Beyond Academics in the Preparation of Education Leaders

Purpose

Most university programs to prepare elementary and secondary school administrators are almost entirely classroom-based, include little instructional collaboration between university faculty and practicing administrators, and emphasize management over le adership. This project incorporated substantial field-based components, involved practicing school administrators as co-teachers with university faculty, and gave equal time to the instructional leadership and school management aspects of the principal' s role. The two-year weekend and summer program served a cohort of 25 teacher-leaders preparing for a possible future in school administration.

Innovative Features

Project leaders recruited a group of 25 teachers, 24 of whom completed the program, to study as a cohort during two years. The program for the first year consisted of seven weekend seminars of 15 hours each, dealing with the skills of instructional leadership such as team building, teacher supervision, and creating a climate for change. During the first summer, participants completed four school management courses and a series of activities at the Assessment Center of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

The Assessment Center identified the skills on which each participant needed to work. These were perfected during a school-based internship in the following year under the tutelage of an experienced principal. Five 20-hour seminars for the participants and their mentors accompanied the internship. Students completed the program the second summer with two additional management courses, and were awarded a school administration certificate.

Major innovative features of this program, in addition to the cohort model, the faculty/school administrator co-teaching, and the equal emphasis on instructional leadership and school management included: 1) using the NASSP Assessment Centers as a diagnostic tool to help structure the internships; 2) requiring internships before awarding the certificate; and 3) maintaining the support network among members of the cohort during their first year of full-time administrative work.

Evaluation/Project Impact

The evaluation included five studies. The first explored the students' evaluation of the first- year seminars and examined the degree to which they used the leadership concepts and skills taught in the seminars during the internship year. Results showed that students made ample use of those concepts and skills, and could articulate the ways in which they used them.

The second study compared the program participants to a matched group of students completing the university's standard administrative training program, and showed that the experimental group understood their application of the skills and theories about instructional leadership far better than did the control group completing the conventional program. This result was particularly significant in that the two groups demonstrated virtually identical levels of understanding of these matters in response to the same set of questions asked before their programs began.

A third study showed that students in the experimental group were much more successful than the controls in securing administrative positions after they had completed their certificate programs. The fourth study, based on opinions of supervisors, peers and subordinates about the experimental group members' performance in their first year as administrators, showed an unusually high degree of success. The fifth study demonstrated that the positive effects of the experimental program were still being rea lized five years after its completion.

All but one of the 25 members of the program completed it, one individual dropping out for personal reasons. Of the 24, thirteen were appointed immediately to administrative positions, more than double the average rate of 25 percent for holders of new administrative certificates. One additional individual was unsuccessful in getting an administrative position the first year but did get one a year later, along with six other members of the group. Thus by the beginning of the second year after the end of the program, 20 of the 24 members of the cohort were in administrative positions, with the other four choosing not to pursue such jobs at that point in their careers. Five years later, 23 of the 25 were assistant principals or principals.

Lessons Learned

On the basis of the success of the participants in securing administrative positions and the enthusiastic endorsement by their colleagues, one can reasonably conclude that the emphasis on instructional leadership skills and the strong internship, which were the operationally significant elements of this project, are unusually effective strategies for preparing school administrators. While all of the innovative features listed above seem to have contributed to the success of the program, it may be the intentional and structured focus on the concepts and skills of leadership within a supportive cohort that produced such positive results.

Project Continuation

The success of the program led the University of Oregon education administration faculty to phase out the current classroom-based program in favor of a modified version of the program developed through this project. The University's College of Educatio n is now committed to a weekend program with a strong internship as the only preparation curriculum it offers for school- based administrators. The department took this action on the basis of the follow-up studies of the experimental program graduates and the enthusiasm for it on the part of administrators around the state.

Available Information

Further information may be obtained from:

Richard A. Schmuck
DELTA Education
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403
503-346-1364

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