Summary
Massive challenges facing schools today – including an intractable teacher shortage, intense focus on instructional supervision, destructive social media and its impact, the transition from management to leadership and school finance and equity issues -- are prompting administrators to flee the profession.
Massive challenges facing schools today – including an intractable teacher shortage, intense focus on instructional supervision, destructive social media and its impact, the transition from management to leadership and school finance and equity issues — are prompting administrators to flee the profession. This is particularly true of principals, who endure growing demands and accountability standards but often receive little support or continuing professional development. The five school districts (including Georgetown) in the Charleston area are struggling to fill 270 administrative vacancies over the next five years for principals, assistant principals and other school leaders.
Into this void is stepping the Anita Zucker Institute for Entrepreneurial Educational Leadership, a program of The Citadel that was recently recognized as a Center of Excellence by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education. It is the only center in the state focused on supporting school leaders’ efforts to enhance teaching, learning and leading in schools across South Carolina. The Citadel’s Educational Leadership program has been ranked #1 in South Carolina by U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings.
Developing Programs for School Leaders
The Institute is helping districts build a leadership pipeline by developing curricula for potential and emerging school leaders that are specific to the needs of each district. Broken into specific areas, they address: 1. teachers in leadership with administrative degrees who haven’t worked in administration, 2. brand new assistant principals, 3. assistant principals preparing to be principals, 4. sitting principals who need more development, and 5. district office staff whose job is to support principals. Each district chooses which of the five areas they want to focus on and the Institute builds a curriculum for them.
For example, Charleston County School District decided to address the development of assistant principals preparing for the next step up, while Dorchester School District 2 requested training on preparing teachers for the leadership pipeline. The Institute provided each district with a curriculum tailor-made for their needs.
Anita Zucker Endowment and LGC Grant Brings in National Experts
With the help of a $25,000 grant from the Lowcountry Graduate Center, as well as a generous endowment from Anita Zucker, the Institute is able to hire national experts in the field to provide training, curricula and program evaluation on their areas of specialty. “We couldn’t have paid for these experts’ training and curriculum development without the funding,” said Dr. Lee Westbury, Institute Director and Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of Educational Leadership at The Citadel.
One unique service the Institute provides is cohort training. That is, a group of individuals from the same district attend training, discuss common issues and solve problems together, creating more inter-disciplinary collaboration within the schools. “In doing it cohort style we’re building collective self-efficacy within that district and catered to the district’s needs,” Westbury said.
Just the second cohort of participants is currently engaged in the program, but there are nonetheless some preliminary metrics demonstrating it is having an impact. For example, as a result of their participation, assistant principals have implemented professional developments planning, provided needs assessments for teachers and begun collecting and analyzing new data. The Institute is hosting a conference in May of 2024 in which participants will showcase what they learned and how they are implementing their findings in the schools. If you are interested in attending this free conference, you can register here.