Search results

Social entrepreneurs and market-driven organizations are those that hold themselves accountable to both social and financial outcomes; they advance their mission by building focused strategies and sustainable business models that address customer needs and yield competitive advantage. In order to apply these market-based approaches toward social solutions, leaders must first be equipped with skills and resources to build organizational capacity that can deliver results. Wendy Kopp, Founder and Executive Director of Teach for America, recently summarized this point during a convening at the Annie E. Casey Foundation of leaders across sectors: “There’s nothing more important than talent and team in organization building as we think about how to get where we want to go”. Teach for America address. Annie E. Casey Foundation Baltimore, MD).

There is growing national attention on the question of how the quality of leadership preparation programs can help to develop effective school leaders and thus impact student learning (Davis, Darling-Hammond, LaPointe, & Meyerson, 2005). In recent years several educational leadership preparation programs have redesigned their content and delivery to be more influential in graduates’ leadership development and subsequent leadership practice focused on school improvement (Young, 2009). Davis, et al. (2005) add that exemplary programs that are effective include important components such as having a rigorous selection process in admission of candidates.

This chapter discusses the recruitment and selection mode utilized by the University of Texas at Austin Principalship Program (UTAPP), which includes several key components associated with exemplary preparation programs (Darling-Hammond, LaPointe, Meyerson, Orr & Cohen, 2007). These components include: rigorous recruitment and careful selection of participants, a cohort structure, and an emphasis on powerful authentic learning experiences (Orr, 2006). While the process has undergone some changes in reason years, it has sought to explore multiple manifestations of the candidate’s leadership. As a result, the program’s recruitment and selection process has evolved into the current iteration, which is outlined in this chapter.

In this chapter, we describe the strategies used in establishing the Great Leaders for Great Schools Academy (GLGSA), a high impact and sustainable university–district partnership and the first program to be accredited under California’s experimental standards for principal preparation. The partnership has evolved into a robust professional learning community dedicated to the task of preparing practice-ready school leaders with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to turn around low performing schools in the Pomona Unified School District. Chapter contents also include descriptions of the key elements of the GLGSA and seven recommendations for those who desire to establish innovative and collaborative approaches to leadership preparation.

Instructional leadership has taken center stage in recent years as the emphasis on school leaders’ role in improving instructional programs and impacting student learning has increased under the pressures of the accountability movement. While there is a growing literature that has highlighted the indirect impacts of effective instructional leadership on student learning, little is known about these effects in the area of special education. Because this direct involvement in instructional and curricular matters has typically fallen outside the traditional roles of principals and other school leaders, the need for purposeful focus on developing these skills is paramount in a climate that is calling for leaders who can facilitate growth and improvement in student learning, particularly in the area of special education. This chapter explores instructional leadership in the context of special education with a focus on small to mid-sized schools. We identify a set of factors that are critical to the effective implementation of instructional leadership in the area of special education which include, communication, teacher evaluation and supervision, staff development, instructional programing, and instructional design. The chapter goes on to discuss how school leaders can cultivate growth and improvement in special education programming through the use of coaching models and distributed leadership. Lastly we explore the implications for practice including discussions of reforming principal preparation programs and shared leadership.

The impact of an effective principal on the quality of teaching and learning has been clearly established. Logically, the next question to be answered is: How can we best prepare principals to lead the improvement of instructional practices and outcomes for students? Partnerships between school districts and universities have shown the capacity to be an effective means of preparing principals, and much has been confirmed about how those partnerships should be structured in order to benefit both partners. This document looks briefly at the literature that describes and supports these partnerships, outlines the framework of a successful partnership in Florida, and provides insightful “lessons learned” throughout the planning, implementation, and evaluation of that partnership.

Since both organizations realize important benefits, constructing a district/university partnership should be easy. However, differences in the professional cultures of the two organizations as well as differences in the demands and constraints they each face make it a challenging task. From finding the right university partner to planning the collaborative work in detail; what was learned in the Florida partnership is described in straightforward terms. In this way, the document provides a road map to a successful district and university partnership.

In this chapter we discuss the content and process of the Learning-Centered Leadership Development Program for Practicing and Aspiring Principals. In terms of the content, based on extensive literature review the program focuses on seven dimensions of principal leadership associated with student achievement. In terms of process, one pair of practicing and aspiring principals from each school engage in five levels of learning – moving from (a) experiential, to (b) declarative, to (c) procedural, to (d) contextual, and to (e) evidential. The pair of practicing and aspiring principals works with two additional teacher leaders to develop sufficient leadership density in the school to plan and implement renewal activities along the seven dimensions to improve student achievement. We also reflect upon the lessons learned from implementing the program.

This chapter highlights the collaborative efforts of committed partners engaged in four distinct yet inter-related programs designed to build leadership capacity across schools serving rural Alaska. The Rural Alaska Principal Preparation and Support (RAPPS) program has built a comprehensive system of leadership development programs that develop aspiring leaders, induct and coach new principals, promote the professional learning of practicing principals, and support the school improvement efforts of the state education department. Each program is described in detail with special attention devoted to the unique elements of the program designs, including summer institutes; cohort models; distance learning offerings; targeted coaching; blended learning models using webinars; critical friends’ conversations; and a festival of ideas. Lessons learned are highlighted, and impact and evaluation results are also detailed.

This chapter presents an integrated model of principal preparation featuring full-time internships and enquiry-based coursework. The development of the full-time internship component is the result of an award of a US DoE School Leadership Program grant in 2008 to expand and enhance the Ritchie Program for School Leaders, a collaborative principal preparation program between University of Denver and Denver Public Schools. The integration of Shulman’s (2005) model of practical, cognitive, and moral apprenticeships for professional education provided the foundation of the design and implementation of full-time internships through this collaborative partnership for principal preparation. Collaboration among interns, host principals, district leadership, and university faculty provides the focus, means, and structures of learning. This chapter describes the evolution of the Ritchie Program for School Leaders through features and initial impact of full-time internships and offers lessons learned about mentoring aspiring leaders.