Preparation of Urban High School Leaders in Philadelphia through Multiorganizational Partnerships

Abstract

Partnerships between universities and school districts are increasingly being identified as a means to overcome the difficulties of preparing the next generation of urban high school principals. This article examines the development of such a multiorganizational partnership with a large urban school district, two universities, and a national educational organization. The partnership development is analyzed against a framework of dimensions of effective collaborations. Data include interviews and observations and are analyzed using qualitative methods. Findings indicate that challenges in multi-institution partnerships are inevitable. However, the overarching focus on a common goal, defined responsibilities, authentic communication, alignment of common interests, and dynamic receptiveness to ongoing evaluative feedback enables the sustenance of an effective program.

Effective Preparation Program Features

“…Other research identifies challenges, including obtaining consistent participation and ownership from all stakeholders, maintaining a non-favoritism approach, dealing with leader turnover in districts, placing interns (Brooks, Havard, Tatum, & Patrick, 2010), and addressing the constraints of institutional impediments and economic conditions (Browne-Ferrigno, 2011). Other descriptive studies on partnership designs have also identified elements of effective partnerships, including keeping an overarching focus on a common goal, defining responsibilities, communicating authentically, aligning common interest, maintaining creative dynamic receptiveness to ongoing evaluative feedback (Kamail, Barber, Schulman, & Reed, 2012, p. 902), developing a mandate from the state for all programs, acknowledging the importance of the dean for developing and maintaining trust with other stakeholders, and developing a significant number of active district partners who are willing and able to participate (Brooks et al, 2010).…”

Transformational and Transformative Leadership in a Research-Informed Leadership Preparation Program

“…The focus on whole-school, substantive change and the cultivation of leadership capacity of core teacher leaders were important components of the program—components that extended well beyond typical leadership preparation programs. Another innovation is the partnership model for leadership preparation, a model that is increasingly common and varies from setting to setting (e.g., Brooks et al, 2010; Kaimal, Barber, Schulman, & Reed, 2012). IMPACT V connected IHEs, local districts, and DPI.…”

A Community-University Partnership to Develop and Implement an Enhanced Model of Coaching for Prekindergarten

“…An additional challenge inherent in this type of community-university partnership is the balance between research requirements and the needs and capacity of the program and school system. Balancing the goals of multiple institutions is a common challenge in this type of partnership (Kaimal et al, 2012;Phelps, 2019) -the challenge of maintaining this balance is reflected in the need to collect data about the coaching model implementation without adding undue burden to CMS staff. To minimize this burden, principals were surveyed bimonthly, as opposed to the monthly surveys for coaches, and teachers were surveyed midway through the year and again at the end of the year.…”