- National Center for Urban School Transformation
- 619-594-7905
- ncust@sdsu.edu
- 3910 University Avenue San Diego, CA 92105
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A Certificate Program for School Administrators Offered by the National Center for Urban School Transformation at San Diego State University
More than ever, the nation needs school leaders who demonstrate the ability to dismantle systems that perpetuate racist outcomes and generate outstanding results for every demographic group of students.
School leaders have few opportunities to build their capacity to advance excellence and equity in the schools they supervise.
Some school leaders don’t acknowledge how their leadership actions positively or negatively influence the pursuit of excellence and equity in the schools they supervise.
School leaders want practical approaches that have proven successful in schools where all demographic groups achieve outstanding learning results.
This program is exclusively for school leaders (principals, assistant principals, and school directors). The Program prepares school leaders to apply for and earn NCUST’s National Principal Certificate for Equity and Excellence. To earn the certificate each candidate must demonstrate, through measurable evidence, that they have advanced equity and excellence in the school they lead.
The program is based on research about effective school-level leadership and NCUST’s extensive study of urban schools that achieve excellent and equitable learning results.
The program includes five courses (delivered primarily online) over a 12-month period. In the first course, participants will establish an “Equity and Excellence Project” grounded in data related to their school. Each course will support school leaders in pursuing their project in a way that generates improvements in school culture, curriculum, and instruction that lead to substantial movement toward equity and excellence in their school.
Each course features specific school-level leadership tasks. The leadership tasks will challenge school leaders to provide inspiring, meaningful, and productive support and guidance in ways that maximize the likelihood that their Equity and Excellence Project will generate measurable evidence of movement toward equity and excellence.
During each course, each participant will receive up to three one-on-one personalized video-coaching sessions with an NCUST Executive Coach.
Each course will include opportunities to engage with school leaders who influenced the success of schools that achieved remarkable results for every demographic group served.
This is NOT a program to credential or certify new school leaders.
This is NOT a program that results in the attainment of a certificate based on “seat time” or the completion of courses.
This is NOT a traditional program that requires academic papers or tests. Instead, it requires participants to engage in practical leadership tasks designed to promote excellence and equity in their schools.
Completion of the five courses will not automatically result in the acquisition of NCUST’s National Principal Certificate for Equity and Excellence. NCUST and SDSU’s Global Campus will grant the Certificate when NCUST (in collaboration with a panel of outstanding school leaders) determines that the participant’s Equity and Excellence Project has generated substantial movement toward equity and excellence in the participant’s school.
The program is based on the best practices of elementary, middle, and high schools that have achieved remarkable evidence of educational equity and excellence. The program is designed to build the capacity of school leaders to promote academic growth for every demographic group, across multiple indicators. The program supports school leaders in developing systems designed explicitly to advance equity and excellence.
The program includes five courses over one year. Each course will feature specific leadership tasks the participating school administrators will be expected to complete with the schools they serve. Each leadership task is intended to help the leader advance educational equity and excellence within their school.
The leadership tasks are designed to accelerate the school’s progress toward equity and excellence. Course completion depends upon satisfactory completion of each leadership task. The completion of the leadership tasks will require minimal writing. In contrast, leaders will be asked to submit short video clips that provide evidence of their efforts to advance equity and excellence at their schools and bulleted reflections about what the leaders have learned about advancing change in their schools.
Each course will begin with a synchronous session that includes a detailed conversation about the leadership tasks and a discussion of online and text resources intended to support the principals in addressing the tasks. All synchronous sessions will be recorded so that leaders will have the opportunity to review the content when they wish to do so.
For each course, leaders will be able to access PowerPoint files, video clips, self-assessment instruments, text materials, and other resources at their convenience. Busy leaders will be able to access professionally useful information anytime.
The content of each course will be enhanced with powerful opportunities for school leaders to engage with leaders from award-winning schools that have generated substantial evidence of success for all demographic groups served.
In addition to the introductory synchronous session and the structured opportunity to engage with leaders from award-winning schools, each course will feature two additional synchronous sessions that will provide opportunities for rich discussion about the leadership tasks and the challenges associated with the tasks.
Courses will be led by an NCUST Executive Coach with experience supporting school leaders pursuing equity and excellence. Also, each course will include opportunities to engage with leaders from award-winning schools that have achieved remarkable results for every demographic group.
During each course, each participant will receive up to three one-on-one personalized video coaching sessions with an NCUST Executive Coach.
Participants will benefit from the experience and perspectives of the school leaders in their cohort.
Through this course, candidates will learn how almost all meaningful efforts to improve equity and excellence include efforts to improve curriculum and instruction. In this course, candidates will engage their advisory teams in considering how curriculum and instruction might be improved in ways that accelerate the attainment of the EEP target. Candidates will engage their colleagues in taking stock of curricular and/or instructional practices that might be contributing to inequitable outcomes for some groups of students. Based on the information acquired, candidates will identify one powerful practice they will promote in ways that advance progress toward the EEP target. As well, candidates will support stakeholders in designing, implementing, and refining plans in ways that are most likely to result in the continuous improvement of the specific practices they commit to addressing.
Course Objectives:
Through this course, each candidate will develop/strengthen a coherent educational improvement system that advances their school’s progress toward achieving the candidate’s EEP target. Each candidate will engage their advisory team in taking stock to determine the extent to which stakeholders perceive the pursuit of the target as central to their work or another element of a long and disjointed list of expectations. Coursework and coaching will be designed to help each candidate develop a strategy for accelerating the pursuit of the EEP target by aligning various efforts in ways that maximize everyone’s sense of coherence. In particular, candidate’s will be challenged to consider how various elements such as professional development, schedules and routines, classroom observations and feedback, teacher collaboration meetings, and leadership communication might be focused in ways that help stakeholders contribute to the attainment of the target. Each candidate will guide their school’s planning process in a way that considers if the likelihood of attaining their target could be enhanced if they 1) increased clarity about the critical academic standards students needed to master (related to the target), 2) engaged personnel in defining common assessment tools and strategies that could contribute to the attainment of their target, 3) strengthened teacher collaboration in ways that improved the initial instruction (tier I instruction) provided to students (especially instruction specifically related to the EEP target), 4) developed timely, effective, and powerful intervention and enrichment strategies related to the target, and 5) ensured that all stakeholders (including students, parents, and teachers) were likely to feel both valued and capable as they pursued achievement of the EEP target.
Course Objectives:
Through this course, candidates will learn how almost all meaningful efforts to improve equity and excellence include efforts to improve the school culture experienced by various groups of stakeholders. Candidates will engage their advisory committees in developing a deeper understanding of how their school culture might be strengthened in ways that promote the attainment of their EEP target. Candidates will implement strategies for taking stock of the extent to which various stakeholders (students, parents, teachers, and support personnel) feel valued, respected, and capable in their efforts to address the EEP target. Based on the feedback acquired, candidates will determine a few key actions they will undertake to strengthen school culture in ways that will maximize the engagement of all groups of stakeholders. As well, candidates (with the support of their advisory teams) will design formal and informal strategies for monitoring the improvement of school culture in ways that accelerate progress toward the attainment of the EEP target.
Course Objectives:
Through this course, candidates will learn how almost all meaningful efforts to improve equity and excellence include efforts to improve curriculum and instruction. In this course, candidates will engage their advisory teams in considering how curriculum and instruction might be improved in ways that accelerate the attainment of the EEP target. Candidates will engage their colleagues in taking stock of curricular and/or instructional practices that might be contributing to inequitable outcomes for some groups of students. Based on the information acquired, candidates will identify one powerful practice they will promote in ways that advance progress toward the EEP target. As well, candidates will support stakeholders in designing, implementing, and refining plans in ways that are most likely to result in the continuous improvement of the specific practices they commit to addressing.
Course Objectives:
Through this course, each leader will reflect upon the progress generated throughout the prior four courses. Specifically, each leader will consider the extent to which they have developed a critical mass of stakeholders who are committed to a) strengthening the school’s culture, curricula, and instruction and b) building a coherent educational improvement system in ways likely to advance the attainment of their EEP target. Each leader will be asked to reflect upon the four leadership challenges that often frustrate school improvement efforts. Leaders will identify sources of resistance and consider leadership strategies that can be helpful in responding to the resistance. The course will culminate in the development of a leadership plan for advancing their efforts to achieve their EEP target or achieve subsequent equity and excellence goals in the months ahead.
Course Objectives:
Established in 2005, NCUST strives to help school districts and their partners transform schools into places where all students achieve academic proficiency, evidence a love of learning, and graduate well-prepared to succeed in post-secondary education, the workplace, and their communities.
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