New Generation Program Addresses Leadership Education for Teachers and Administrators
September 26, 2005
The University of Richmond is addressing a shortage of administrators in elementary and secondary schools with a new program called the “Next Generation Leadership Academy.”
The State Council of Higher Education has awarded the university a $102,653 grant to help implement the innovative program, which includes partnerships between the university’s Jepson School of Leadership Studies, School of Continuing Studies and four local school divisions. The Next Generation Leadership Academy (NGLA) will be housed in the university’s newly established Center for Leadership in Education. It will involve 40 aspiring principals and 20 mentors from public schools in the City of Richmond and Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico counties.
The Jepson School’s Thomas J. Shields is the center’s director.
In addition to the Next Generation Leadership Academy, the center sponsors the Issues in Leadership breakfast series for administrators from Chesterfield County Public Schools. Issues in Leadership allows administrators from the county to hear from and discuss ideas about leadership with academic scholars.
The Center also provides instruction to elementary and secondary students, as well as assistance to elementary and secondary teachers in the area of leadership studies. The center runs programs for Chesterfield County’s James River High School Leadership Specialty Center and the Emerging Leaders Program of Hanover County.
The center is developing non-traditional programs and seminars for all levels of administrators in both public and private K-12 schools and will be a resource for research on the effectiveness of a non-traditional approach to leadership studies for educators. One of the programs in development is an innovative seminar for superintendents from the greater-Richmond area.
“Superintendents have as much responsibility as leaders of major corporations,” said Jepson Dean Kenneth P. Ruscio, “but often don’t have the chance to think about their professional role in society and the role education plays in society. They get lots of management training, skills training, but what they don’t get is the opportunity to step back and reflect upon their professional role. Thanks to the day-to-day demands of the job, they don’t have time to reflect on larger issues.”
Shields said, “Leadership studies is integral to developing administrators, teachers, and students who can think critically about their role in society.” He hopes the center will transform how leadership studies is taught and administered in K-12 and become a national model in the study, teaching and practice of leadership in that setting.
Further information is available at the center’s Web site: leadershipk12.richmond.edu/