Course Descriptions

The following are co-requisite courses taken in sequence for Principals Certification:

EDUC 643 Instructional Leadership to Promote Learning
This first course begins with an exploration of values and beliefs underlying leadership in schools. Students examine the knowledge, dispositions and performances needed for the continuous improvement of K–12 instruction, including those identified in the standards for school leaders promoted by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC). We study current research in learning, teaching and assessment by focusing on student achievement in K–12 literacy and social studies. Students develop field inquiry projects related to these two curricular areas as they gain insight into how effective school leaders connect theory and practice. Coursework includes interactive case studies, team projects, panel presentations and guest speakers.

EDUC 651 Field Internship Seminar: Inquiring into Principal Leadership for School Improvement
This second course supports each student in becoming a reflective practitioner. Students develop the inquiry, communication and interpersonal skills needed to build a purposeful collaborative learning community for adults and students. Through inquiry projects students explore how effective school leaders can use data to inform their decisions. Focused observations provide opportunities to visit area schools committed to school reform. The principal of each school converses with the class about the progress of the initiative in advance of the visit and subsequent to the observation. Students engage in a 120-hour, on-site internship with a current principal observing, participating and leading school-based activities during the school year. A University-assigned mentor supervises the work of each student.

EDUC 652 Developing Instructional Leadership in Practice
This course emphasizes how to connect organizational systems with the school's instructional mission. We investigate how distributive leadership is a key factor in consistent implementation of the instructional mission. The significance of building a community of learners for both adults and children is explored. We study the importance of aligning, managing and evaluating curriculum, instruction, assessment, professional development and instructional support systems with a focus on K–12 student achievement in mathematics and science. Inquiry into effective uses of technology, begun in the fall term, is intensified in this term. Coursework includes interactive case studies and debates.

EDUC 653 Field Internship Seminar: Inquiring into Organizational and Legal Dimensions to Principal Leadership
Effective schools commit to the ongoing learning of children and adults. Systems-thinking provides the lens through which students inquire into how the principal's organizational leadership can support continuous school improvement through attention to school climate, program coherence, and effectiveness of instruction. We deepen our understanding of law and policy, affecting three significant areas—special education, teacher evaluation, and students' rights. Students engage in a 120-hour, on-site internships complemented by focused observations in area schools. The focused observations provide opportunities to visit schools engaged in continuous school improvement in mathematics, science, technology, and the arts. The inquiry projects this term support students in gaining competence and confidence in being responsive to the differentiated learning needs of children and adults. A University-assigned mentor supervises the work of each student.

EDUC 654 Aligning Fiscal, Human and Community Resources in Support of the School's Instructional Mission
This final course for Principals Certification focuses on the effective utilization of resources to serve the mission of improving student achievement. Connecting the daily decision-making of the school, including managing budgets and funding streams, utilization of space, use of time, scheduling and assignments of staff and students with the school's mission is emphasized. Students pursue an understanding of how the principal has a public role as an advocate, catalyst, and broker in spanning the boundaries between schools and the communities they serve. Students develop inquiry projects to further their knowledge of community resources, budgeting, legal principles, school law and school district policies. Students seeking Principals Certification present the Cumulative Portfolio at end of this course.

Students take an additional five course units in Educational Leadership to complete the master's degree - three core courses, one distributional course (a course taken within Penn GSE but outside the Educational Leadership Division), and a Penn GSE elective. The Educational Leadership core courses are:

• EDUC 544 School & Society
• One of the following: EDUC 547 Anthropology in Education, EDUC 616 Teaching & Learning, or EDUC 712 Policy Making in Education
• One research methodology course: EDUC 545 Research Methods in ELD,
  EDUC 672 Introduction to Ethnographic Methods or EDUC 677 Introductory Statistics in Educational Research