NEWTON, MA | March 8, 2010
With the goal of strengthening the preparation that new K-12 principals receive in schools of education around the country, Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC) will host a forum to share strategies to improve these programs nationwide. The forum, “Linking School Leadership Preparation to Student Achievement: Begin with the Outcome in Mind,” will be held March 10–12 at the Colonnade Hotel in Boston.
Featured speakers at the forum, representing universities, states, and districts around the country, will include state officials, principals, educators, and policymakers.
With funding from The Wallace Foundation, EDC has been researching principal preparation since 2002, using surveys, interviews, and observations to document the kinds of curricula, field experiences, and assessment practices used in these programs. EDC is now developing more effective ways to prepare the next generation of school leaders and boost student achievement, especially in high-need schools.
“For the past five years, we have been in the re-design business, designing new tools to assess the principal preparation programs out there,” said EDC’s Cheryl King, who has led the effort. “We’ve worked with 24 preparation programs in 12 states to assess the quality of their content, pedagogy, and clinical practices, and the evidence suggests that programs are redesigning to match new standards of practice. Our focus now is to shift to program outcomes as the true indicators of program effectiveness.”
Forum sessions will include opportunities for participants to problem solve and answer questions such as, What should we expect candidates to be able to do immediately as a result of their preparation, and what will take more time? What are the most effective ways to hire, place, and retain new principals? The forum will close with a plenary session highlighting the leadership successes of principals in low-performing schools around the country.
“EDC is in a very good position to conduct this work and advise the field,” said Senior Vice President Joanne Brady. “EDC has many years of experience working with superintendents, principals, teacher leaders, and classroom teachers, and is able to help practitioners create the transition between preparation and effectiveness on the job.”
Participation in the forum is by invitation only. To learn more, contact Tom Haferd at thaferd@edc.org or visit http://www.organizational-services.com/edcqualitymeasures/.
Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), is a global nonprofit organization that develops innovative programs to address urgent challenges in education, health, and economic development. EDC conducts more than 300 projects in 35 countries. Visit www.edc.org
