Formatting a Proactive Principal Preparation Program in Response to the National Reform Movement in Education Administrative Preparation (original) (raw)
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State-Mandated Reform of Programs Preparing School Principals: One University's Experience
1998
This report provides a first-hand description and analysis of reforms initiated in the administrator-preparation program at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). USM is one among eight public and private institutions in Mississippi that are currently redesigning their administrator-preparation programs in accordance with state mandates and the needs of their students. USM's initial reform proposal was not accepted by the state panel, causing reform efforts at USM to be accelerated, with the help of the university's administration. Teaching loads were reduced so that faculty could focus on reform provisions, and a consulting team helped the faculty recognize the necessity of reform and outlined the means for achieving meaningful change. Subsequently, the department began to think in terms of what students coming through the program should know and be able to do. Working groups were formed and the consultants conducted a variety of professional-development sessions for faculty.
Considering an overhaul to the new principal preparation program
Vance Vaughn and I provide suggestions for university faculty and administration preparing principals in their article, Considering an Overhaul to the New Principal Preparation Program. We recommended the importance of understanding accountability and reconstitution in the new age of accountability. Published on School Leadership Review
The Dynamic Transformation of a Principal Preparation Program: A University-District Collaborative
International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, 2019
In order to better serve our nation's youth, educational leadership preparation programs must be willing to transform current preparation practices. This paper emphasizes the need to develop high quality school leaders to successfully create and sustain necessary changes in schools. The dynamic transformation of a principal preparation program, which stemmed from a university-district collaborative, is discussed in detail. Key areas of the transformation and partnership are shared, such as the foundational needs, the stakeholders involved, the course sequence redesign, the course and syllabi revision process, the co-teaching model, the internship, culminating experience, and current funding sources. Finally, conclusions and recommendations for transforming principal preparation program partnerships to support all children.
2015
Since the creation of the principal's position, the role of principal has evolved from building manager and disciplinarian to a multi-faceted role responsible for strategic planning, managing funds, ensuring legislative compliance, implementing reforms, and increasing student achievement. Past research contends principal leadership may be the second most influential factor in student achievement, surpassed only by the effect of the classroom teacher (Marzano, Waters, & McNulty, 2005; Joyce & Showers, 2002). The role of the university Principal Preparation Program (PPP) is to equip participants with effective leadership practices to face the demands of school leadership roles (Duncan et al., 2011; Hernandez et al., 2012); however, the consensus among stakeholders is principal preparation programs have failed to keep up with the changing principal's role (Reed & Kinsler, 2010; Miller, 2013; Zubnzycki, 2013). The purpose of this quantitative study is to conduct a goal free program evaluation of the University of Mississippi's principal preparation programs: the Mississippi Principal Corps and the K-12 Educational Leadership Program. This study determines if a statistically significant difference in school Quality of Distribution Index (QDI) score differentials exists between the University of Mississippi educational leadership program graduates and the Mississippi Principal Corps graduates during their first, second, and third years on a leadership staff. This study also determines if a correlation exists between program admission requirements, academic performance, and standardized examination scores. iii Using the independent samples t test, this study found no statistically significant difference in M QDI differentials between the University of Mississippi educational leadership program graduates and Principal Corps graduates. The Pearson product-moment correlation found a statistically significant correlation between both the GRE and GRE Writing assessments and the SLLA. No other statistically significant correlations between program variables were found. The findings of this study indicate, though few correlations exist between program variables, principals from both University of Mississippi principal preparation programs are making positive impacts on student achievement in Mississippi schools.
RAND, 2018
School principals are charged with complex responsibilities that can include developing a school vision and culture, supporting teacher effectiveness, managing challenges and crises, communicating with the greater community, and more. However, recent research and surveys of school administrators indicate that principal preparation programs do not adequately prepare graduates to cope with school realities. In response to concerns about the state of initial principal preparation, The Wallace Foundation established the University Principal Preparation Initiative (UPPI), a four-year effort to redesign seven universities' principal preparation programs according to evidence-based principles and practices. Each university collaborates on the redesign with high-need school districts and a state partner, and is supported by a mentor program. The report summarized in this document focuses on the implementation of UPPI in its first year, from fall 2016 to fall 2017. The authors report on UPPI progress and identify cross-cutting themes in the UPPI implementation effort that can help other university principal preparation programs and their partners undertake their own principal preparation system improvement efforts.
Revamping the Preparation of School Administrators
1987
This presentation highlights and discusses the recommendations made by the National Commission on Excellence in Educational Administration in its report "The Restructuring of a National Understanding of Requirements for Educational Leadership of the Future." The revamping of administrator preparation is said to be essential because current preparation is nearly irrelevant to practice and unresponsive to public demand for a more effective educational system. Three ideas in the report are cited as significant for reform of administrator education: (1) teachers are preeminent, and administrators' roles must change to grant teachers greater authority: (2) administrator preparation should be housed in professional schools rather than in colleges of arts and sciences;
Principal Preparation Programs: Perceptions Of High School Principals
Journal of College Teaching & Learning (TLC), 2011
There has been an abundance of research documenting perceived deficiencies in traditional principal preparation programs, but little field data have been collected. As such, the authors of this study sought to assess the satisfaction of practitioners, high school principals, with their preparation programs. Questionnaires were received from 374 participants located at schools within four southeastern states. Using descriptive and inferential statistics, data were generated and analyzed illustrating frequency of response, means, and standard deviation from 13 key questions relating to the principalship. Findings included apparent content with preparation programs in all areas of responsibility identified with the exception of preparation for addressing the needs of special populations. These findings could be of importance to universities as they reorganize principal preparation curriculum to be more connected to K-12 issues.