The University of Delaware offers aspiring school principals and assistant principals certification through a prep course.
Staff are celebrating UD’s Principal Preparation Program tenth year of helping administrators improve student outcomes and teacher retention. The program includes four semesters of coursework, at least two internships and a research project.
Program leader Alison Travers said one of the most exciting parts of her job is recruiting educators ready to pave their way toward becoming school leaders.
“Being able to participate in school leader internship activities where their principal is still a guide or a support is a safe way to try leadership and to try to apply what they've learned about school leadership from the research in their coursework,” Travers said.
While it’s not an academic program at UD, the Principal Preparation Program allows students to earn a leadership certification at the end of the 18 month long process. Educators can also choose to pursue a traditional Master’s degree and earn the same certification.
Travers said the Master’s program has a different catalog of coursework.
Classroom teachers have a greater impact on student learning and success as measured in the US, according to Travers. But she added principals have the ability to change big picture issues.
“And they're also leading in a lot of other ways that affect student learning, such as shaping the school culture, communicating across the school, like inside the school, among staff and students, but also externally to the families and to our community,” Travers said.
Principal and assistant principal roles are opportunities for experienced educators to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom and through further education at a larger scale, Travers said.
92% of the program’s graduates are working in Delaware schools, Travers reported, and she’s excited to continue working with and teaching Delaware’s educators. The program has certified about 145 educators in its first ten years.
The program’s cost is comparable to that of an out-of-pocket Master’s course each semester.
“What's really unique about Delaware, as I mentioned, our Delaware Department of Education has invested quite a bit of resources and support into leadership development and leadership induction, and so they have offered opportunities for programs like the UD Principal Prep Program to apply through an RFP process for some financial support for programs like this,” Travers said.
On top of that, Travers said she reaches out to all applicants to go over general information on the program so folks can make informed decisions.
While both offer educational opportunities, UD’s PPP connects students with leadership coaches who are available to them at no additional cost for one year after program completion and once a student is hired into a school leadership position.
Applications for the program’s next cycle starting in August are open through the end of February at UD’s School Success Center website.
