16 Dec2019
By Jacqueline Rodriguez
AACTE President and CEO Lynn Gangone addressed more than 150 education stakeholders at the recent collaborative meeting of the Wallace Foundation’s University Principal Preparation Pipeline Initiative (UPPI). Gangone’s address, How teacher and leader preparation can work together to further principal pipelines, is available to view online for those who were unable to attend the convening.
The UPPI focus is on inclusive principal preparation, and builds on 15 years of Wallace-supported research and experience about what makes for effective principals and their “pre-service” training at colleges and universities. AACTE maintains a strong commitment to these initiatives including principal and leader preparation in inclusive and clinical placements.
Learn more about AACTE’s principal preparation initiatives, supported through its Wallace Foundation partnership.
10 Dec2019
By Jacqueline Rodriguez
“Clinical learning experiences for candidates must include real-time work with real data and in real settings,” said Janis Carthon, an associate professor at Albany State University in response to AACTE’s Twitter chat question focused on the use of data to support principal preparation for 21st century learning. Carthon joined other experts in the area of principal and leader preparation during AACTE’s second Twitter Town Hall on December 5.
AACTE is hosting four Twitter Chat Town Halls in 2019 aligned with its Wallace Foundation Webinar Series. All AACTE members and education stakeholders are encouraged to follow the Twitter hashtags noted below to participate in the Twitter chats, where experts join the public in dialoguing about principal and leader recruitment, retention, support, and successful clinical experiences.
The next Twitter Chat Town Hall will take place December 10, and will addresses the From Teacher to Principal: Educational Leadership Tracking Systems that AACTE partner the Wallace Foundation developed in collaboration with their University Principal Pipeline Initiative. Follow @AACTE and use #principalpipeline to join the conversation from 5:00 – 6 p.m.
05 Dec2019
By Caitlin Wilson
The role of today’s principal is changing. Now, more than ever, school leaders need to be prepared from day one to succeed in a complex and ever-evolving school context. But what does quality principal preparation look like? How can principal preparation programs ensure that school leaders are ready to meet the demands of the job? Join us for our final webinar in the four-part series on principal preparation, a collaboration with the Wallace Foundation, to hear a panel of researchers and practitioners dig into the answers to both of these questions.
26 Nov2019
By Jacqueline Rodriguez
In collaboration with the Wallace Foundation, AACTE is launching a Twitter Chat Series in December dedicated to elevating Inclusive Principal Preparation. The four Twitter chats align with our ongoing Inclusive Principal Preparation Webinar Series. The Twitter chats will provide ample space to continue discussing principal preparation with you—our leaders in the field of principal and leader preparation.
Twitter allows participants to engage in conversations, follow exchanges, and locate chats through a dedicated hashtag. To participate, use the hashtags below to locate and participate in the Twitter Chat Series.
The dates for the upcoming Inclusive Principal Preparation Twitter Chat Series are also below. Each Twitter chat will take place from 5:00 – 6:00 p.m. The associated webinars are accessible via the provided links. Remember, the fourth webinar is still open for registration!
- Tuesday, December 3 – The Challenges and Successes of Principal Recruitment and Retention
#principalrecruitmentandretention
- Thursday, December 5 – Successful University and District Partnerships for Preparing Principals #principalpartnerships
- Wednesday, December 11 – From Teacher to Principal: Educational Leadership Tracking Systems
#principalpipeline
- Wednesday, December 18 – What Should High-Quality Principal Preparation Look Like?* (*Link to register for the final webinar.)
#principalprep
26 Nov2019
By Jacqueline Rodriguez
You are invited to join The Wallace Foundation’s ESSA Leadership Learning Community (ELLC) and University Principal Preparation Initiative (UPPI) Professional Learning Community (UPPI PLC) livestream event on December 2, 2019, where AACTE’s President and CEO Lynn Gangone will present the Plenary address.
The livestream event begins at 1:45 p.m. ET. Gangone’s address will focus on how schools of education help further principal pipelines. The ELLC-UPPI professional learning community meeting will bring together representatives from 17 states to discuss principal pipeline policies and engage together in team planning.
AACTE is proud to partner with the Wallace Foundation to support the UPPI’s robust, clinically oriented principal preparation.
Watch the livestream event: How teacher and leader preparation can work together to further principal pipelines
Featuring AACTE CEO and President Lynn M. Gangone
Monday, December 2, 1:45 – 2:15 p.m. ET
29 Oct2019
By Caitlin Wilson
Join AACTE for a webinar, Teacher to Principal: Educational Leadership Tracking Systems, which will take a closer look at the leader tracking systems created as part of the Wallace Foundation’s Principal Pipeline Initiative. Nicholas Pelzer, program officer from the Wallace Foundation will provide an overview on how the leader tracking systems were developed. Leslie Anderson, managing director of Policy Studies Associates and Tricia McManus, assistant superintendent of leadership, professional development, and school transformation, Hillsborough County Public Schools, will share their perspectives and experiences on how data-driven decision making can inform the recruitment, preparation, and placement of principals.
Please register and attend this webinar on November 6 at 1:00 p.m. to consider how leader tracking systems can strengthen both teacher and leadership pipelines through partnerships with local school districts.
11 Oct2019
By Caitlin Wilson
Last week, AACTE and National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) kicked off National Principals Month with the first webinar in a four-part series highlighting principal preparation, titled The Challenges and Success of Principal Recruitment and Retention. The webinar series is developed in partnership with the Wallace Foundation. The premier webinar focused on the challenges and successes of principal recruitment and retention. Three panelists shared their experiences and research related to principal preparation and retention: Ed Fuller from Pennsylvania State University, David Wick, president of NAESP, and Jamon Flowers, currently a doctoral student at William & Mary and former principal.
Collectively, the panelists stressed that context matters when it comes to principal preparation, placement, and retention. One size does not fit all when it comes to recruiting and retaining principals. In addition to leadership best practices, principal preparation programs should be helping principals to understand what it means to lead in specific settings and provide them with the necessary skills to be successful. Furthermore, the turnover rate for principals is high, especially in high-poverty schools. For insights into the potential causes contributing to this high turnover rate and for additional recommendations for principal preparation, watch the webinar recording.
07 Oct2019
By Danny Carlson
October is National Principals Month —a month to honor our nation’s principals and the important work they do leading schools. Led by the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP), the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP), and the American Federation of School Administrators (AFSA), this annual celebration recognizes our nation’s principals for their tireless dedication to their students and the schools they serve.
To effectively lead a school, today’s principal must fulfill the role of instructional leader and create the learning conditions to support teaching and learning. To do this, principals are in classrooms, observing instruction, engaging with teachers in the nuts-and-bolts of leading learning communities, and connecting teachers with professional learning opportunities. Thus, principals are now more than ever multipliers of effective teaching and possess an enormous capacity to impact student achievement.
Simply put: You can’t have a great school without a great principal. Whether it’s supporting their teachers, ensuring students have access to nutritious meals, or making parents and families feel engaged and welcome their child’s school, principals make it happen.
Despite the many rewarding aspects of the principalship and its importance in improving teaching quality and boosting student outcomes,
24 Sep2019
By Ana-Maria Gutierrez
Research has shown high-quality principals play a key role in the effectiveness of public schools and are second only to teachers in their impact on student achievement. The development of a principal’s leadership skills and disposition is critical to their effectiveness as a school leader. Educational leadership programs across the country are working to improve their programs and prepare principals for the challenges school leaders face today. AACTE invites you participate in an upcoming webinar series, developed in partnership with the Wallace Foundation and focused on research that highlights the role of building the principal pipeline, university and district partnerships, educational leadership tracking systems, and standards for ensuring high-quality preparation programs. Each webinar will be followed by a corresponding Twitter chat for a chance to ask more in-depth questions of the presenters and keep the conversation going.
The first webinar in the series will kick off in October to coincide with National Principals Month. It will focus on the challenges and successes of principal recruitment and retention. Recruiting and retaining highly effective principals is an ever-growing
31 Jul2019
By Katrina Norfleet
The Wallace Foundation has launched Series Two of The Principal Pipeline podcast with it seventh episode, A District Strategy to Improve Student Achievement. The episode features Linda Chen, chief academic officer for the New York City public schools, and Susan Gates, co-principal investigator of the Principal Pipelines: A Feasible, Affordable, and Effective Way for Districts to Improve Schools study. Chen and Gates walk listeners through important findings on student outcomes and their significance. Also spotlighted in the podcast is Wanda Luz Vazquez, a New York City principal, who discusses her experience as a “pipeline” principal.
“It is true that a principal has to do everything under the sun,” said Chen, “But, at the end of the day, the purpose is to advance learning and instruction for every student and that is what we really focus our efforts on.”
The Principal Pipeline podcast features principals, district and state leaders, and university officials who have developed strong principal pipelines and are eager to share their lessons learned with the broader field. While Series One explored how these efforts proved to be feasible and affordable in six large school districts, Series Two examines the effectiveness of building principal pipelines. New episodes are released every Wednesday.
View the full list of podcast episodes, and learn more about the Wallace Foundation principal pipeline strategy.
01 Jul2019
By Joanna Masingila
The journal of the New York Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 
, has successfully navigated from a print journal with a subscription price to an online, open access journal that is free. Our new co-editors, Christine Ashby and Julia White have just published their first issue. The journal welcomes submissions from all interested teacher and leader educators.
Excelsior is the key outlet for publishing work in teacher preparation for the New York Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. For over a decade, it has reported research across content disciplines, research methodologies, theoretical perspectives, and current issues in the field.
In addition to presenting authors the opportunity to publish in an open access journal, we want to increase the diversity of manuscript topics, including the diversity of research methods, and extend the range of researchers and practitioners publishing in Excelsior. To meet this goal we will routinely solicit submissions from:
27 Jun2019
By Lynn M. Gangone
This article by President and CEO Lynn M. Gangone was originally published in the “Empowering Our Educators” supplement to USA Today and on the Education and Career News website. The article and photo are reprinted with permission.
Effective educators are developed, not born. Their preparation begins in colleges and schools of education and persists through the professional development during their careers. As the needs of student learners evolve, so too must our development of educators.
23 Jun2019
By Jane E. West
This blog post is written by AACTE consultant Jane West and is intended to provide update information. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of AACTE.
Today makes summer official! The House has certainly given us something to celebrate!
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- Massive Spending Bill Passes House with Large Increases for Education!
Education advocates are taking a moment to rejoice in a funding bill (H.R. 2740) that passed the House this week (with a vote count of 226-223) calling for a record high level of spending for the Department of Education bringing total investments to $75.9 billion. Big winners in the bill include Title I, special education and social emotional learning. Notably, the bill cuts funding for charter schools by 10%.
The rejoicing is tinged with the knowledge that this is as good as it will get for education spending. Unfortunately, the Senate will not have numbers this high, as the budget caps, which are yet to be determined, will undoubtedly require lower figures. And the Trump Administration has indicated that it would veto this bill.
The focus now turns to the Senate where Appropriations chair Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has indicated that they will begin moving bills in July. But that pesky budget deal lurks around the corner.
See the CEF charts on individual education program funding.
30 May2019
By Timothy Drake
“Wait, what happened?!?”
“I had to help deliver a baby today.”
“You what!?!”
In the first day of her full-time residency, Jennifer Wilker had to help one of her teachers deliver her baby. Jennifer was in Warren New Tech High School, which is located near Norlina—a small, rural town in northeastern North Carolina that is over 30 miles from the Halifax Regional Hospital.
Though this seems like an extreme example, principals all over the country will no doubt smile, knowing that Jennifer’s experience isn’t too atypical.
25 Apr2019
By Catherine Rosa and James Zoll
In September of 2018, University of North Georgia (UNG) Educational Leadership staff began partnership discussions with Gwinnett County Schools. The UNG educational leadership program went through several iterations and was working toward revising the program to align with the Principal Pipeline Research from the Wallace Foundation. This revision also met the requirements for the new Tier 1 certification program implemented by the Georgia Professional Standards Commission. We were new to the work and very interested in the successful, data-driven work Gwinnett County Schools Leadership development programs.
The initial discussions were about the application process and how we screen candidates, as well as, how we measured the success of our candidates beyond the obvious licensing test by the state. This was the beginning of deep thinking for us about our program. We quickly learned that to build a quality program, we needed to attract the best candidates and track them through their placements in schools as leaders to determine the effectiveness of our work. We were most impressed with Gwinnett’s systems for measuring the success of their leadership development programs. This was great timing for our program as our Tier I participants had just completed the first cohort.
The quality measures divide the process program improvement into six domains. We shared our practices in our Tier I program in each of the six areas, collecting evidence to support our work with our critical friends from Gwinnett. At the same time, Gwinnett County Schools examined its practices in its principal preparation program sharing with us as critical friends. The process was transparent and helpful. We both walked away with fresh ideas for improving our programs.
