Leadership Programs

Research supports the urgent need to describe, document, and research innovative praxis in the field in order to assess and improve educational leadership preparation at the state and national levels, particularly given existing shortages of highly qualified principals and superintendents and the complex demands of leading school reform efforts. Moreover, leadership preparation that specifically supports the development of social justice- and equity-minded leaders are in need. Without frameworks, investigation and documentation are difficult to accomplish, as the conditions, resources, and pedagogical strategies necessary cannot be articulated in a holistic way that can help more leadership preparation programs explore new ways to look in the mirror in order to improve their programs. For over 20 years, the Berkeley Principal Leadership Institute (PLI) has been innovating new strategies and methodologies in its approach to leadership preparation by engaging with practicing artists, incorporating creative and culturally-based teaching strategies, designing performance assessment events, forming partnerships with arts education organizations, using and applying research on creative and arts-based pedagogy, and networking with other educator preparation programs. This report highlights the impact of a pedagogy integrating performative modalities into social justice leadership preparation across four domains of praxis: Identity & Vision, Model, Conditions, and Reflect. Furthermore, this impact brief highlights some of the powerful learning experiences that provided transformational learning for aspiring leaders who have gone through our program. Finally, we give a basic overview of the PLI Social Justice Leadership Preparation Landscape and how leadership preparation programs can visualize the conditions, resources, standards, and infrastructure needed to support this work. A fully elaborated version of this work is available here. Finally, we would be remiss not to acknowledge the COVID-19 pandemic and its influence during the time of publication. In the last month, all public schools and universities in California have sharply pivoted from largely in-person experiences to distance learning. While it is too early to assess the full impact, the work we describe in this Impact Report continues to serve as a strong foundation, even in this new reality.

This research report describes a study examining the role of principal leadership in making a successful school-wide transformation from a traditional to an arts centered integrated approach to classroom teaching and learning. Although research has long touted the benefits of fusing arts with core academics, the integral role of the school principal has been overlooked. This research project, carried out by the Principal Leadership Institute at the University of California at Berkeley and funded by the Heller Foundation, examines the role of the principal in leading a successful transformation from traditional teaching practice to arts-centered practice.

The Principal Leadership Institute (PLI) at the University of California has focused on preparing and supporting a diverse group of equity focused educational leaders in the Bay Area since 1999. In 2004, PLI took on the work of leader induction and launched the Leadership Support Program (LSP), a voluntary three year program that was geared toward supporting early career leaders through an innovative model of professional learning activities, guided mastery and coaching. In 2015, LSP was expanded into Southern California through a partnership between UC Berkeley and UCLA. This move coincided with a shift in California State policy to mandate induction for educational leaders to obtain licensure. Now a state mandated two year program, this next iteration of LSP as a dual pathway program has continued to be on the forefront of leader induction practice, both in terms of results and innovations in the field. The impacts of the Leadership Support Program are illustrated by the hundreds of LSP graduates who continue to work in education at a rate which far surpasses the national average of educational leadership turnover. Analysis of LSP’s graduation and placement data as well as a close reading of student journals, assignments and testimonials reveals the program’s beneficial impact on leader retention and efficacy. This impact report is adapted from a longer and more thorough overview of LSPand highlights the background of the program, general operating principles and mechanics as well as an abbreviated summary of its impacts.