School Administrator
CES offers preparation for these Initial Licenses:
- Superintendent/Assistant Superintendent
- School Principal/Assistant Principal
- Supervisor/Director
- Special Education Administrator
Candidates may come from either inside or outside of the field of education.
Prerequisites:
Superintendent/Assistant Superintendent
- Three full years of employment in a district-wide, school-based, or other educational setting
- Initial License in another educational role OR:
- Preliminary Superintendent/Assistant Superintendent License
School Principal/Assistant Principal
- Three full years of employment in an executive management/leadership role OR:
- Three full years in a supervisory, teaching, or administrative role in a public school, private school, higher education, or other educational setting
Supervisor/Director
- Completion of three full years of employment in a leadership, supervisory, teaching, or administrative role in a public school, private school, higher education, or other educational setting
- Preliminary License (at least) as:
- Pupil Personnel Directors
- School Psychologist, OR
- School Guidance Counselor, OR
- School Social Worker/School Adjustment Counselor
- School Guidance Directors
- School Guidance Counselor, OR
- School Social Worker/School Adjustment Counselor
- Directors, Department Heads, Curriculum Specialists
- Teacher, OR
- Specialist Teacher
Special Education Administrators
- Completion of three full years of employment in law, public policy, higher education, or other related field, OR
- Initial License (at least) in special education, or as school guidance counselor, school principal/assistant principal, school psychologist, school social worker/school adjustment counselor, speech language and hearing disorders teacher AND
- Completion of three full years of employment in a district-wide, school-based, or other educational setting.
All courses may be taken for graduate credit. For those interested in obtaining a graduate degree, graduate credits may be applied toward a M.Ed.-Curriculum & Teaching or a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies (CAGS), through CES’s partnership with Fitchburg State University. Graduate credit registration forms are available at the first session of each course. For graduate program procedures and information, contact Beverly Streeter.
Participants enrolling in the Administrator Licensure Program will:
- Meet MTEL and application requirements
- Complete 6 required courses
- Complete the Practicum
MTEL Requirements
Communication and Literacy Skills Test
Practicum
300 Hours
Courses
While every course in the CES Licensure Program may be taken individually (for PDPs or optional graduate credit), these six Licensure courses and a Practicum must be successfully completed to obtain an Initial License in Administration.
Fall
(3 CR) Cases and Concepts in Educational Administration
A case study approach to problems, issues, and situations encountered in school administration, utilizing current managerial concepts and strategies leading to the exploration of alternative solutions to leadership; and methods of dealing with them. Emphasis is on reflective thinking and incorporation of pertinent research.
(3 CR) Law for the Educator
Constitutional and statutory provisions governing a public school system are examined on local, state, and national levels. A thorough review will be made concerning the legal parameters surrounding the local level of the educational system and federal and state guidelines generated to meet the needs of diverse school populations in compliance with current judicial decisions and state legislation. The impact of precedent-setting cases will be a major focus of this course.
Spring
(3 CR) The Contemporary Educational Leader
This core course explores the significant issues and relevant research affecting individual and systemic educational leadership. Candidates will actively investigate such topics of contemporary concern as diversity, reform movements, the profession of teaching, the power of leadership, creative curricula, innovative learning environments, the promise and potential of new educational technologies, equity in funding, and financial megatrends. The course will provide administrators and staff developers with new insights into the key ideas and critical components of proactive leadership and ways to assure that schools under their leadership “teach all students.”
(3 CR) The Culture of the School
This course teaches prospective administrators how to create a more flexible culture focused on problem solving, learning, and successful communication in their school/school district community. Prospective administrators learn how to recognize what can be mandated and when mandates make sense, what is susceptible to problem solving and when issues are best dealt with collaboratively, how and when to focus on instructing members of the school/school district community, and how and when not to intervene. There is a particular focus on strategies and techniques for problem solving, collaborative work, and successful instruction of adults.
Summer
(3 CR) Curriculum Leadership and Evaluation
This course is designed for administrators who must become knowledgeable about curriculum development and program evaluation. The role of the administrator as a decision-maker and as an instructional leader is explored. Emphasis is placed on program development and evaluation, which reflects the various cultural and ethnic minority groups children and youth represent. Additionally, practical applications of programs, as well as the application of evaluation models and techniques, are investigated. A field-based experience is a requirement of this course.
(3 CR) Bureaucracy in Education
This course focuses on how participants have experienced school—as students, as teachers, and as leaders—and how the organization of schools and districts creates those experiences. The rules under which schools operate, the intention of the educational reforms and movements that underlie those rules, and the interaction between those rules and individual goals are examined. The course requires writing similar to that required in schools and districts as well as writing that draws on students’ experiences with schools.
Theme for this course: Know the rules; learn to use the rules on behalf of your organization and the children you serve. Participants will gain an understanding of some of the areas of rule setting within an organization including, but not limited to, collective bargaining, state and federal regulations, broad expectations regarding education reform, and school district budgets.