Who's behind this
Dr. Kelley Finley
Founder of The Educational Leadership Collective — a teacher, coach, and administrator's advocate for rural schools.
Dr. Kelley Finley has spent nearly two decades in rural Texas classrooms — as a teacher, department head, UIL director, and dual-credit instructor — most recently at Seymour ISD, where she was named Secondary Teacher of the Year in both 2024 and 2025. She holds an EdD in Organizational Change and Administration from California Baptist University, where her dissertation examined how rural athletic directors experience the leadership role — the same gap between training and reality that shapes everything the Collective builds.
She's also taught at the college level for over a decade, co-authored From Entry Level to Executive: All Communication Counts, and speaks regularly at state education conferences, most recently as keynote speaker for TCCTA. The Educational Leadership Collective grew out of that work: professional development that starts from what rural schools actually have, not from what a district ten times the size assumes they have.
Why the Collective exists
Built from the same gap her dissertation found
Most professional development is written for districts with dedicated PD staff, a bench of substitutes, and a conference center an hour away. Rural schools have none of that — and yet get handed the same slide deck. The Educational Leadership Collective starts from the constraints rural schools actually have: one administrator wearing five hats, a staff room of a dozen people, and a training budget that has to work the first time.
Dr. Finley's focus on rural schools comes directly from her own classroom: nearly two decades teaching, coaching, and leading in rural Texas, followed by doctoral research into how rural leaders experience their roles differently than their large-district counterparts. The Collective exists to close that gap — with training built for the schools that actually need it.
Let's talk about your school.
Tell us about your staff size, your PD budget, and what's actually getting in the way — we'll build from there.
Schedule a Conversation