Job-Embedded Principal Preparation

 January 2012 - June 2014
 Collaboration between USF and 4 partner districts
 Manatee


Pasco
Pinellas
 Polk
 Creating a seamless principal preparation program
 Combining level I and level II programs
 Creating a sustainable collaborative program

Internship year
 Front loaded academic course work
 Year long jobembedded internship with integrated coursework during Fall,
Spring II, and Summer semesters
 Guidance from school based mentor and USF faculty
Courses Sequence
Spring I
• Educational Leadership
Summer I
• Foundations of Curriculum &
Instruction
• Principles of Administration
• Culturally Relevant Leadership
• Principalship
Fall
• Administrative Analysis & Change
• Data-Based Decision-Making
• Building Capacity for Continuous
Improvement
Spring II
• School Law
• Curriculum Improvement
• School Finance
Summer II
• Practicum

Resident year
 Individualized development through the focus on site-based improvement
 Collaborative growth using
Appreciative Inquiry in
Communities of Practice
 Broad based development activities for all aspiring leaders
Resident
Project Topics
• MTSS
• Math
• PLC’s
• Student
Engagement
• Post Secondary
Readiness
• Literacy

Timely completion of partnership logistics
Completed entire program in 15 months including
FELE pass rates of
100%
AP Placements for 9 of 15 in first cohort

Maximizing support for student tuition and fees
Balancing course with school based work
Ensuring adequate time for supervising mentor with intern
Changes in mentors and/or intern sites

Collecting data from mentors
Competing responsibilities of faculty
Conflicting perceptions of principal preparedness

Exposure to best practices through shadowing and round tables with exemplary principals
Pilot-tested a hybrid model of modules within a targeted school improvement process known as Appreciative
Inquiry
Extending resident training by district partners

Resident support of differentiated targeted school improvement projects
Making school improvement implementation more research based

 Issues:
 Standards are not structured to identify singular concepts
 10 Standards are 208 indicators, not 45.
 Example:

○
Standard 1A as currently written:
The school’s learning goals are based on the state’s adopted student academic standards and the district’s adopted curricula; and,
 Standard 1A divided into its individual components:
○
○
1.A.1 The school’s learning goals are based on the state’s adopted student academic standards.
1.A.2 The school’s learning goals are based on the district’s adopted curricula.

 Hypothesis
 208 indicators of leadership success is unmanageable
 Data Sets


Intern self analysis- N =15 - Pre-Mid-Post
Resident self analysis- N= 39 - Pre- Post
 Mentor analysis-N=15 - Post
 Analysis
 Confirmatory factor analysis to identify specific indicators that can be the focus for various groups

55
Number of total indicators
Aspiring APs (Interns)
Assistant Principals (Residents)
Principals (Mentors)
31
24
19
12
3
2
1
1
6
2 2
1
2
16
4 4
2
3
6
4
5
4
7
4
5
5
16
4
7
2
6
11
3
4
2
7
16
4
2 2
8
1
3
5
9 10

 Comparing growth among a cohort
 Comparing people in various places in their careers
 Reducing the number of indicators we focus on in Ed Leadership training
 District leadership development programs can better target specific indicators for evaluation of beginning
AP’s, experienced AP’s, beginning
Principals, etc.

 Value of inter-district collaboration
 Reduced risk taking at the school level
 Questions as whether or not the scope of the FPLS is too broad
 Development of competencies in working with diverse student populations

 Expanding work of district partners
 Sustainability and expansion of resident program



Modification of internship requirements to support a sustainable model
90 day internship (use of Title II funds?)
Student pay tuition, Saturday courses
 Contact: burrello@usf.edu
or mtrierweiler@mail.usf.edu