Program Curriculum

 

Leadership for 21st Century Schools (2 credits):
Successful school leaders must develop emotional intelligence defined as personal and social competencies to manage themselves and their relationships with others. Emotional intelligence begins with self awareness. In this course, participants will assess their leadership strengths and weaknesses and create professional learning plans in alignment with essential skills for leadership in urban and inner-ring schools. Participants will also begin to build their professional portfolios as well as a professional learning community within their cohort, both of which will sustain them throughout their 16 month leadership development program.

Visionary Leadership (2 credits):
In order for leaders to make a difference in the culture of today’s schools, individuals must learn how to create and articulate a vision and compelling mission that will inspire others to follow their ideals. In this course, participants will examine and practice processes of managing change including how to assess their school culture and align their vision and mission with that of their school districts. Participants will also examine contemporary research on effective leaders from both the social and public sector as they generate strategies to achieve their vision for social change.

Making Global Connections through Technology (2 credits):
It is important for contemporary school leaders to not only know how to use technology but also know how to apply it for the purpose of building learning communities within their schools, across their districts and beyond. Today’s school leaders must possess a world view that informs their work and inspires their students to fully become citizens of the global society. In this course participants will discover and practice cutting edge technology, blog, pod casts, and online learning, all the while strategizing and creating applications that will broaden student learning and enable others to adopt a global perspective.

The Continuous Improvement Process (2 credits):
Urban and inner-ring schools by nature exist in communities undergoing change and transition. It is important that their school leaders develop empathy for, and sensitivity to differing cultures and ways of life among their students and families and within the larger community. Effective school leaders need to develop the essential skills, both human relations and technical, to lead their schools through cycles of continuous improvement. In this course participants will acquire understanding of systems theory and workflow processing. They will practice problem solving to overcome barriers to change, and generate strategies to build school improvement teams.

Making Data Driven Decisions (2 credits):
Like never before, today’s school leaders are being held accountable for student and school success by authorities at the local, state, and national levels as well as the general public. To be effective in their response to increased demands for accountability, they must appreciate the high stakes that come with testing. Leaders must develop competence and confidence in mastering their understanding and use of data in a way that not only impacts student and school success, but communicates to external stakeholders. In this course participants will examine historical report card data for its implications as well as study attendance and placement data as they relate to mobility and disproportionality.

Raising Student Achievement (2 credits):
The essential business of all schools is student achievement. Perhaps even more intensely in urban and inner-ring schools where unacceptable academic achievement gaps tied to racial and social class differences are the norms. Conditions of poverty also drive gaps in learning. When making decisions relative to curriculum and instruction, effective school leaders must comprehend the many different variables that contribute to inequities in learning and make a clear and explicit commitment to high expectations for all students. In this course participants will examine barriers and generate solutions to raising student achievement in their schools. Participants will examine and practice research based strategies for instruction and assessment that will mitigate the challenges of race, poverty, student mobility and academic achievement gaps in their schools.

Leading Communications (2 credits):
Effective school leaders must be able to communicate effectively to an audience broader than their immediate schools. They need knowledge, skills, and practice in multiple forms of communication that will inform the larger community. In many of our metropolitan communities today, fewer than 20% of our families have school age children. Student populations and demographics often differ dramatically from the larger community on variables such as ethnicity and income. Participants in this course will learn to improve their writing, presentation, negotiating, and media relations skills. They will learn the basics of effective communications, how to receive feedback for the purpose of improving their communication skills and that communications is a two way street.

How Policies Influence Practice (2 credits):
Today’s school leaders too often find themselves in a reactive position versus proactive when it comes to policies that impact teaching and learning in their schools. Effective leaders must grasp just how policies evolve through historical and contemporary analysis. As better informed practitioners, they must find ways to assert themselves and become part of the process by joining policy makers at the table. Participants in this course will examine and understand school district, state-wide, and national policies impacting educational practices. Careful analysis of the realities, benefits and challenges that public policy presents to school leaders, teachers, and learners will be thoroughly analyzed for the purpose of seeing future possibilities and enacting change for better schools.

Building Community in Schools (2 credits):
Today’s school leaders, everywhere, but particularly in urban and inner-ring suburbs must engage members of the broader community in a way that will keep their schools viable and their children well served. A growing body of literature on the importance of school leaders engaging in the community underpins much of this course. Participants will become acquainted with local government, neighborhood organizations, and community institutions surrounding their schools and their interrelationships. Participants will discover and practice strategies to ways to not only broaden their spheres of influence through a strengthened learning community, but also find ways to harness more resources for their students.

Managing Personnel (2 credits):
Contemporary school leaders must become competent enough to assemble a team of high performers who can carry out their vision, mission, and strategies for change which are critical to student success in their schools. Not only must they be able to recognize and recruit the caliber of people to carry out the work, they must be able to inspire and manage people in a way that brings out the best in individuals. It is important that teachers and staff develop empathy for and fully understand the culture of generational poverty and find solutions to minimize the impact of student transience. They must also be able to learn to appreciate different cultures and mitigate racial discord when and wherever they encounter it. Participants in this course will learn how to recruit and hire high performers within policies, procedures and legal boundaries. The evaluation, assessment and termination of non-performers will also be examined. In addition, skills to effectively negotiate, empower, train and deal with inherent high turnover rates will be addressed in this course.

Capstone (2 credits):
The Capstone course is the culminating experience for participants in the Inspired Leaders Principal Licensure Program. Graduating participants will demonstrate their transformation into leadership by showcasing their school based residency project or initiative, which will be developed and completed during their final semester and implemented in their residency environment. The initiative or project will illustrate a "best practice" approach to leadership as well as align with the ISLLC performance standards for school leaders. The capstone component of this course is a showcase of participants’ residency based projects before an authentic audience of their colleagues. This course also marks successful completion of the program which enables graduates to seek principal licensure.