BIRMINGHAM, AL – In a news conference at Samford University today, Governor Bob Riley and Dr. Joe Morton, State Superintendent of Education, released the findings from a commissioned study of the Governor’s Congress on School Leadership: “School Leadership Change Emerging in Alabama.”
In 2004, Gov. Riley established the Governor’s Congress on School Leadership to ensure that Alabama’s K-12 public school principals are instructional leaders, not just school administrators.
“The Governor’s Congress on School Leadership is focused on improving the quality of educational leaders in Alabama’s public schools,” said Gov. Riley. “We want to attract and retain quality principals in every school because our children deserve the very best, and the best – the quality of their schools – starts at the top with the principals or instructional leaders.”
The Governor’s Congress on School Leadership includes Alabama stakeholders who developed recommendations concerning needed reforms to insure that there is an effective instructional leader in every Alabama K-12 public school. The Congress drafted the Alabama Instructional Leadership Standards, which emphasize instructional leadership and informed the redesign of all 13 university preparation programs in the state.
“Support from the Governor and the State Board of Education has made Alabama a leader in these reform efforts to redesign the university preparation programs for the instructional leaders in our K-12 public schools,” said Dr. Morton. “Our principals must have the educational tools – hands-on training, practical experience, professional development – to be effective instructional leaders for their schools.”
Representatives from the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) studied the recommendations and their implementation in Alabama spearheaded by the Governor’s Congress on School Leadership. The SREB study highlights key successes such as:
· The Alabama Instructional Leadership Standards
· The redesign of all 13 university school leadership preparation programs to include increased rigor, relevance and authenticity of the programs
· The graduation of the first group of 66 future leaders from redesigned programs in 2009
· The move to Professional Learning Units (PLUs) from Continuing Education Units (CEUs)
· The support from local school systems of semester-long residencies for aspiring leaders
The SREB report also evaluates reform efforts that still need work:
· Code of Ethics for Alabama’s instructional leaders
· Revision of principal evaluation system to match Alabama Instructional Leadership Standards
· Development of statewide supports for principal mentoring
· Collection and publication of data
· More opportunities for universities to share ideas
SREB staff members who conducted the review of the Governor’s Congress on School Leadership are:
· Dr. Gene Bottoms, Senior Vice President
· Dr. Kathy O’Neill, Director, SREB Learning-centered Leadership Program
· Jon Schmidt-Davis, Director, SREB Learning-centered Leadership Program
For more information, contact the SREB at 404-875-9211 or John Bell, Leadership and Evaluation, Alabama Department of Education, jbell@alsde.edu or 334-242-9962.
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