For seven aspiring principals in Delaware’s high-need public schools, this summer has been just the beginning — a very intensive beginning.
“The information and experience I’ve gained in the first four weeks far surpasses what I picked up in traditional pathways,” said Reshid Walker, one of seven participants in the Delaware Leadership Project (DLP), a 14-month training program financed primarily by federal Race to the Top education reform funds and a grant from the Rodel Foundation.
Walker, who has worked in the Capital School district and in the New York City Department of Education, already is certified as an assistant principal and principal, but was attracted to the program by its rigor and the opportunity for hands-on training while building a strong relationship with a mentoring principal.
The project is “an intensive leadership development program, and we use that word ‘intense’ to mean a lot of different things: the time commitment, the rigor of the work, the rigor of the mentorship process, the year-long residency, and then a second planning summer,” said Christopher Ruszkowski, a teacher and leader effectiveness officer in the state Department of Education.
The program’s first phase, the five-week summer preparation, ends Friday July 29. Through problem-based learning and role playing, the aspiring principals have studied the use of data to measure school performance; methods of examining the school’s tone, culture and climate; understanding the linkages between standards, the curriculum and performance assessments; allocating school resources, including time, money and staff, to support the school vision; devising methods to develop staff in order to improve student learning; and how to transition into their residency phase, the next step of the program.
“We create a simulated school environment” that challenges participants to balance their time to achieve each task, said Ilene Friedman, vice president for leadership preparation programs at the NYC Leadership Academy (NYCLA), which designed the curriculum. The program forces participants to examine where they focus and how they make decisions, so they realize that “if a principal doesn’t take into account all the variables, they had better be prepared for the consequences,” she said.
“We’ve done a variety of activities,” participant Leah Anderson said, “and what was most important was that, after each one, we reflect on why we do things. We’re learning to beware of unintended consequences, and I’m realizing that we always have to keep the decisions we make student-centered.”
“It’s not a biscuit-cutter approach,” added Jason Heap, another aspiring principal. “It allows us to be individuals, and to see that there is not just one ‘the way’ solution.”
The program’s project-based, action learning curriculum is an example of an alternate route to certification, differing from the traditional principal certification curriculum, which emphasizes formal coursework and textbook learning and offers limited field experiences, said Ellie Ludwigsen, a former Christina School District administrator who serves as one of two program coordinators.
During the residency, the aspiring principals will spend the 2011-12 academic year working alongside an established principal mentor in an elementary or middle school. How that works out may vary from school to school, but the participants will be working, not watching. “They’ll be an integral part of the school leadership team,” said the other program coordinator, Richelle Talbert, a former Christina principal.
Ludwigsen and Talbert are trainers for Innovative Schools Inc., a nonprofit founded in 2002 to support Delaware’s charter schools movement. In the last few years, it has broadened its mission to include researching and developing innovative school models and staffing programs for adoption in Delaware schools. In this effort, Innovative Schools is collaborating with NYCLA, which has trained more than 400 prospective principals for New York City schools since 2003.
Learn more about the people behind Delaware’s principal training program here.
A New York University study found that New York City schools led by NYCLA-trained principals recorded greater gains in student performance than similar schools led by principals with equivalent experience who gained certification through traditional pathways, Friedman said. NYCLA has modified its New York City program to align more closely with Delaware school standards and procedures, she said.
- DLP Facts & Figures
The Delaware Leadership Project is highly selective: 90 applications were received for this year’s program, only seven were chosen. For 2012-13, the goal is to select 10 to 12 participants.
Participants receive a stipend of not less than $65,000 per year, plus health benefits. Mentoring principals receive a $5,000 stipend.
School districts and charter schools contribute $50,000 per year to host one aspiring principal, or $90,000 per year if they host two.
Participants who complete the program must work for three years as a principal or assistant principal at a high-need Delaware public school.
The Delaware Department of Education has made a two-year commitment to the program, with about 10 candidates expected to comprise the second cohort next summer, Ruszkowski said. Overall, the program has a budget of about $2.6 million, with $1.08 million coming from the state’s Reach to the Top grant, $850,000 from the Rodel Foundation and the balance from the school districts that host participants during their residencies Ruszkowski said.
If the program proves successful, it could be continued beyond the second year, he said.
The Department of Education and project managers will closely monitor participants during their residencies “to see whether they have what it takes to lead and turn around our highest-need schools,” Ruszkowski said. If it becomes apparent that a participant will not complete the program successfully, they will be asked to leave, he said. At NYCLA, about 15 percent of all participants do not complete the program, Friedman said.
There are no guarantees that successful participants will be hired next year as a principal or assistant principal. “This gives districts and charter schools another option” for hiring, in addition to promoting from within, hiring from out of state or choosing from candidates who have recently gained certification through a college or university, Ruszkowski said.
However, about 40 principal and assistant principal vacancies occur annually in Delaware public schools and only half of them are typically filled by internal promotions, he said.
With about 20 openings to be filled from other sources, “we anticipate that those who successfully complete the program will have little difficulty obtaining principal positions,” according to Innovative Schools’ fact sheet on the program.
The one-year residency, featuring the pairing with a principal-mentor, makes up the core of the leadership program. “We want [participants] to have the experience to learn and to lead,” Friedman said.
Instead of the mock meetings with teachers and parents that were part of last week’s role-playing exercises, the principals-in-training will be having those conversations in real time, with real teachers and parents. “This program gives me a hands-on opportunity to get into the building, to interact with people, to see what the principal’s job is all about,” said Nakia Fambro, who joined the program after spending five years teaching biology at Caesar Rodney High School.
Mentor Pairings
Five of seven aspiring principals in the Delaware Leadership Project have been assigned to their schools and mentors.
New Castle Co.
Red Clay School District:
Dana Ferguson will be mentored by Bob Farr of Highlands Elementary.
Erin McNulty will be mentored by Linda Thomas of Shortlidge Elementary.
Christina School District:
Leah Anderson will be mentored by Amy Grundy of Gauger-Cobbs Middle.
Paula Loper will be mentored by Butch Ingram of Bancroft Elementary.
Kent Co.
Capital School District:
Nakia Fambro will be mentored by Darren Guido of Dover Central Middle.
Sussex Co.
Cape Henlopen School District:
Reshid Walker will be assigned to a school in this district.
Jason Heap will be assigned to a mentor at one of Delaware’s charter schools statewide.
It is important that mentoring principals let their staffs and the entire school community know that the resident is a full-fledged member of the school team, Friedman said.
The residents will be at the school four days a week, doing pretty much everything a principal would do — greeting the buses, walking the halls, monitoring in the cafeteria, observing teachers, working on committees and special projects and going to PTA meetings. On Tuesday evenings and all day Thursday they’ll meet for the academic side of their training, just as they have done this summer.
The mentors are looking forward to the residency period with the same enthusiasm as the prospective principals. “This is a new challenge for me,” said Amy Grundy, starting her eighth year as principal of Gauger-Cobbs Middle School in Newark. “It’s exciting to use my influence to impact an aspiring leader.”
Grundy expects to benefit from the program too. Being exposed to adult students who are engaged in intensive learning will provide fresh insights that will help her better manage the school, she said. And, she added, the experience of serving as a mentor could serve as “a bridge to possibly my next step” in her education administration career.
“I think this is a great opportunity,” said Butch Ingram, principal of Bancroft Elementary School in Wilmington, noting that in his career he has often seen “people placed in positions, but not necessarily prepared for them.”
Ludwigsen, one of the trainers, echoed Ingram’s observation, noting that three of the seven participants already have earned certification as principals but didn’t consider themselves ready for the position. Those “who didn’t have the confidence or skills before can now begin to visualize themselves as school leaders,” she said.
After completion of the residency, the aspiring principals will engage in a “planning summer,” preparing for leadership at the school where they’ll be working during the 2012-13 academic year. They will learn as much as they can about the school and develop an approach that they can use as a guide through their first year in their new assignment.
During their first two years on the job, the new principals will also receive intensive coaching through the program.
“The job of the principal is very challenging,” Fambro said. “You have to have passion and vision, and use that to inspire the building [and] to achieve success.”
