Arkansas Leadership Academy Launches Statewide Training Program for Principals

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – With $1 million in state funding, the Arkansas Leadership Academy has launched the Master Principal Program, designed to improve schools by offering advanced training and ongoing professional support to Arkansas school principals.

"The General Assembly's choice to commit substantial funds to the Arkansas Leadership Academy reflects the confidence Dr. Beverly Elliott and the academy partnership have earned over the years," said Reed Greenwood, dean of the UA College of Education and Health Professions. "The academy is respected throughout the state and southern region for its effective leadership development programs."

The Arkansas Leadership Academy is a statewide partnership of educational and professional organizations, universities and corporations, coordinated through the University of Arkansas. It was established by the legislature in 1991 and charged with improving public education by developing leadership.

Beverly Elliott, academy director and the college's Springfield Professor in Educational Administration, said, "Thanks to the foresight of the many legislators who joined in sponsoring Act 44, Arkansas will be the first state in the nation to use this innovative approach to train principals."

The Master Principal Program grew out of state Sen. David Bisbee's wish to offer incentives to principals who lead low-performing schools. He proposed Act 44 to fund the Master Principal Program, a rigorous three-year training curriculum that provides bonuses upon successful completion.

Master principals will receive a bonus of $9,000 per year for five years upon earning the designation. They are eligible for an additional $25,000 per year for five years, if they are selected to serve in a low-performing school.

The bill was supported by groups as diverse as the state Chamber of Commerce, Arkansas School Boards Association, Arkansas Education Association and Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators. Support for the proposal also came from the staff of the Southern Regional Education Board, which praised it as a strong and needed program.

Kathy Morledge, leader of the Master Principal Program and the newest member of the Arkansas Leadership Academy staff, noted that the role of the principal, who works at the building level and sees students and teachers each day, is key to improving school performance.

"A good principal is always asking 'Who is not learning? Why are they not learning? And what are we doing about it?' When the principal fosters a strong collaborative relationship at the building level, everyone is able to focus on helping children learn," Morledge said.

Morledge came to the Master Principal Program with extensive experience in public education. She led teachers of Rose City Middle School in North Little Rock in a school improvement process that earned it a model school designation from two national organizations. She has worked in professional leadership development at the district level and most recently served as the assistant executive director of the Arkansas School Boards Association.

Morledge has also served as a coach and facilitator with the Arkansas Leadership Academy and was part of an academy team that worked with the Southern Regional Education Board to redesign a program for districts in need of broad-based services to achieve school improvement.

The Master Principal Program builds on the academy's successful Principal Institute, which has trained 300 practicing principals in its five-year history. The Principal Institute has become the introductory phase of the Master Principal Program, in which individual principals develop their knowledge and skills. Entry to this first phase is open to currently practicing principals with at least three years experience as principals. In forming training groups, consideration is given to geographical distribution and matching state demographics.

Admission to the second phase of the program requires submission of a portfolio documenting the application of lessons from the first level. To be admitted to the third phase, principals must complete a rigorous application process that includes evidence of their impact on education at the district, state and regional levels. The expectation is that these principals will become coaches for less experienced principals.

Currently, the first phase of the program has enrolled 53 principals from throughout the state. Fourteen principals who had completed the original Principal Institute have been admitted to the second phase of the program.

In addition to regularly scheduled class meetings, two important sources of support and training for participating principals are the program's e-mail discussion group and, in phases two and three, individual professional coaches.

The program's e-mail discussion group is an ongoing network of principals at all levels of training that serves as a professional resource. The e-mail discussion is monitored daily, both to insure that questions are answered thoroughly and to evaluate whether discussions reflect the knowledge levels expected from the program curriculum.

Elliott said that educators around the country are closely following the progress of the Arkansas Master Principal Program, and Elliott and Morledge will make a presentation about the program at the annual meeting of the National School Boards Association in spring 2005. Other educators have expressed interest in using the Arkansas program as a model for developing national standards for outstanding principals, similar to the existing National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

Arkansas Leadership Academy collaborative partners include nine state professional organizations: Arkansas Association of Educational Administrators, Arkansas Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, Arkansas Education Association, Arkansas North Central Association, Arkansas Rural Education Association, Arkansas School Boards Association, Arkansas Public Relations Association, and Arkansas National State Teachers of the Year.

Higher education partners are 13 public and private universities and colleges from throughout Arkansas. The 15 education service cooperatives are partners as well as Arkansas Department of Education, Arkansas Department of Higher Education, Arkansas Department of Workforce Education, and Arkansas Educational Television Network. Corporate partners are Tyson Foods Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.