Principal Candidates’ Reflective Learning During a Full-Time Internship

Abstract

In this case study, we explore how principal candidates made sense of their internship by analyzing their weekly reflections during a school year. We found that candidates’ views of leadership developed from viewing leadership solely through the lens of making decisions and providing direction, to recognizing that much of the work of a school leader came from building relationships and delegating leadership responsibilities. Candidates’ experiences managing student discipline, conducting classroom walkthroughs and teacher evaluations, and leading professional development and professional learning communities (PLCs) were especially developmental. We conclude with implications for preservice training programs and future research.

Isolated or Integrated? Tracing the Principal Mentor–Intern Relationship across an Academic Year

“…Importantly, these activities were characterized by a higher degree of risk. In another paper, we describe how interns benefited greatly from those times when other leaders were out of the building and the responsibility for the school fell solely on them [33]. In this study, we also found that mentor principals seemed to act strategically throughout the year by initially providing lower levels of autonomy and higher levels of support, then decreasing their support and increasing interns' autonomy as the year progressed.…”

“…"Research across fields has demonstrated that contextually relevant, real-world learning opportunities that foster self-reflection are most likely to lead to valuable adult learning outcomes" [7] (p. 291). Reflective learning, coupled with supportive mentorship by practicing expert principals, requires structures for ensuring optimum growth for each intern regardless of their internship placement [9,33].…”

Using Leadership Coaching to Strengthen the Developmental Opportunity of the Clinical Experience for Aspiring Principals: The Importance of Brokering and Third-Party Influence

“…Similar levels of variability in the nature and quality of clinical experiences provided to aspirants have also been found via state-level investigations over the last decade (e.g., Darling-Hammond et al, 2022;Doolittle, 2013;Grissom et al, 2019;Lehman et al, 2014). As we explore in our review of literature, studies have further begun to shed light on an assortment of issues that have potential for shaping the developmental opportunity of the clinical experience (e.g., Chandler et al, 2013;Clayton, 2012;Clayton et al, 2017;Cunningham & Sherman, 2008;Drake et al, 2021;Fry et al, 2005;Lehman, 2013;Orland-Barak & Hasin, 2010;The Wallace Foundation, 2016).…”

“…In the United States (US), much attention over the last several decades has been directed at understanding effective principal preparation program (PPP) designs and marshaling these findings to spur and support program improvement. Although the clinical experience has historically been regarded as a key PPP element (e.g., Browne-Ferrigno, 2003; Browne-Ferrigno & Muth, 2003; Cordeiro & Sloann, 1996; Hackmann et al, 1999; Jackson & Kelley, 2002; McCarthy, 1999; Pounder & Crow, 2005), an assortment of more recent studies has elevated its importance in supporting aspiring school leader development (Barnett et al, 2009; Crow & Whiteman, 2016; Drake et al, 2021; Reyes-Guerra & Barnett, 2016; Young, 2015). For example, research comparing more traditional preparation programs to ones identified as innovative found that more robust internship experiences—that is, full-time, job-embedded, 300+ hours—promote higher levels of leader learning and instructional leadership practice development (Orr & Orphanos, 2011), career advancement (Orr, 2011; Orr & Barber, 2006), and several important working conditions for teachers (e.g., greater professional development and collaboration; see Orphanos & Orr, 2014).…”

School Leader Apprenticeships: Assessing the Characteristics of Interns, Internship Schools, and Mentor Principals

“…Like student teaching, principal internships are widely considered to be the most important component of principal preparation (Anderson & Reynolds, 2015;Darling-Hammond et al, 2007), and internship quality has been found to be positively associated with a range of outcomes for program graduates (Davis & Darling-Hammond, 2012;Orr, 2011;Orr & Orphanos, 2011). Nonetheless, principal candidates' internship experiences vary widely across states (Anderson & Reynolds, 2015) and between programs (Campbell & Parker, 2016;Hafner et al, 2012), including variation in the number of hours required; the support interns receive from principal supervisors, coaches, and mentors; and the types of activities in which interns engage (Drake, 2022;Drake et al, 2023). Internships are important to leadership development; however, they are only one component of principal preparation that engages candidates in clinical practices designed to take their knowledge, skills, and dispositions and apply them in a real-life environment (Reyes-Guerra & Barnett, 2016).…”