Standards to guide your internship

Standards to guide your internship

Your internship is standards-based. The standards are those of the National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA) . The NPBEA was formed following a study of educational leadership programs by the National Commission on Excellence in Educational Administration . The Board developed standards in the mid-nineties and founded the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) to oversee the national recognition of leadership preparation programs based on those standards. The standards were revised and aligned in 2002 with standards issued by the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) in 1996 . The NPBEA standards were adopted by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) for the review of educational leadership programs during the accreditation of colleges, schools, and departments of education. Both national and regional accreditation is required for program approval in Virginia.

The School of Education at Virginia Tech is nationally accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education, Virginia Tech is regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and your program is national recognized by the NPBEA/ELCC and approved by the Virginia Board of Education. The national recognition is completely dependent on meeting the NPBEA/ELCC standards. NCATE accreditation and Virginia Board of Education approval are partially based on the NPBEA/ELCC standards; both NCATE and the Virginia Board of Education have additional standards that must be met. The NCATE standards are at (External Link) . The Virginia Board of Education standards, which are now (October 2006) in the Commonwealth’s administrative review process, are at (External Link) . The original Virginia Board of Education standards are called Guidelines for uniform performance standards and evaluation criteria for teachers, administrators, and superintendents. Although your internship is based on the NPBEA/ELCC standards, be sure to review the additional NCATE and Virginia standards and incorporate them into your experiences in the internship and your program.

As you work on your internship, you should keep in mind that you must pass the School Leaders Licensure Assessment (SLLA) with a minimum score of 165. A passing score is required for an initial license for principals in Virginia. The SLLA is based on the ISLLC standards; therefore, you must become familiar with these standards as well. You will find them at (External Link) . Although the NPBEA and ISLLC standards have been aligned, I think you will find the ISLLC standards very helpful, especially in identifying dispositions that you must demonstrate by the end of your program.

Do the following now

Go to the website of the National Policy Board for

Educational Administration at (External Link) and review the standards, elements, and indicators. Bookmark this website so that you can access it whenever you are planning internship experiences, working on specific objectives in your internship, or describing and reflecting on your experiences in your internship log.

As you review the standards, note that they have three parts: (1) the standard, (2) the elements directly related to the standard, and (3) two sets of indicators, one for school-level leadership and the other for district-level leadership. The standard is an expression of the outcomes you are expected to achieve during your internship and program as a whole. The elements are the components of the standard on which you must demonstrate proficiency. You must provide evidence of proficiency on each of the elements. The indicators are specific tasks in which you might engage to show evidence that you are proficient in an element. The indicators are examples only. You do not have to perform each to demonstrate proficiency in an element. Other indicators may be developed by your mentor, campus supervisor, or yourself to demonstrate proficiency in an element. These must be approved by your campus supervisor and mentor. When you are working with principals or assistant principals in your internship, regardless of level or type of school (elementary, middle, high school, vocational school, alternative school), use the school-level indicators to guide your experiences. When you are working with supervisors (English, science, math, and others), assistant superintendents, directors, curriculum specialists, or others in the central office, use the district-level indicators to guide your experiences.

The objectives in this internship guide are indicators of proficiency. Each objective is derived from or closely connected to one or more elements within the standards. Whenever you work on an objective, be sure to review carefully the standards, elements, and indicators associated with that objective. Create a concept of the specific knowledge, skills, or dispositions that you are trying to acquire through this objective. The objective is only a means to these ends. This thoughtful, reflective approach to the objectives in your internship will keep you from losing sight of the purposes of the objectives and the internship and optimize your learning.

To continue our national recognition by the NPBEA/ELCC, our accreditation by NCATE, and our approval by the Virginia Board of Education, we at Virginia Tech must demonstrate that you are proficient in the elements of the standards, that we are providing assistance to anyone who does not meet an element, and that we are using the data that we collect on your performance as an individual and as a member of a cohort to improve our program. Thus, these standards are central to your experiences in the internship and in the program as a whole.