World Education & Development Fund » Programs » Teacher and Principal Training » School Leadership Program

School Leadership Program

A professional training program for Mexican public school principals

The School Leadership Program (Programa del Liderazgo Escolar) is Mexico’s first transformative, post-graduate program to inculcate Mexican public school principals with leadership training and practical tools required to foster better performance of their teachers and students.

The program's objective is to provide school principals with the skills and tools required
to become the leaders needed to transform Mexican education one school at a time.
The School Leadership Program will train school principals to:

Value their educational vocation and critical role in society
Become inspirational role models
Foster outstanding teacher performance
Expect much from each and every student
Provide tools for children to achieve at their full potential

Background

Worldfund’s commitment to launch a principal training program in Mexico was inspired by five factors:

There were no programs in Mexico that specifically trained principals;
The difficulty of highly motivated teachers, who have sought extra training, to perform better due to the poor quality of management skills and commitment of principals;
The need for a support network of highly motivated, well-trained principals convinced that the school must play a key role in transforming society;
The 15 years of experience of a well respected NGO, Insituto Mexicano para la Excelencia Educativa A.C.(Excelencia Educativa), which was seeking an international partner to develop and scale a principal training program.
The availability of content and guidance from New York-based New Leaders for New Schools, arguably one of the most effective principal training organizations in the world.

Content

230 hours of instruction over 11 months
Human Development
Teaching Methodology
Leadership/Mentoring Skills
Factors that impact educational quality

Methodology

Traditional lectures on educational themes
Reading and research assignments outside the classroom
Situational role-playing and case-studies to identify best practices
Personal reflection and research to develop innovative educational strategies for individual schools
Publication of a periodical about practical educational themes
Individual mentoring to help principles to translate learning to practice

Logistics

The pilot began in August 2009, and is being offered to 96 principals, 46 in Veracruz and 50 in Guerrero.
The program will involve 230 hours of instruction over 11 months, including an initial week-long intensive workshop.
Participants from public primary and secondary schools were chosen with the help of local education authorities.

Profile of Participants

Principals are chosen based on the following criteria:

Included on authorized list of candidates provided by local education authorities;
Commitment to staying in their current post for at least one year;
Commitment to a 90% attendance rate;
Personal interview by School Leadership Program personnel.

Success Indicators

We are currently in the process of identifying an independent program evaluation firm to measure the following School Leadership Program goals:

The reduction in the student drop-out rate vis-à-vis the school’s past record and its peers;
Better performance in national exams vis-à-vis the school’s past record and its peers;
Increased principle and teacher satisfaction, captured in periodical interviews and surveys;
Increased parental participation, measured by the number of parent-teacher conferences and parental program participation.