ADMINISTRATOR PREPARATION: what works

Leadership, May, 2001 by Lawrence W. Birch, Jan Jones Wadsworth

A task force Iooking at ways to improve administrative credentialing and preparation also hopes to find ways to attract new school leaders.

The standards movement has been changing the context in which school administrators serve. Major reform in the K-12 curriculum and implementation of the new statewide assessment system called for a review of California's administrator preparation system to make certain that it is still up-to-date and appropriate.

In June 2000, the Commission on Teacher Credentialing approved a review of the current structure and' standards for the Administrative Services Credential. A task force, broadly representative of the education community, is assisting in the review. A series of forums have been conducted throughout the state to gather information to guide the review. The task force is conducting monthly meetings to review the information gathered at the forums and analyze other data collected. A survey of candidates completing programs over the past three years and of a sample of employers will provide further information about the adequacy of the content of current programs.

The task force is also reviewing the alignment of the commission's program standards with Interstate School Leadership Licensure Consortium Standards and the California Professional Standards for Educational Leaders, developed through a collaborative effort of the Association of California School Administrators and the California School Leadership Academy. This will enhance the usefulness of the California standards, especially as interest grows in the portability of credentials across state lines.

Administrator preparation forums

A series of rive public forums were held in December, January and February 2000-01. Attendees participated in different discussion groups during the morning session organized around the following topics:

* Structure of the Administrative Services Credential system,

* Content of administrator preparation programs,

* Induction/support for new administrators,

* Alternative program options, and

* Recruitment/retention of administrators.

The small groups were asked to discuss what is working well, what is not working well and make suggestions for improvement. Each group then prepared a written summary of the discussion and reported to the entire group. In the afternoon sessions, discussions were conducted in a large-group format. Participants were also invited to submit additional written comments to the task force. The results of the forum discussion were summarized and have been included in the task force deliberations.

Participants in the forums came with the expectation that their voices would be heard and their comments valued. Representatives of post-secondary institutions and K-12 districts provided a variety of viewpoints. Although there was not total agreement about each of the topics considered, there were some consistent viewpoints. Following are some of the key topics discussed at the forums:

* Collaboration between institutions of post-secondary education and employing school districts should be improved.

* The level and intensity of field experience at the Preliminary level does not present an adequate picture of the responsibilities of an administrator. Field experiences are mostly offered in a part-time format, because candidates are not able to obtain release time to participate more extensively.

* Content presented in the Preliminary level program should be updated.

* Programs should provide a better blend between theory and practice.

* The content of professional development after employment of an administrator should be monitored by the employing school district.

* A structure should be developed to give all new administrators the benefit of support, mentoring and assistance during the early years of employment as an administrator.

* The Professional Credential level structure and content should be drastically redesigned or eliminated.

* A redundancy in content is perceived between the Preliminary and Professional levels.

* The new administrator is heavily involved with the demands of the position, which makes the thought of "additional requirements" very unattractive.

* Alternative delivery systems should be developed to facilitate the recruitment and training of administrators in hard to staff schools or to help districts "grow their own" administrators.

* The complexity of the job of the administrator, the demands of the responsibilities and the level of compensation are perceived as reasons educators do not seek administrative positions.

* The current structure of the Administrative Services Credential may also prevent people from applying for an administrative position.

Task force deliberations

The task force is reviewing the current credential structure, the program standards for the Administrative Services Credential and the alignment of the standards with national standards. After its first three meetings, the task force identified areas of emerging consensus in its thinking. Although the task force has agreed on several issues, more discussion is needed to reach consensus on how these areas of agreement translate into implementation policies and delivery systems. Following are areas in which the task force has identified a sense of agreement.