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> Department of Education
Indian Leadership Education and Development (I LEAD) Project
The purpose of this project is to implement an innovative approach to preparing principals and assistant principals capable of exceeding the demands for instructional leadership in schools with high populations of Indian students. The approach integrates field experiences with coursework throughout the preparation program by establishing a network of current school administrators inducted to serve as mentors and co-instructors for leadership candidates, aligning problem-based learning assignments to school improvement initiatives, and improving collaboration among school district officials, tribal communities and university faculty. These elements reflect scientifically-based, best practice methods in principal preparation programs (Jackson and Kelley, 2002; Murphy & Forsyth, 1999).
The primary objective of this project is to recruit, educate, certify and install 20 to 40 candidates into school leadership positions with the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to facilitate school improvement and student achievement within Indian schools and public schools with a high concentration of Indian students. To accomplish this, a program of study was designed: providing a rigorous but expedited program combining Educational Leadership Consortium Council (ELCC) standards-based instruction with public school improvement; establishing high quality delivery methods that integrate the knowledge of university scholars and experiences of school district practitioners; and establishing networks of support that serve participants from program admission to mastery of their role as a school principal.
Two cohorts of up to 30 students will receive five blocks of instruction, each lasting one semester. Each block contains two academic courses and a leadership lab. The leadership lab will consist primarily of field experience activities requiring the leadership practice in an authentic public school setting. Academic courses will be integrated with each other and the leadership lab, and each block will be team taught by a university instructor and a current school administrator. Mentors will be trained and assigned to each student as they begin their program of study and continue for at least a year after graduation. To provide further support, semiannual workshops and conferences will be conducted to highlight special topics applying the Indian education and school leadership and involve the mentors, students, university faculty and local school leaders.
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