Organized by the ATE Council of Past Presidents and supported by generous grants from National Evaluation Systems, Pearson and its Vice President, Dr. Richard Allan, the Dr. W. Robert Houston Leadership Academy was initiated more than 12 years ago by ATE's Past Presidents as a way to broaden the experiences and perceptions of emerging educational leaders. Until 2012 the Leadership Academy would meet twice yearly, before ATE's Annual Meeting in February and before the Summer Conference in August. Since 2012 the Dr. W. Robert Houston Leadership Academy has met immediately prior to the Annual Meeting in February. Members of the Academy are nominated for the experience, and about 60 attend an academy.

Purpose: to broaden the experience and perspective of emerging education leaders. Members of the Dr. W. Robert Houston Leadership Academy are nominated as emerging educational leaders. 104 persons nominated and accepted into membership to date, with about 15-20 new members each year. The Leadership Academy focuses on four areas: Education, Leadership, Culture, Partnerships.

Participation: Dr. W. Robert Houston Leadership Academy participants are nominated every year by a large group of individuals including the ATE leadership at all levels and past Leadership Academy participants. They are asked to nominate "potential leaders who (they) believe have the talent and commitment to become more influential in ATE and teacher education." Participants are expected to participate in the Academy for two consecutive years and must register for and attend those two Annual Meetings. After two years, they would be expected to rotate off to give others the opportunity to participate. If you are a member and are interested in participating, click here to send an email to ATE's Executive Director.

Experiences include active involvement rather than a series of presentations and are designed around questions to explore.

One-day meetings have been held in the following locations immediately preceding a national ATE Conference.

February 2004, Dallas, TX: Structure and responsibilities of ATE
August 2004, Cambridge, MA: High Stakes Testing
February 2005, Chicago, IL: Leadership in Professional Associations
August 2005, Bismarck, ND: Education, Culture, and Leadership of Native Americans
February 2006, Atlanta, GA: Martin Luther King, Jr. Center; Leadership of MLK with focus on Education of African Americans
August 2006, Philadelphia, PA: Leadership of Founding Fathers; Leadership among conflicting ideologies of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, and Adams; visits to Historic sites
February 2007, San Diego, CA: Innovative Secondary Schools that are making a difference in education of at-risk students (High Tech High, Gompers Middle, and Monroe Clark Middle School)
August 2007, Milwaukee, WI: Innovative Teacher Education Programs, including Alverno College, Milwaukee Partnership, and Conversation with Martin Haberman
February 2008, New Orleans, LA: Leadership in Times of Crisis and Recovery. Paul Vallas, Superintendent of the Recovery School District, three-hour guided tour of the New Orleans devastation, including visits to four schools, panel composed of a New Orleans business CEO, minister, Habitat for Humanity, and Corps of Engineering, a panel of higher educators.
August 2008, Washington, DC: National Leadership in Education Briefing by a senior staff member in the LBJ room of the U.S. Department of Education; presentations by policy analysts in the Senate; open conversation with Rod Paige, former Secretary of Education, and presentation by the Executive Director of the National Association of State School Boards.
February 2009, Dallas, TX: Exploring Museum Education includes visits to two museums and discussions with docents and museum specialists.
August 2009, Reno, NV: Implications of State Leadership in Education with presentations by state leaders and discussions of their processes.
February 2010, Chicago, IL: P-16 Education and urban community education in "Little Village"
August 2010, Kansas City, MO: Perspectives of Hallmark Cards that could facilitate educational programs.
February 2011, Orlando, FL: NASA and Kennedy Space Center provided interesting prospective from space flight for education.
August 2011, Philadelphia, PA: Guided by “George Washington,” the Leadership Academy toured Valley Forge, the low point of the war for George Washington, whose leadership skills turned the worse conditions of winter into the victories of spring and summer.
February 2012, San Antonio, TX: The Alamo was the site of a study of heroism and a broadened perspective of both Mexicans and Americans in the battle.
August 2012, Cambridge, MA: Spending time at National Evaluation Systems-Pearson resulted in a much broader and deeper understanding of how certification-related assessments are designed and administered
February 2013, Atlanta, GA: The perspectives and strategies of Jimmy Carter were interesting insights at the Carter Center where participants explored six issues and reported on their findings.
February 2014, St. Louis, MO: “Changing communities Through Collaboration”: New Insights into Collaboration: Overview of Beyond Housing, a community collaboration that is attracting national attention.
Cris Krehmeyer, President and CEO, Beyond Houston.
Included a bus to Pagedale, Beyond Housing’s Footprint I st. Louis, guided by Chris Krehmeyer
Lunch and Discussion with community Leaders; presentations then 3 groups discuss and report on:  Strong Communities, Engaged Families, and Successful children.
February 2015, Phoenix, AZ: Native American culture, education and leadership with a visit to the famous Heard Museum in Phoenix.
February 2016, Chicago, IL: The structure and processes of leadership with presentations by Dr. Randy Dunn, President of the Southern Illinois University System and Dr. Don Kachur, Professor Emeritus, Illinois State University.

February 2017, Orlando, FL:

February 2018, Las Vegas, NV: