Dr. Julie A Gray

In this paper, the authors describe one leadership preparation program’s approach to enhancing ethics and ethical decision-making practices by embedding high impact practices and experiential learning opportunities for leadership candidates. The conceptual framework for this research was based on Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and Kuh’s High-Impact Practices (HIPs) to connect theory and practice through practical feedback and leadership coaching. Using experiential virtual simulation experiences, provided opportunities for Educational Leadership candidates to apply instructional and ethical leadership practices to authentic, problem-based situations in an innovative online educational leadership program.  This approach allowed faculty to offer specific growth areas to strengthen and improve aspiring school leaders’ ethical decision-making practices. Furthermore, the paper discusses how experiential learning through virtual simulation was used to strengthen candidates’ transformation learning process and bridge theory to practice in a virtual reality environment.  

The faculty members of a principal preparation program describe their efforts to level the playing field for all students by promoting a more diverse and equitable experience. Through continuous improvement efforts, the program sought to improve course content, curriculum, and instructional approaches to better prepare candidates as future instructional leaders. Based on stakeholder feedback, more high-impact practices (HIPs) were embedded in courses to offer a more engaging experience for students. This paper describes this process and the specific HIPs implemented to effectively prepare candidates for future leadership responsibilities in diverse K-12 schools.

School leaders are facing many challenges in the current public school landscape. Much of the pressure relates to expectations for all students to achieve and experience academic success. Often times, principals are responsible for leading with limited resources and support from their school districts. Instructional leaders may need to consider innovative and creative alternatives to organizational, structural, and cultural issues within their schools. In this paper, two K-12 principals in different regions will share how they turned their schools around to promote more equitable learning and achievement for all students. They will share the innovative approaches taken in turning around their schools under very trying circumstances, as well as the strategies they used to do so.

Teacher preparation programs need to consider innovative ways, which are researchbased, to support pre-service and novice teachers as they acquire content pedagogy and develop
teaching efficacy during field experiences. This need and call for action is a high priority due to the impact of COVID-19, the persistent teacher shortage, and its negative impact on
K-12 students’ learning process and outcomes. The authors propose a subject-area focused coaching model to assist developing teachers and provide ongoing, immediate, and specific feedback about pedagogical and instructional practices. After an extensive review of the literature, a model was developed to include three phases: early field experiences, Subject-Focused coaching, and mentoring support for pre-service and novice teachers.

This paper describes one principal preparation program’s approach to continuous improvement and accreditation preparation using Leadership-Focused Coaching (LFC) as a framework. Over two years, a team of colleagues worked to improve a fully online program by using available program and course-level data, as well as gathering survey data from stakeholders. Current students, recent graduates, alumni, and employers were asked to provide feedback in a variety of ways, including online surveys, discussions with the advisory council, completion of an extensive self-study, email requests to district leaders, and mid-term and end-of-term anonymous questionnaires. The team made data-driven decisions and determined areas in need of redesign and worked in collaboration with course developers and designers to make such changes in all courses.

Educational leadership professors prepare aspiring leaders by providing uplifting opportunities to connect theory and practice. This paper proposes a research-based model called leadership-focused coaching, an approach to support graduate students in developing and honing instructional leadership skills and responsibilities (Gray, 2016). This paper addresses the shift in principal preparation programs from theory-to-practice to a knowledge-to-practice approach over the last 20 years (Browne-Ferrigno, 2007; Browne-Ferrigno & Muth, 2004; Cunningham, 2007; Cunningham & Sherman, 2008; Daresh, 2004). While there are numerous models for coaching teachers, we offer this model for aspiring and new instructional leaders of schools.
Keywords: leadership preparation, university-school partnerships, leadership field experience, leadership-focused coaching, and leadership mentoring