SPRING 2014
ADMINISTRATION & Supervision Admin & Supv Faculty ``
Denny Berry, Assistant Professor U.Va. Northern Virginia Center Michelle Young
Dan Player
Pamela Tucker
Dan Duke
Sarah Dexter
Denny Berry
Sara Dexter, Associate Professor CANLEAD Director (see article inside) Dan Duke, Professor Dan Player, Assistant Research Professor Pamela D. Tucker, Professor Admin & Supv Program Coordinator Michelle D. Young, Professor Executive Director, University Council for Educational Administration Read more about the work of our faculty online at curry.virginia.edu/ adminsupvnewsletter
Editor: Pamela Tucker, Professor Writer: Lynn Bell, Director of Alumni Relations curry.virginia.edu/adminsupvnewsletter Administration & Supervision is sponsored by the Curry School of Education Foundation.
Change Is the Job
Leadership matters now more than ever. BY PAM E L A D . T U C KE R
C
hange may be the only constant in today’s schools, and the pace of change has accelerated. For most school leaders today, change has become the job. Leaders have always had to be responsive and competent. Today they must be more. They must be nimble and readily adaptive to new initiatives, changing demographics and heightened expectations for academics and safety. As recent research has underscored, expert leaders have never been more important in ensuring student achievement. The Curry of Education administration and supervision faculty recognize these pressing realities for school leaders. While continuing our firm commitment to recruiting and preparing the most talented aspiring leaders in Virginia, administration and supervision faculty know that our preparation programs must reflect the real world of schools today. To that end, faculty members are engaged in designing new programs for both initial administrative licensure and advanced leadership study (Ed.D). They are building stronger partnerships with school systems in northern Virginia to extend our reach. They continue to conduct research and participate in leadership initiatives that serve the broader leadership community beyond the university. Our redesigned Ed.D program—Executive Studies in Educational Leadership, or ExSEL—will admit its third cohort in summer 2015 for a highly select group of school leaders who not only meet the Curry School’s rigorous academic requirements for admission but also demonstrate their leadership potential during a daylong screening process with faculty. With its new focus on problems of practice, students organize their reading, reflection and actions around real educational issues in their professional work. The research courses focus on program evaluation and have been coupled with core content courses, such as Designing Learning Environments. —continued on page 2
our preparation programs must reflect the real world of schools.
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