Attention all Reviewers:

Reviewer assignments have been posted. Please check your email for your respective assignments. Should you have any questions regarding your role as a reviewer, guidelines are available here.

Reviews are due June 3rd

Thank you to all who signed up to review proposals!

Email us at uceaconvention@gmail.com for further questions.

New UCEA Award Focused on Quality Preparation Programs

UCEA is pleased to announce a new award focused on exemplary educational leadership preparation programs.  

Purpose of the Recognition Program

Quality leaders are influenced by the quality of their leadership preparation and development. A growing body of research demonstrates that how candidates are prepared directly influences their leadership career, practices and school improvement efforts. Further research shows that exemplary programs have outstanding, relevant content, learning experiences and field experiences. To celebrate exemplary programs and encourage their development, UCEA has established an Award for Exemplary Educational Leadership Preparation (note: this name is a placeholder).  This award, which is supported by a grant from the Wallace Foundation,  compliments UCEA’s core mission to advance the preparation and practice of educational leaders for the benefit of all children and schools.

Leadership educators are invited to nominate their programs for recognition at the 2013 UCEA Conference. The program or programs (up to three) judged as most worthy of recognition will receive a significant cash award. In addition, the award winning program(s) will be recognized at a session during the 2013 UCEA Convention, on the UCEA website, and through a case-study publication, Exemplary Programs in Educational Leadership.

This award will be made to programs within colleges and department of education. For example, university-based programs preparing leaders to lead in elementary, middle or high schools, or programs focusing on the development of district level leadership are eligible for recognition. More than one program within a department, school or college of education may apply.

Award Criteria

Contributions will be judged on the extent to which the program: 1) reflects current research on the features, content, and experiences associated with effective leadership preparation, and 2) has demonstrated evidence of program effectiveness.  A UCEA Committee appointed by the UCEA Executive Director will review and evaluate the nominees.  Selection committee members will be individuals with strong expertise in educational leadership preparation.

The Application

Applications are welcome from any university-based program that prepares leaders to lead in elementary, middle or high schools, or programs focusing on the development of district level leadership. More than one program within a department, school or college of education may apply.  Applications will be submitted electronically, and must include the following information:

1.  School, College or Department of Education of which the Program is a Part

2.  Program Name and Mission 

3.  Program Description

The program description should be no more than 25 pages, and must include information addressing the following key program issues and questions:

a.     Program Focus: What kind of leader does the program claim to prepare and how is that type of leadership reflected in the various dimensions of the program (e.g., recruitment, curriculum, practical experiences, and assessment)?

b.     Recruitment: What strategies are used to recruit candidates? What perspectives, priorities and data inform the development of recruitment materials? Who participates in the recruitment process and why?

c.     Selection:  What strategies, information and criteria are used to select candidates for participation in the preparation program? How is the selection criteria and process integral to the program’s goals and approach?  Who participants in candidate selection and how? Does the student body reflect the diversity of the area served by the program?   

d.     Learning Experiences: What is the point of view about learning in the program?  How does teaching reflect this perspective? What kinds of learning experiences are integrated into the program?

e.     Knowledge and Skills: Is the program anchored to a set of nationally recognized leadership standards? How does the program integrate research and professional knowledge with leadership practice? In what ways are issues related to leading diverse and/or low-income student populations dealt with?

f.       Internship: How does the internship support leadership development? How is it supervised and by whom? What does it involve and how is it funded?

g.     Supportive Structures:  What program structures (e.g., cohorts, mentoring, coaching) are provided to support communities of practice?

h.     Partnerships: What kinds of partnerships inform the program? How have district personnel influenced and/or informed the program?

i.       Candidate Assessment: How do you know that candidates’ are gaining the intended knowledge, skills and dispositions? How are candidate assessments used by to support candidate growth?

j.       Program Improvement: How are candidate and program assessments used to promote program improvement?

k.     Faculty: How many faculty teach in this program?  Do program faculty represent expertise from the research and practice communities? How does the program ensure that its faculty have the capabilities to prepare effective educational leaders? How do faculty members work together to design, improve and deliver the program? 

4. Course Content

Please provide syllabi for core courses in the program.

5. Field Work

Please provide a field work guide describing field work requirements, documentation and assessments.

6.  Program Effectiveness

Evidence of program effectiveness can include one or more of the following sources of information; however, please do not exceed 10 pages of evidence:

·      Key findings from follow-up studies of graduates

·      Summary of NCATE/TEAC evaluations/reviews

·      Other evidence

7. Faculty Vitae

Please provide a curriculum vitae for each faculty member who participates in the delivery of the program.

Submitting Your Application

Please submit your application electronically, via email, to ucea@virginia.edu including the phrase “Exemplary Educational Leadership Preparation Award” in the subject line.  Applications must be received by June 17, 2013 to be eligible for consideration.  

The application should have the support of the program head, department chair and dean as appropriate.  The cash awards will go to support the programs being recognized. 

Thank You to All Who Submitted Proposals!

UCEA's proposal submission site is closed. Thank you to all who have submitted proposals.

Your proposal will be reviewed over the next two to three weeks, and you will be notified shortly after of its respective acceptance or rejection. 

Should you have any questions, please email us at uceaconvention@gmail.com.

UCEA's proposal submission site is closed. Thank you to all who have submitted proposals.

Your proposal will be reviewed over the next two to three weeks, and you will be notified shortly after of its respective acceptance or rejection. 

Should you have any questions, please email us at uceaconvention@gmail.com.

How are You Preparing Aspiring Leaders for the Common Core?

How familiar are you with the new Common Core State Standards (CCSS)? It is asserted that these news standards are dramatically different.  Have you reviewed them? It is claimed that teaching under the new CCSS will need to change, and, as a result, instructional supervision and human capital development will need to transform. Do you have an image in your mind of what CCSS teaching will look like or how it is different from how you taught or how you were taught as a k-12 student? 

I’m attending the annual SREB Leadership Forum in Atlanta today and tomorrow, and two speakers this morning (Kenna Barger and Elanor Dougherty) focused on the CCSS.  Here are some examples they shared during their presentation:

• Literacy assignment before CCSS: “Choose one of the following stems to write a three paragraph essay.”
• After CCSS: “After reading and discussing the excerpt from funeral oration and the Gettysburg address, write an essay that compares the speeches and argues which leader (Pericles or Lincoln) delivers the most rhetorically compelling argument about democracy. Be able to support your position with examples.”
• Math assignment before CCSS: “solve the following problem: 1/3 divided by 4/5”
• After CCSS: “draw a picture of what 1/3 of a pie would look like if divided by 4/5. How much of the pie would you have to eat?”

The two sets of assignments are parallel, but in the second post-CCSS assignment students are asked to engage with the material in a much more concrete level.  The students engaged in the post-CCSS assignment aren’t merely covering an essential element, they are engaging in an intellectual experience.

Have you considered the implications of the new standards and the changes in practice they should foster for your leadership preparation programs?  If not, you should. We all know how important leadership is, and what a difference quality leadership preparation makes.  If schools are going to successfully make this shift in teaching and learning, then leaders must be prepared to foster and support the shift. 

The implications for leadership preparation are broad.  They involve more than supervision and human capital development.  Those are certainly important areas, but there are also implications for how time is used in schools, schedules for classes, teacher collaboration and planning.  There are also implications for resources, writing labs, library resources, learning spaces, allocation of teachers and support staff.  Finally, just as we need to be familiar with the new CCSS in order to do our work, we need to ensure that leaders are familiar with the new CCSS in order to do their work and to facilitate the understanding of CCSS among school staff.

As you and your colleagues consider the changes needed in your programs, UCEA’s “Designing Purposeful and Coherent Leadership Preparation Curriculum: A Curriculum Mapping Guide,” will prove very useful.  The guide, which can be downloaded from the UCEA Website (www.ucea.org), is designed to facilitate curriculum mapping or curriculum auditing for program development, review, and continuous improvement. It outlines both a process and set of tools to aid program faculty in articulating and aligning leadership expectations and their program content and fostering program coherence.

Proposal Submission Site Closes Friday at Midnight

We encourage everyone to submit their proposals here before the midnight deadline on Friday, May 10th. 

Please refer to the 2013 Call for Proposals for guidelines on submission and proposal requirements. 

Good luck everyone!