The primary focus of the AISD/UT Principal Preparation Program is a cohort program that allows students to learn from an accomplished faculty as well as each other. The cohort takes an active role in schools, working with principals, teachers, parents, and students. Teachers need extraordinary skills to become transformative leaders in an administrative setting and ensure that campus decisions are aligned with student achievement.

The program features:

• An emphasis on instructional leadership and support for teachers and an in-depth understanding of best practices in the core instructional areas;
• An opportunity for clinical application of theoretical principles introduced in class through collaborative field work in school and community settings.
• A concentration on the managerial aspects of schooling required to prime a campus for high quality instruction and achievement for all students.

Each of these critical involvements scaffolds the others and requires a demanding commitment of time, energy, and intellect. Moreover, each provides a database from which to provide valid feedback to the cohort members about their progress and what remains to be done.

Using research and principles of best practice, the School Leadership Academy sustains each program with the following features:

• A coordinated curriculum integrating research, theory, and practice and grounded in a program philosophy attending to moral and ethical dimensions of leadership and management.
• A program that models critical inquiry, reflective practice, data analysis and usage, evaluation, and organizational change and improvement.
• Quality practical experiences with selected mentors with rigorous supervision by program faculty.
• Sustained collegial experience of peer support and mutual professional growth.

For more information, visit www.utprincipalship.org