3.4 Reality check: designing a new leadership program for the 21st  (Page 4/15)

The Educator Leader Certificate–Levels 1 and 2 are mandated for all who aspire to school and districtleadership positions, assistant principal, and principal and includes“on-the-job”training and mentoring from an advanced school leader. Components of the certificate include the completionof a competency-based graduate degree preparation program in the area of educational leadership from a regionally accreditedinstitution of higher education; a passing score (168 recommended)on the School Leaders Licensure Assessment (SLLA); uponemployment, enrollment in a 2-year Educational Leader Induction Program, which must be completed within 3 years. At the successfulculmination of this induction, a Level 2 Certificate is awarded.

Educational Leader Certificate–Level 3

Educational Leader Certificate–Level 3 is inclusive of Levels 1 and 2 and is requisite of those who aspire tobecome a superintendent and may be enhanced by an earned doctorate degree (Ed.D.) from the new Consortium for School Leadership, ajoint program from Southeastern Louisiana University and University of Louisiana at Lafayette. To earn this certificate, students musthave 5 years successful experience at the level of principal or above; a passing score (154 recommended) on the SchoolSuperintendent Assessment (SSA); and a passing score on the School Leadership Licensure Assessment, which is a new certification testfrom the Educational Testing Service School Leader Portfolio Assessment. To renew any certification, each educator must completea minimum of 150 Continuous Learning Units of Professional Development over a 5-year period that is consistent with IndividualProfessional Growth Plan and that includes updating the educational leader portfolio.

How to Design a School Leader Preparation Program

The new school leadership program at Southeastern Louisiana University incorporates the EducationalLeadership Constituent Council (ELCC)standards and draws from the best practices of both the transformational and sharedinstructional leadership models in order to develop the leadership skills of aspiring school leaders (Marks&Printy, 2003). The new preparation program combines the two models of leadership intoan integrated approach. Furthermore, the new program blends the critical mass of technical, human, and educational forces, asrecommended by Waters, Marzano, and McNulty (2003), into the professional content (the what) and theory (the why) with practicalskills (the how and when) through case studies, simulations, and extensive field-based experiences.

Following the creation of a partnership with the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) in 2003, the state ofLouisiana mandated that all universities redesign preparation programs for school leaders be based on the new standards, whichare reflected in the state certification guidelines. In addition, all university degree programs are required to be National Councilfor Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) certified.

The LEAD Southeastern Partnership differs from the other Louisiana university/district partnerships in thatit is composed of urban, suburban, and rural school districts with dramatic demographic differences. Leadership is context-specific,as the National College for School Leadership in England discovered (Southworth&Doughtly, 2006). The program requires diverse field experience throughout order to qualify graduates to work in avariety of settings.