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Great Leaders for Great Schools Academy (GLGSA) provides candidates with powerful learning experiences via multiple pedagogies and environments that transform ways of thinking and feeling about school leadership, themselves as leaders, and, consequently, transform the repertoire of actions, tactics, and strategies available to them as school leaders. Our innovative approach, supported by recent research on innovative administrator preparation programs, turns the traditional administrator preparation program on its head. Instead of relying upon traditional top-down, instructor-centered methodologies, our program uses a bottom-up, learner centered approach based upon contemporary adult learning theory. Our graduates learn more, learn better, and are prepared to enter the workforce with the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to immediately address the district’s most pressing site level educational and organizational problems.

Program Curriculum

Table 1: Distribution of courses and academic units

Quarter	Courses	Units
Summer	EDU 510 Ed Admin: Organizational Behavior	4
	GED 550 Politics, Media and the Public Schools	4
Autumn	EDU 530 Fieldwork	4
	EDU 546 Theory & Practice in Educational Leadership I	3
	EDU 549 Learning to Lead Content Module I	2
Winter	EDU 547 Theory & Practice in Educational Leadership II	3
	EDU 550 Learning to Lead content Module II	2
	EDU 552 Administrative Apprenticeship I	4
Spring	EDU 548 Theory & Practice in Educational Leadership III	3
	EDU 551 Learning to Lead Content Module III	2
	EDU 553 Administrative Apprenticeship II	4
	Total Units	35

Summer

• EDU 510: Organizational Behavior
• EDU 550: Politics, Media and the Public Schools

Autumn

EDU 546: Theory and Practice in Educational Leadership I

The emphasis during autumn quarter will be on the managerial and operational aspects of urban school leadership. Learning activities will address such questions as:

1. What are the organizational characteristics and processes that distinguish urban from non-urban schools?
2. What are the differences between managing and leading in schools?
3. What are the essential management tasks that must be mastered by school administrators?
4. How do effective urban principals manage and deploy human, fiscal, and material resources?
5. What technologies and operational systems do urban principals need to master?
6. How do effective urban principals manage various sources of data to advance teaching and learning?
7. What do effective urban principals do and how do they behave?

EDU 549: Learning to Lead Content Module I

• Managing data to promote powerful teaching and learning
• Leading instruction for ELL programs and students

EDU 530: Fieldwork

Winter

EDU 547: Theory and Practice in Educational Leadership II

The emphasis during winter quarter will be on leading change in urban schools. Learning activities will address such questions as:

1. How do effective principals diagnose student and school needs?
2. How do effective principals build a shared vision for school improvement?
3. What steps do effective principals take to plan and implement school change initiatives?
4. How do effective principals influence teaching and learning? 5) What are the characteristics of an effective decision-maker?
5. What do effective principals value and believe?

EDU 550: Learning to Lead Content Module II

• Leading instruction for English Language Learners: Compliance issues and the law
• Powerful teaching and learning: How effective administrators lead, supervise, evaluate, and support teachers in complex political environments

 

EDU 552: Administrative Apprenticeship I

Full time, embedded practicum under the supervision of a mentor principal. Candidates will develop a personal action plan framed around the PUSD Leadership Standards and the Six Essentials. The development of a school-wide change initiative will be the capstone project for the Apprenticeship course.

Spring

EDU 548: Theory and Practice in Educational Leadership II

The emphasis during spring quarter will be on building a culture of organizational learning and inquiry in urban schools. Learning activities will address such questions as:

1. How do effective principals promote an organizational culture that is framed around the principles of ongoing improvement, reflection, and renewal?
2. What do democratic systems of school governance look like, and do they matter?
3. How do effective principals communicate with internal and external stakeholders?
4. How do effective principals work within politically and culturally pluralistic school-communities to effect school reforms?

EDU 551: Learning to Lead Content Module III

• Effective Communication
• Master scheduling and administrative technologies

EDU 553: Administrative Apprenticeship II

Full time, embedded practicum under the supervision of a mentor principal. Candidates
will develop a personal action plan framed around the PUSD Leadership Standards and the Six Essentials. The development of a school-wide change initiative will be the
capstone project for the Apprenticeship course.