Marguerita DeSander

When it comes to preparing school principals to lead, Western Kentucky University professor Marguerita DeSander contends more must be done to meet the local needs of schools throughout the region. 

A new partnership between Western Kentucky University and the Green River Regional Educational Cooperative is aiming to tackle that goal. WKU was chosen as one of seven universities across the country by The Wallace Foundation to join in a $47 million project to improve school principal preparation. 

DeSander, who heads the Department of Educational Administration, Leadership and Research, said they will start the four year project by rethinking the curriculum and experiences aspiring principals pursue so that they more closely match what’s needed from contemporary school leaders. 

Part of that, DeSander said, “is to get district input on what the needs are in the schools for school leaders.” It also includes developing a leadership tracking system for WKU’s program graduates. The system would look at how much professional development new principals are pursuing in their jobs and how well their schools are doing on state standardized tests. 

“It would be a very easy way to be able to monitor the leaders within their system and how they’re doing,” DeSander said. 

The project will play out over four years with different goals each year, DeSander said. Ultimately, the goal is create a leadership model that can be scaled up to the state level, she said. 

“We’re not in a bad place in terms of principal preparation,” she said. “I think what we need to do is think more strategically about the clinical component and about the experiences that students have.”

That means making sure students get a sense of what it takes to be a school leader during their internships and getting students to see how everything they’re learning ties together. 

She also wants to tackle the question of “What is it that we need locally and how to do we provide the best prepared candidates to our locality?” 

Melissa Biggerstaff, GRREC’s associate executive director, said her organization was excited to be a part of the project. 

“We believe this is a tremendous opportunity for WKU and the GRREC region,” she said. “Our ultimate goal is create high-quality, effective principals for every school.” 

Biggerstaff said GRREC now represents 43 schools districts throughout the region. The educational cooperative acts as support network for its member districts. She’s looking forward to developing the leadership tracking system. 

“From that we will be able to create a continuous feedback loop from districts and WKU that will provide opportunity for continuous improvement long after the grant funding ends,” she said. 

When asked what made WKU stand out for the project, DeSander said the department applied collaboratively, with department members pouring in their aspirations and dreams for progressive principal education. 

“We demonstrated that we are open and ready for change,” she said. 

— Follow education reporter Aaron Mudd on Twitter @BGDN_edbeat or visit bgdailynews.com.