3.4 Reality check: designing a new leadership program for the 21st  (Page 12/15)

Not surprisingly, this new process of preparing school leaders through field experience was a majorparadigm shift for area school leaders, especially superintendents. Assurances that this was a partnership and paradigm shift weredifficult to accept by many area leaders. In addition, school district leaders were reluctant to nominate exemplary teachers forthe program fearing accusations of favoritism from teachers. The shift to the new paradigm at the university level was met with thechallenge to include more people in the process.

Field experiences are a challenge to manage. Some clinical supervisors and mentors have to experience additionalprofessional development in order to provide appropriate guidance to candidates. During the implementation of the program, theuniversity initially struggled with providing appropriate training of mentors as well as university staff. With training andadditional support from SREB programs, such as the Training Mentors for School Improvement module, this process was betterfacilitated.

Future plans include addressing the challenges of diversity and social justice, moving away from thestatus quo, and finding new solutions to unanticipated problems. Murphy (1992) has stated that school leaders were often formerteachers residing within a 25 to 50 mile radius of the school they now lead. Additionally, most schools seem to promote from withinwith little regard to skill. If a broader pool of leaders could be tapped, the educational and skill level may increase. It is hopedthat a more national and global leadership community may be developed using the technology of distance learning and capstoneexperiences. In this way, professors, administrators, and administrative candidates could share and benefit from appropriatefield experiences and unfamiliar perspectives in their region or state.

The authors believe that the new program of leadership development and preparation will be successful, eventhough the program is in its infancy. However, according to a study conducted by Davis (2005), leadership programs that wereconcept-driven, cohort-based, and field-based scored higher on the School Leaders Licensure Assessment (SLLA), received higherperformance ratings by supervisors, and were perceived by teachers as being more effective. It is hoped that this new leadershipprogram will train new leaders to make a notable difference in school improvement and student achievement in SoutheasternLouisiana University’s service area.

Conclusion

The recent focus on the importance of school leadership and its effects on school improvement has put schoolleader preparation programs under scrutiny and prompted them to redesign. Even though new research is being conducted, the task ofpreparing educational administrators has suffered from a lack of clarity and paucity of systematic scholarly inquiry. Thisexamination of Southeastern Louisiana University’new program contributes to the knowledge base for school leadership preparationbecause it is a leader in the arena of state, university, and school district(s) collaboration to educate all studentseffectively and equitably.