0.7 Using a leadership practice field to develop aspiring principals  (Page 2/5)

The specific course examined for this report was a graduate seminar titled Nature and Context of Education and Learning . The overall purpose of the course was to provide prospective school leaders with the foundational knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to become effective instructional leaders. The course was designed to be practitioner based and to incorporate hands-on experiences, simulations, vignettes, scenarios, case studies, web site explorations, interviews, and other similar student participatory activities.

The course objectives were guided by the Educational Leadership Constituents Council (ELCC) and Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) standards. The following standards were the focus for this course:

“An education leader promotes the success of every student by...

• Standard 2 – advocating, nurturing and sustaining a school culture and instructional program conducive to student learning and staff professional growth,
• Standard 4 – collaborating with faculty and community members, responding to diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources,
• Standard 5 – acting with integrity, fairness, and in an ethical manner,
• Standard 6 – understanding, responding to, and influencing the political, social, economic, legal, and cultural context” (Council of Chief State School Officers, 2008).

The 15 students enrolled in this course were in the second semester of a two-year cohort program for the preparation of school principals and supervisors. All were employed in teaching positions with local school districts, and most aspired to be building principals. The school districts employing these teachers included a mix of urban, suburban, and rural schools.

The concept of the leadership practice field was briefly introduced to students during the first class meeting. A reading was assigned that described the concept in more detail (Creighton, 2005), and the students engaged in their first practice field activity, handling a phone call from an irate parent, between the first and second class meetings. With this foundation, the students were then engaged in an activity where they prepared group presentations suggesting practice field activities they felt would be valuable for their learning in this course.

Each of the three student groups identified similar areas in which they wished to have an opportunity to practice. Table 1 lists the overall themes and suggested topic areas for practice.

Table 1

Student Suggestions for Leadership Practice Field Activities