Dr. Peggie Burnett-Wise brings 25+ years of practice — principal, professor, school founder, executive coach — to stages, panels, and workshops nationwide.
Speaking Topics
Coaching School Leaders Who Last
What two years of coaching 25 Chicago principals taught us about measurable leadership growth — and why most leadership development fails to move operating results.
Adaptive Leadership in Hard Years
Distinguishing technical problems from adaptive challenges when budgets shrink, staffing tightens, and communities grieve — and still strengthening climate and results.
Culturally Responsive Leadership in Practice
Beyond awareness workshops: the concrete leadership moves that build school cultures where every child’s brilliance is recognized and expected.
Building Principal Pipelines That Work
Lessons from directing a university principal preparation program: clinical practice over compliance, and recruiting the diverse leaders schools actually need.
Founding Schools Communities Deserve
From vision to governance to opening day: what it takes to build an independent, culturally centered school, told by someone who has done it.
Advocating for Gifted Black Children
For parent and community audiences: navigating gifted identification, school choice, and assessment data — as a scholar and as a parent.
Watch Dr. Burnett-Wise
Filling the Principal Pipeline — a Wallace Foundation conversation on district–university partnerships, with Michelle Young (Executive Director, UCEA) and Shelby Cosner (University of Illinois Chicago).
Malott Fellowship: Anatomy of an Intervention (November 2025) — inside the principal coaching work Wise Leadership Consulting leads with The Chicago Public Education Fund.
Also watch: Alternatives to Traditional Education for Black Children (Strong Alternative Podcast) · What Makes a Great School Leader (University of Illinois) · The Practice of Savoring for Leaders
On the National Stage
Wise Leadership Consulting and The Chicago Public Education Fund have proposed four sessions featuring ten CPS principals for SXSW EDU 2027 in Austin — now in community voting. Team scholarship on the Malott Educator Fellowship has been submitted to the 2026 UCEA Annual Convention, and team writing has been published by the National Association of Elementary School Principals.
In the Press
As principal of Morton School of Excellence, Dr. Burnett-Wise led a turnaround school to Chicago’s highest quality rating and a two-year campaign that established the first Regional Gifted Center on the city’s West Side — work covered by Chicago and national media.
Block Club Chicago — “West Side Educators Urge Local Families to Enroll Students in Area’s First Gifted Center” (2021)
Block Club Chicago — “For the First Time, West Side Students Will Have a Gifted Program in Their Neighborhood” (2020)
WGN-TV — “A West Side School Principal’s Efforts to Connect All Students for Remote E-Learning” (2020)
Chicago Parent — “New Regional Gifted Center Opens on Chicago’s West Side”
Block Club Chicago — “One School Is Working to Give Gifted Local Kids a Place to Thrive” (2019)
Honors: Those Who Excel Award, Illinois State Board of Education · Barbara A. Sizemore Multicultural Educator Award, DePaul University
Press Kit
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Short Bio
Dr. Peggie Burnett-Wise is an educational leadership scholar, executive coach, and school founder. She directs the M.A. in Instructional Leadership with Principal Endorsement at Roosevelt University, serves as Lead Facilitator Coach for the Malott Educator Fellowship in partnership with The Chicago Public Education Fund and UIC’s Center for Urban Education Leadership, and founded Uhuru Shule, an independent school for gifted Black children in Chicago’s Bronzeville community. She holds an EdD from the University of Illinois Chicago and a certificate in Leading Change from Harvard University, and is a 2026 recipient of Roosevelt University’s Faculty Research and Professional Development Grant.
Dr. Burnett-Wise is a Certified Coach through Coach Training Alliance, an ICF-accredited training provider whose Certified Coach Program fulfills the contact learning hours required for International Coaching Federation credentials.
About Wise Leadership Consulting
Wise Leadership Consulting is a Chicago-based executive coaching and consulting practice serving school districts, universities, foundations, and organizations nationwide. Its team of practitioner-scholars — former principals, district leaders, and researchers — delivers coaching and leadership development measured with validated instruments and tied to operating results.
Media Contact
Book Dr. Burnett-Wise
Keynotes, panels, workshops, and podcast conversations — available nationwide, virtually and in person.