On January 25th Julie Sweitzer spoke of the work of the Minnesota Principals Academy. Ms. Sweitzer is Director of Leadership Initiatives in the U of M’s College Readiness Consortium.
The Academy uses a curriculum developed by the National Institute for School Leadership, and modified to reflect the Minnesota educational system. National experts trained a Leadership Team of 48 Minnesota principals and school leaders. In turn, they train Minnesota principals in groups of 20 to 24. The training usually occurs in two-day sessions for a total of 25 days over the period of at least one year.
This Academy is the product of a collaboration with the MN Elementary and Secondary Principals Associations, the MN Dept. of Education, the MN Association of School Administrators and the University.
In a follow-up question Ms. Sweitzer reported that both the Minneapolis and St. Paul schools have their own programs for teachers and administrators who want to become principals. St. Paul’s Leadership Institute began in 2000 and has trained 157 participants. Minneapolis is instituting the Minneapolis Principal Academy. For in-service training Minneapolis has been using the Institute for Learning.
