The Houston A+ Challenge, which frequently partners with Spring Branch, announced yesterday that it received a $3 million grant from the Houston Endowment to create a new Principal Academy focused on improving school leadership.
My friend, and the new Executive Director of Houston A+, Scott Van Beck, made the announcement at a reception today. A portion of his speech on the importance of school leadership can be viewed here or by clicking the image below.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: January 9, 2008
Contact: Melissa Milios Davis, Houston A+ Challenge: (713) 658-1881, [email protected]
NEW PRINCIPAL LEADERSHIP ACADEMY
AWARDED $3 MILLION FROM HOUSTON ENDOWMENT
A new leadership academy designed to attract and prepare aspiring principals to lead the Houston region’s most challenging middle and high schools has been awarded a $3 million grant from Houston Endowment, the Houston A+ Challenge Board of Trustees announced today.
While many issues affect student performance, a growing body of research demonstrates that students in schools with strong principals achieve better – and stay in school longer – than students in schools with weak principals and/or frequent principal turnover.
The new Houston A+ Challenge principal academy will focus on improving school leadership, with a high priority on serving secondary schools that are low-performing, suffer from frequent turnover, and serve a majority of low-income students.
In addition, the academy aims to help school systems and state policy makers develop new models for leadership succession planning, by drawing on Houston A+ Challenge's decade of work in building building strong teacher leaders, school principals and central administration support.
“With this $3 million investment, Houston Endowment aims to help stimulate long-term improvements in the way that principals are selected, trained and supported in order to effectively lead public schools in the greater Houston area,” said George Grainger, senior grant officer for Houston Endowment, which also supported the academy during its planning phase. “We have confidence that, ultimately, this initiative will have a powerful impact in classrooms throughout the region.”
An estimated 160 principal vacancies need to be filled across the Houston region each year, and more than one-fourth of all principal positions turn over each year in some districts, including Houston ISD. Turnover among assistant principals leaves hundreds more vacancies per year, and this trend will increase as many current school leaders approach retirement age. Such high turnover results in school instability that has a direct and negative effect on children and their experience in the classroom.
“Houston A+ Challenge is honored by this gift from Houston Endowment, which will allow us to launch our new principal leadership academy with strength,” said Scott Van Beck, Executive Director for Houston A+ Challenge. “The academy is an ambitious initiative that we are confident the entire community will embrace, for its mission is to improve leadership and succession planning in the Houston region’s public schools. We thank Houston Endowment for leading the way."
Houston A+ Challenge will begin recruiting the first class for the academy in early 2008. Partner school districts from throughout the Houston region may submit nominees, and a maximum of 30 aspiring principals will be chosen through a rigorous, independent selection process.
Aspiring principals will begin their training in July 2008 with a six-week summer intensive with national and regional faculty. Course topics will include: building relationships and trust through communication; systems mapping; conducting difficult conversations; leadership scenarios and case studies; analyzing school and achievement data; solving problems in budgeting and resource allocation; adapting leadership learning to diverse situations; and learning to "manage up" in order to positively influence district policy.
These trainings continue on a weekly basis throughout the 2008-09
school year. During this time, aspiring principals spend four days
each week in secondary schools, learning from mentor principals and
executing action research projects aimed at student improvement.
In
the second year of the program, participants will be placed in
principal or assistant principal positions in area secondary schools.
Academy graduates also continue to meet as a cohort with Houston A+
Challenge providing support.
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About Houston A+ Challenge
Houston A+ Challenge is an
independent nonprofit that has supported public school improvement and
encouraged education reform efforts in the Houston area since 1997.
Houston A+ partners with local school districts to help build
professional networks and school leaders who create lasting
improvements in classroom instruction and student achievement. On the
web at: www.houstonaplus.org.
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