The Impact of a School Leadership Preparation Program on Student Graduates
Rosalba Corrado Del Vecchio, The School of Education, Department of Administrative and Instructional Leadership; Doctoral Student: Yana He
In recent years, controversial reports such as Levine’s Educating School Leaders (2005) describe the astounding diversity of school leadership preparation programs in Schools of Education in the United States, while, at the same time, growing research evidence points to a strong linkage between student achievement and educational leadership practices. Researchers Leithwood, Seashore Lewis, Anderson, and Wahlstrom (2004) claim that “leadership is second only to classroom instruction among all school- related factors that contribute to what students learn in school.” (p.7) and they point to three sets of practices as fundamental to significantly improve student learning without which “not much would happen” (p. 10): setting directions, developing people, and redesigning the organization.
Within this context, the purpose of our study is to examine a school building leadership preparation program through three research questions:
- What is the perception of the impact of a School Building Master Program in preparing student graduates to become competent and confident school leaders?
- What are the key attributes and best practices of an effective school leadership preparation program?
- How can school leadership preparation programs be improved?
Quantitative and qualitative data is being gathered, from 300 graduates with a Master degree in School Building Leadership, who participated in a federally funded, New York City Department of Education (DOE) Title II A partnership program, from 2007 to 2012. Through the study’s finding, the researchers plan to add their recommendations for improvement to the ongoing debate about leadership preparation for school building leaders in New York State.