- National Center for Urban School Transformation
- 619-594-7905
- ncust@sdsu.edu
- 9245 Sky Park Court Suite 120 San Diego, CA 92123
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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 district leaders who demonstrate the ability to dismantle systems that perpetuate racist outcomes and generate outstanding results for every demographic group of students.
Some district leaders have not had opportunities to see and experience schools that achieve outstanding learning results for diverse populations
of students.
District leaders have few opportunities to build their capacity to advance excellence and equity in the schools they supervise.
District leaders want practical approaches that have proven successful in schools where all demographic groups achieve outstanding learning results.
This program is exclusively for district leaders who supervise schools. The program prepares district leaders to earn NCUST’s National Principal Supervisor’s Certificate for Equity and Excellence. To earn the certificate each candidate must demonstrate, through measurable evidence, that they have advanced equity and excellence in one or more of the schools they supervise.
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 one or more of the schools they supervise. Each course will support principal supervisors 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 one or more of the schools they supervise.
The program is based on research about effective district-level leadership and NCUST’s extensive study of urban schools that achieve excellent and equitable learning results.
Each course features specific district-level leadership tasks. The leadership tasks will challenge principal supervisors to provide inspiring, meaningful, and productive support and guidance to the schools they supervise 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 an opportunity to engage with district leaders who influenced the success of schools that have achieved remarkable results for every demographic group served.
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.
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 Supervisor’s Certificate for Equity and Excellence. NCUST and the SDSU Global Campus will grant the Advanced Certificate when NCUST (in collaboration with a panel of outstanding district leaders) determines that the participant’s Equity and Excellence Project has generated substantial movement toward equity and excellence in one or more of the schools the participant supervises.
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 district leaders to support school leaders in promoting academic growth for every demographic group, across multiple indicators.
The program engages district administrators in learning many of the same concepts and skills featured in the School Leadership for Equity and Excellence Program; however, the district leadership program emphasizes the district leader’s roles in establishing systems that will support school leaders, as they move their schools toward educational equity and excellence.
The program includes five courses over one year. Each course will feature specific district-level leadership tasks the participating district administrators will be expected to complete with the schools they lead. The leadership tasks will challenge district leaders to provide inspiring, meaningful, and productive support and guidance to the schools they supervise. The sequencing of district leader courses is intentionally paired with the sequencing of school leader courses so that district leaders will be best positioned to support the school leaders they supervise in maximizing learning results for students who have historically been underserved.
The leadership tasks are designed to accelerate the district’s progress toward equity and excellence. Course completion depends upon the satisfactory completion of each leadership task. Completion of the leadership tasks will require minimal writing. In contrast, leaders will submit short video clips and PowerPoint files that provide evidence of their efforts to advance equity and excellence among their schools.
Each course begins 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 district leaders in addressing the tasks. All synchronous sessions will be recorded so leaders may 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 district leaders to engage with school and district 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 district leaders pursuing equity and excellence. Also, each course will include opportunities to engage with district leaders who influenced the success of 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 district leaders in their cohort.
Before this first course ends, each candidate will establish an Equity and Excellence Project (EEP) that articulates specific targets for advancing equity and excellence in their district. The project must be approved by both NCUST and the candidate’s superintendent. Both coursework and coaching will help candidates establish targets that are specific, measurable, achievable (within one year), relevant, and timely, that exceed current levels of accomplishment (baselines) and represent substantial movement toward both equity and excellence. Candidates will not earn the certificate until they successfully help one or more of the schools they supervise achieve the target specified. Once candidates establish their target, coursework and coaching will help candidates define how school and district cultures, curricula, and instruction will need to change to maximize the likelihood that the target will be achieved because envisioning equity and excellence means more than envisioning the goal: it also means envisioning the substantive changes that are essential to ensuring the goal is achieved. Also, during this first course, candidates will be asked to identify and engage an advisory team that will help them pursue the attainment of the target. The advisory team may include both school-level and district-level personnel who may be helpful in efforts to pursue the EEP target. Finally, candidates will be challenged to consider the issues that are likely to complicate their pursuit of the target because success will depend upon their ability to understand, anticipate, and address the barriers that often frustrate efforts to advance equity and excellence.
Course Objectives:
Through this course, each candidate will develop/strengthen a coherent educational improvement system that advances their district’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 leadership support, 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 planning process in a way that considers if the likelihood of attaining their target could be enhanced if they 1) decreased the number of issues that school leaders and other school personnel perceived as critically important, 2) increased the extent to which school leaders perceived that district-level expectations were tightly aligned and inter-related, 3) increased the extent to which school leaders and other school personnel perceived that they had a quality and quantity of support that enabled them to successfully achieve key district expectations, 4) increased the extent to which school leaders and other school personnel perceived that the district supported them in developing and implementing a comprehensive educational improvement system, and 5) ensured that all stakeholders (including school leaders, other school personnel, parents, and students) 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 district and school culture experienced by various groups of stakeholders. Candidates will engage their advisory committees in developing a deeper understanding of how district and school cultures 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, support personnel, and school administrators) 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 district and school cultures 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 district and school cultures 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 within the district. 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 the principals they supervise 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 coherence 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 urban school districts and their partners transform urban 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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