| Published in the Cedar
Rapids Gazette, Sunday, June 11, 2000 (reprinted
courtesy of the Cedar
Rapids Gazette)
21st-Century
Iowa’s education must be visionary all around
By Thomas J. Switzer, Dean,
UNI College of Education.
A
recent study from Fordham University revealed that an estimated 80 percent
of U.S. K-12 superintendents are of retirement age. That equates to
about 1,000 openings per year for the next five years. A study conducted
in Iowa in 1998 suggests that 180 of Iowa’s 356 school superintendents
will retire by 2004. And, a 1999 study reported that 384 (33 percent)
of the 1,174 school principals in Iowa will retire by 2005. Iowa will
need to replace these superintendents and principals with people well
prepared to lead our schools into the new century.
Frequently the education debate focuses on the quality of our teaching
force, retaining teachers, and on increasing teacher salaries. While
these are important issues the issue of school leadership cannot be
ignored. Without competent, visionary superintendents and principals,
challenges facing the teachers of the 21st Century cannot and will not
be addressed.
School leaders today must possess broad leadership skills. They also
must have a deep understanding of the learning experiences that today’s
students need to succeed. And they must be able to envision how learning
will occur in the future. I have been convinced for some time that we
will continue to be disappointed with our results until we engage in
fundamental rethinking of how we deliver schooling. That rethinking
requires visionary leadership.
The system change many of us are looking for will result only when we
convince the public, and others who influence schooling, that we must
create systems that are designed specifically to promote student learning.
We are constrained by a "delivery of instruction" model that
limits our thinking. For example, instead of thinking about how we can
educate students by fundamentally changing the nature of staffing patterns
in schools, we continue to focus on single issue items such as teacher
testing, induction programs, and increasing teachers’ salaries.
AS IMPORTANT as these issues may be, any one of them by itself will
not provide the increase in learning that we want.
Universities and colleges have a role in the solution. School leaders
need a broad background in education. A definite body of knowledge is
available – schools as social institutions, curriculum development,
child development, school finance, and about working with communities.
We also must provide these learning experiences for prospective new
school leaders in a format that meets their needs. Four years ago, the
University of Northern Iowa’s Educational Leadership graduate program
redesigned its principal and superintendent preparation programs. This
redesign incorporated the latest research on leadership preparation
and reflected the standards of national educational policy boards that
have studied this issue.
Since that time, UNI has implemented a statewide, Iowa Communication
Network (ICN)-based program built on these principles. The first group
of students enrolled in this three-year program graduated last week.
In fall 2000, about 200 aspiring administrators will be involved in
the program. With sufficient funding, enrollment in this program could
be substantially increased.
TAKING THIS CONCEPT a step further, UNI recently agreed to begin the
Principal Educational Leadership Program, a collaboration between the
university and the Urban Education Network of Iowa. It encompasses the
eight largest school districts in Iowa. This program will train current
teachers for administrative positions in Iowa’s growing network
of urban school systems.
High-quality teachers and administrators are necessary for vigorous,
successful school systems to grow. Today’s great teachers have
the potential to become tomorrow’s great school administrators.
We must give our teaching graduates reasons to stay in Iowa. Our schools
need our support.
Great students need visionary teachers. Great teachers need visionary
administrators. Great administrators need the support of a visionary
community. Iowa has been and should continue to be that kind of community.
Thomas J. Switzer is a professor and dean of the College of Education
at the University of Northern Iowa, one of the leading teacher preparation
institutions in the United States. |
