Working Together to Prepare Illinois School Leaders Newly Defined Principal Preparation Program for Illinois Welcome to Newly Defined preparation forum— on behalf of JE and CK Introduce themselves—anyone from redesign team please state so Work over past years, more specifically, the past 18 months. Purpose of this forum--Taking info out to the field Why? Overview What the process looked like—no shadowy figures in darkened room Outcome: Walk away with an understanding of the work that has been done and where SL is going in the future, both for IHEs and K-12

Illinois Reviews School Leadership Leadership Matters! “Leadership is second only to classroom instruction among all school-related factors that contribute to what students learn at school.” (Leithwood, Louis, Anderson & Wahlstrom. How Leadership Influences Student Learning) “ Effective principals attract and retain energetic and attuned teachers, promote a focused and coherent instructional program, know how to engage parents and the community and astutely deploy resources. ” (Advance Illinois. We Can Do Better: Advancing Public Education in Illinois) Why was this work undertaken? As Leithwood found……. Do we even know what an effective SL is? How do we transform principals into instructional leaders who will create school environments that increase student academic performance, as well as provide safe environments for social and emotional growth, promote the professional development of teachers and staff, and draw in the community?

National Studies were Reviewed Numerous national studies Preparing a New Breed of School Principals by SREB Better Leaders for America’s Schools: A Manifesto by The Broad Foundation Learning to Lead? What Gets Taught in Principal Preparation Programs by American Enterprise Inst. Preparing School Principals: A National Perspective on Policy and Program Innovations by Inst. For Education Leadership Educating School Leaders by Art Levine Improving Teachers and Learning by Improving School Leadership by Mazzeo How Leadership Influences Student Learning by Leithwood Beginning at the turn of the century, a number of studies emerged that focused on school leadership. It caught the attention of advocacy groups, such as Ed Trust.

What research told us Lack of definition of what good leadership is Irrelevant curriculum Poor quality of candidates Misaligned incentives for salary increases among K-12 faculty Low admission and graduation standards Weak faculty (numbers of part-time faculty growing with proliferation of off campus programs) Inadequate clinical instruction Absence of collaboration between K-12 districts and preparation programs Need for licensure system that promotes excellence Lack of support by university administration for excellence in programs—use and abuse (cash cow approach) What does effective leadership look like? Is curriculum relevant to 21st schools? Do we need a full semester of School Finance. How to focus programs on improving and sustaining P-12 student achievement Self selection vs. Recruiting and Admitting Best Potential Leaders Districts rewarding graduate hours—Currently more than $400M every year, more than $200 per student goes to reward teachers for completing graduate coursework and degrees—the vast majority of which are unrelated to teacher assignments or needs. Creating substantive clinical experiences, not just bus duty, etc. Who is the client? The students. Lack of strategic partnership with school districts A Type 75 is too general Cash cow

But what about Illinois? Do these same issues exist in Illinois? If so, to what extent? What do we need to do? True, these were national studies, but do these same issues exist in Illinois?

How Can Illinois Improve the Preparation of Future School Leaders? Create preparation programs that will: Focus on preparing principals Prepare principals to affect school improvement in 21st century schools Prepare principals to be instructional leaders Increase student achievement Facilitate ongoing professional growth of staff Education has changed dramatically. How do we adapt? How do we create substantive programs that train effective leaders? How do we focus our efforts on those essential elements?

The Beginning August 2005: Commission on School Leader Preparation convened by IBHE Comprised of leaders from K-12 schools, colleges & universities, business & professional education organizations, ISBE & IBHE August 2006: Report Presented to IBHE School Leader Preparation: A Blueprint for Change Included 3 Major Goals: Recruit Strategically Focus Preparation Programs Improve Statewide Assessment & Coordination Genesis of this work in Illinois began in 2005 with the Commission on School Leader Preparation. The Commission found similar findings in Illinois 3 major areas of weakness Self selecting candidates Programs producing excessive numbers of candidates Lack of focus in PPP Irrelevant/outdated curriculum Inconsistent/inappropriate use of practitioner/clinical adjunct faculty to complement academic faculty Inadequate clinical instruction that is not sufficiently comprehensive to support learning the many facets of principalship Inadequate partnerships between K-12 and IHE Failure to assess the quality of graduates adequately Ensuring quality prep programs Certification exam insufficient for assessing knowledge, skills and dispositions necessary for effective SL Inadequate assessments and disjointed accountability processes School districts reward teachers for graduate work whether it is related to classroom duties or not.

House Joint Resolution July 2007 HJR66 Resolved that ISBE, IBHE & the Office of the Governor shall jointly appoint a task force to recommend a sequence of strategic steps to implement improvements in school leader preparation in Illinois, based on, but not limited to, the measures detailed in Blueprint for Change. Report could have been shelved, but HJR directed continued work. At this time also, there was a sea change in leadership across the agencies.

School Leader Task Force Led by Steve Tozer and comprised of stakeholders from public & private universities, professional organizations, ISBE and IBHE. 3 Recommendations: State Policies--set high standards for certification that align principal preparation, early career mentoring, ongoing professional development and master principal recognition with those standards, so that by 2013 all new principal preparation would be taking place through programs approved under new standards. Formal Partnerships—must be established between school district and principal preparation programs to support principal preparation and development. Refocused Principal Preparation—programs must demonstrate that they develop and rigorously assess in aspiring principals the capacities that are most likely to improve student learning in PK-12 schools. State Policies Action steps: Must be systemic. Build a new structure for certification and endorsements, revised standards, a continuum that crosses admission through ongoing PD Formal Partnerships—IHEs and K-12 districts must be partners in developing, presenting and maintaining SL programs Refocused PP—focused on student achievement, which includes professional development of staff

Working Together to Prepare Illinois School Leaders Conference--Part I May 2008: Two-day conference sponsored by ISBE and IBHE for stakeholders in Higher Education, Professional Organizations and members of the Illinois School Leader Task Force to disseminate the Illinois School Leader Task Force Report. Topics included: Illinois School Leader Preparation Task Force Recommendations Principal Preparation Reform Efforts in Iowa Principal Preparation Reform Efforts in Alabama School and University Partnerships Models Rollout of the SLTF report—all IHEs with COE invited to attend, not just those with SL programs What the report said What was happening in other states Viewpoints of SL stakeholders Additionally, in June and July Marc Kiehna and ISBE and IBHE staff met with the ROEs and the IPA executive board to provide information on the SLTF report.

Working Together to Prepare Illinois School Leaders Conference--Part II August 2008: Second two-day conference to hold open discussions on the recommendations set forth by the Task Force report and to develop school leader redesign teams. 5 School Leader Redesign Teams: School Leadership Standards New Structure for Leadership Certification & Endorsements School/University Partnerships & Selection Process Residencies & Internships Assessments of Candidates & Graduates Conference 1 was “sit and git”, this gathering allowed plenty of time for feedback. In August initial work began as five redesign teams were introduced. These teams would be charged with developing the draft content around the five areas in the revised outcomes-based program approval criteria. Attendees were encouraged to volunteer for inclusion in these teams. Easy to digress into individual IHE way of doing business—but held to greater goal—HOW WILL THIS PREPARATION IMPROVE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT?

Establishing the School Leader Redesign Teams Developed charges for 5 School Leader Redesign Teams Appointed School Leader Redesign Team co-chairs from public and private Institutions of Higher Education; Appointed School Leader Redesign Team members from volunteers across the state of Illinois; and August & September 2008: Developed school Leader web site: http://www.illinoisschoolleader.org/ to archive research and efforts in school leader redesign in Illinois; Website developed to assist teams in their work. Is now being used in IHEs coursework.

School Leader Redesign Team Meetings #1, #2 & #3 September, October & November 2008: Three one-day meetings sponsored by ISBE and IBHE to convene the 5 School Leadership Redesign Teams. School Leader Redesign Team members consisted of 50 representatives of public and private institutions of Higher Education, the IPA, IFT, IEA, Illinois School Board Assoc., Regional Offices of Education, ICPEA, IASA, the Illinois School Leader Task Force, and ISBE and IBHE staff members 5 School Leader Redesign Teams researched and drafted recommendations in alignment with the School Leader Redesign Team Charges. The process was inclusive. All in all, a couple hundred stakeholders were involved in the process.

School Leader Redesign Team Meeting #4 January 2009: Invited representatives for parents, special education, early childhood education, English Language Learners, from around the State of Illinois, as well as additional ISBE & IBHE staff to attend the 4th School Leader Redesign Team Meeting. New members provided feedback and input to the Draft Recommended Changes completed by the 5 School Leader Redesign Teams. Recommendations from 5 teams were compiled into a draft model that was presented to the new group. This group looked at the recommendations through the lens of special ed, early childhood, ELL and parents’ perspectives. Question to this group was: What are the gaps you see relative to your specific area? Purpose was not to change standards or the previous work, but what still needed to be incorporated into the model understanding that programs were producing “beginning” principals and that they would be involved in mentoring/induction and ongoing professional growth.

Further discussed, clarified and refined recommended changes. Working Together to Prepare Illinois School Leaders Conference - Part III February 2009: Brought together participants from the May and August conferences to present Draft Recommended Changes from School Leader Redesign Teams and Special Interest Representatives. Further discussed, clarified and refined recommended changes. The invitees from the conferences were again brought together to hear about the work that had been done since the conferences and the recommendations coming out of the 5 redesign teams. Additional clarifications were made.

School Leader Advisory Council (Formerly the Illinois School Leader Task Force) March 27, 2009: Presented final Draft Recommended Changes to the School Leader Advisory Council Continued to clarify and refine changes

Next Steps for Implementation Spring 2009 HJR 42 directs ISBE, in collaboration with IBHE, to develop legislative changes to restructure new school leader preparation and certification TBD 2009 Present changes to the Illinois Certification Board and the Illinois State Board of Education Inform Illinois Board of Higher Education of New Principal Preparation Model Summer 2009 Propose Changes in ISBE Rules & Regulations TBD 2010 Develop Legislation (per HJR 42) Recommendations will be presented and approved by Cert Board and ISBE, then presented to the IBHE. Essential legislation will be drafted and subsequent rules and regs developed. There are a number of legislators interested in the SL work.

Next Steps for Implementation Communication Plan Over next several months, ISBE and IBHE work together to roll out the newly defined principal preparation changes across the state Meet with IHE, PK-12 school districts, ROEs, and legislators Provide assistance to IHE as they begin working on developing new programs and/or phasing out the old