Professional Learning Update

Expanded Program for Aspiring School Leaders

Dr. Brenda Mendiola, The University of Alabama

If you are a reader of Dr. Vic Wilson’s Friday Update, you know Vic likes to post a trivia question now and then. Here’s a question for Dr. Wilson’s trivia treasure trove. What newly designed professional development program is represented by the acronym ASLA?

A few hints can be found in the following:

In 2018, educational leaders from three organizations – CLAS, The University of Alabama, and Auburn University, met to discuss the professional development needs of aspiring Alabama administrators. Aspiring administrators are those who have completed an instructional leadership program, have obtained their Alabama Class A Instructional Leadership Certificate, and for one reason or another, have not yet entered the principalship. The convening leaders proposed a partnership where the three entities, rather than working as competitors, worked as partners to design and deliver a professional development program aimed at preparing aspiring administrators for their first administrative position.

The partners held the first of two annual sessions in January of 2019 in Montgomery. Led by Auburn University faculty with assistance from past Auburn graduates and UA faculty, the session was a big success. The second session, also a big success, was held in Hoover and was led primarily by faculty from The University of Alabama with assistance from UA graduates and some of the state’s outstanding principals and assistant principals. The sessions consisted of a principal panel, sessions on letter and resume writing and effective interviewing techniques and selecting and working with a mentor. At the end of each session, members of the partnering entities reviewed input from the participants and following the cycle of continuous improvement, tweaked the plans for the next session. Fast forward to 2022 when the most recent sessions were held at Troy University in Montgomery (led by Auburn faculty) and The Tuscaloosa Career and Technology Academy in Tuscaloosa (led by UA faculty).

Each year, participants asked for more information, longer sessions with the presenters, and the opportunity to attend each breakout session rather than being forced to choose from among topics. Once again, leaders from the three organizations convened to consider the requests of the participants and to plan. They asked, “What if the conference became an academy that spanned months rather than one day?”

After months of planning, the Alabama School Leaders Academy was formalized and will become a reality with the first in- person session held on the Troy Campus, Montgomery, Alabama in October. The October session will be followed by virtual sessions in November, January, February, and April with the academy ending with a full-day session at the Troy Campus, Montgomery in May. Topics include mentoring, wellness for administrators, crucial conversations, working with special populations, understanding the board policy process, supervision of curriculum and instructing using the Alabama Teacher Observation Tool, data-informed decision-making, how to get and keep a job, tenure laws and documentation and will include role plays, work-based scenarios, and mock interviews. Faculty from Auburn University and The University of Alabama as well as CLAS professionals and leading practitioners in the field will lead the sessions. Enrollment was limited to the first 75 to register and best of all, the $274 enrollment fee is covered by the Alabama State Department of Education.

CLAS, UA, and Auburn welcome ASDE as a new partner in the Aspiring School Leaders Academy. We look forward to the expanded program and the opportunities the program will provide to aspiring school leaders in Alabama.