preparing school leaders

Preparing Educational Leaders

Dreams Mixed with Reality

Steven M. Baule

• BA, History, Loras College• MLS, Library & Info Science, U of Iowa• Ed.D., Instructional Technology, NIU

• Dissertation – The technology planning process and the role of the school library media specialist

• Ph.D., Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, Loyola University Chicago• Dissertation – One hundred years of school library and educational

technology development: A case study of the New Trier Township High School District

Steven M. Baule

Professional Experience• US & Latin American History Teacher• School Library Media Specialist• Assistant High School Principal• High School Principal• Assistant Superintendent• Superintendent; a suburban district, a rural one

Steven M. Baule

Graduate Teaching Experience (LIS & IT)• Organization and Management of Libraries• Cataloging and Classification of Lib. Mat.• Reference and Online Services• Media and Production Services

• Instructional Technology Administration• Website Management• Network Management• Intro to Instructional Technology

Steven M. Baule

Graduate Teaching Experience (Ed. Admin)• Introduction to Educational Administration• Technology for Educational Administrators• Introduction to Educational Research

• Cooperating administrator for six administrative interns (3 MA, 1 Ed.S., 2 Ed.D.)

• Cooperating teacher for four MLS candidates

Future of Educational Leadership

Key Areas for Focus

• More rigorous intake and selection • Narrowing the focus of preparation programs• More “leadership” less “management”• The Internship• Post placement mentoring• Post graduation tracking of student performance

• More ongoing and inservice training• Post graduate certification options

Rigor & Focus

• Much concern over the acceptance rate for programs

• Only 7 of 17 programs in Indiana use GRE• Particularly those in collaboration with

school districts • Historically, many teachers used

educational admin degrees for scale movement

Rigor & Focus II

• In Illinois, the General Administrative Certification was replaced with a Principal Preparation Program

• The internship doubled (200 hours)

• Student population has dropped by 50%

Rigor and Focus III

• Iowa requires successful evaluation as an administrator to move from the initial to professional certificate

• Requires specific professional development as well

• A degree itself isn’t enough

Leadership Not Management

Wallace Foundation Study

• Shaping a vision of academic success for all �students

• Creating a climate hospitable to education• Cultivating leadership in others• Improving instruction• Managing people, data, and processes to

foster school improvement

Greater Focus on Curriculum, Instruction and Innovation

• Curricula tightly focused on improving instruction and changing school culture, so teaching and learning at high standards are everyone’s top priority (Wallace, 2012).

• New Leaders / America Achieves want to allow more “non-traditional providers” focused on outcomes • “Turn around” focused programs• Charter leader programs

Data Focused Leadership

• Need to better prepare students for a deep understanding of data analysis

• Statistical methods are more important • Ability to communicate data results to a

wide range of constituents • Longitudinal data will be essential in the

future for leaders and schools

Data Focused Collaboration

• This is an area for educational administration programs to reach out and provide assistance to schools and districts

• Provide services to schools while we work to build their internal capacity

The Internship

• A key area of focus in nearly every reform effort • Longer than previously • More focused on specific area• The future will be more structured and look like

student teaching• Paid year long internships will become

commonplace

The Internship II

• Require direct teacher supervision and evaluation

• Occur during the school year; students have to be in session

• Require all internships to be linked to leadership standards

• Much tighter cooperating administrator standards

The Internship III

• Need to look at providing supervised field experiences from above and below

• Suggest we add a cooperating master teacher to work with each student to assist in negotiating the informal leadership in schools and teacher perspective

Post Placement Mentoring

• Provide cohort networking opportunities for recently graduated and newly placed administrators

• Illinois requires new principal mentoring and new superintendent mentoring (if funding is available)

• Potential to collaborate with districts to provide these services

Long Term Data Collection

• Data-based program evaluation• Do they get placed in administrative roles?• What evaluation grades do graduates earn?• Do they impact achievement gaps?

Long Term Data Collection II

Post-Graduate Certifications

• ISAL – Illinois Assoc. of School Administrators

• The ISAL training centers around five leadership lenses:• Facilitator of Shared Moral Purpose• Change Agent• Relationship/Culture Promoter• Capacity Builder• Coherence Maker

Post-Graduate Certifications

Post-Graduate Certifications

• Does somewhat devalue graduate degrees• There are opportunities here for universities• Cohort networking is a key to these

programs• “Current issues” are important • What can schools do to collaborate with

other agencies? Universities? Other districts?

MORE RANDOM THOUGHTS

Train as You Go

• Fluid nature of Education • More “short courses”

• PARCC / CCSS • Bilingual Education• Social Media for Educators

• Need to return to “school” for updates• On demand modules

• Facilities Design• Food Service Management • RFP / Bid Development

Evaluation Needs Simplification

• The current Danielson model is cumbersome and doesn’t inspire

• Some discussion about a national standard for evaluation in the ESEA

Digital Learning

• Train all educators in how to differentiate and individualize instruction

• How to curate instructional materials • Deep technology skills are necessary for the

future • Understanding of how to use 1:1 devices

Considering Global Schools

• Starting to see some US educators considering international school innovations

• More collaboration across state and national borders

• Room for leadership among districts

THANK YOU