptance of credit from CTD is a local school decision. Students interested in pursuing credit should discuss their school’s policy concerning credit from outside institutions with an academic counselor or school administrator before applying.