Mid-Career Learning - ways in which superintendents pursue professional development

School Administrator, Nov, 2001 by Jay Mathews

Most of those lectures and discussions run at least 90 minutes--a far cry from a week at Myrtle Beach with the latest Sue Grafton mystery. But the creators of the Harvard seminar realized from the beginning that many superintendents remember fondly their student days, when they spent their days in jeans and sweat shirts, debating the fate of the world.

The seminar inventors, then Harvard education school dean Patricia Albjerg Graham and former U.S. commissioner of education Francis Keppel, "thought it would be wonderful to take superintendents in for a week in the summer and disconnect them from their administrative issues while reconnecting them with the experience of discovery and learning," says Linda Greyser, associate director of programs in professional education at Harvard's education school.

The program first focused on superintendents who had attended the Graduate School of Education, but it has since opened to non-alumni. At the beginning it let spouses audit the courses, but so many did so that there was not enough room for the superintendents. Spouses now have to pay tuition if they want to participate.

Hungry for Know-how

Whatever the topic, the educators, often dressed in shorts and T-shirts, have proved to be a lively group. Karel Liem, the Henry Bryant Bigelow Professor of Ichthyology, found last year's seminar members full of questions after his lecture on sex reversal and natural clones in fish. They were "much more alert" than the usual undergraduate audience, he says.

And the session did nothing to hurt their appetites for the social high point of the week, the New England clambake and lobster bake at the Cronkhite Graduate Center. The whole week, says Santa Clara, Calif., superintendent Colleen Wilcox, was "a highlight of my year."

Professional Growth for Superintendents

Where can superintendents go to advance their own professional growth? In addition to state-level programs, they can choose from an array of conferences and institutes open to school leaders nationally. Some of these offer graduate school credits.

Here's a summary of selected programs that are tailored specifically to the skill and training needs of superintendents. Conferences run by AASA are included.

* AASA National Conference on Education, Feb. 15-17, 2002, San Diego, Calif.

AASA's 134th annual conference offers a mix of prominent speakers, including former Colorado Gov. Roy Romer, superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District; syndicated columnist and comedian Mark Russell; Jim Hayhurst, author of The Right Mountain:Lessons from Everest on the Real Meaning of Success; and entertainer Dolly Patton, founder of the Dolly-wood Foundation. Hour-long sessions on relevant subjects and opportunities to network with colleagues are also provided. For details, log on to www.aasa.org/conferences/nce.> * Harvard Seminar for Superintendents, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Cambridge, Mass.

Veteran superintendents from around the country participate in a week of conversations with Harvard faculty, discussing topics drawn from the arts, science, the social sciences and current events. The seminar also allows informal networking with colleagues. For information on the July 2002 conference, call 800-545-1849 or visit www.gse.harvard.edu/[sim]ppe.