Thursday, June 2, 2011
PRINCESS ANNE, MD – (May 27, 2011) – A $1 million federal grant to train “Great Principals for Maryland” is being used by two public universities to collaborate in offering classes at a new Lower Eastern Shore School Leadership Institute.
A four-year Race to the Top grant has been awarded to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Salisbury University, sister institutions in the University System of Maryland. The institute is currently underway.
Planners say aspiring principals enrolled in the institute are learning strategies to lead schools in the 21st century. A focus of the program is reducing the achievement gap between different student groups. The institute reached out to Wicomico, Worcester, Somerset, Dorchester and Talbot county schools as partners.
Dr. Derry Stufft, coordinator of UMES’ Educational Leadership Doctoral Program ; Dr. Andrew Carrington, UMES professor of education; and Dr. Douglas DeWitt, director of the SU Educational Leadership Program, teamed up to write the grant proposal. They said they view the institute as a collaboration with county school superintendents to help improve education for Lower Eastern Shore students.
“Receiving this grant is another indicator of the close cooperation between the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Salisbury University. This leadership institute will further our efforts to serve and support the public schools on the Eastern Shore,” said Dr. Charles Williams, UMES Vice President for Academic Affairs.
The two campuses were honored with the prestigious Theodore M. Hesburgh Award from the TIAA-CREF Institute in 1998 for collaborative programming.
“Salisbury University and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore have had a distinguished history of collaboration. Our mutual commitment to education and teacher preparation makes this leadership institute a natural and welcome partnership between our two institutions,” said SU Provost and Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs Diane Allen.
The institute is also partnering with New Leaders for New Schools (NLNS), a nationally recognized non-profit that has a strong track record of recruiting and training principals to be highly effective in managing low-performing schools. NLNS is providing expertise and support in the selection of participants and help with their professional development.
Institute instruction includes:
- traditional coursework leading to principal licensure and professional development;
- preparation to assume a leadership role in challenging and under performing schools;
- an intensive mentoring program with personalized guidance and coaching in the participant’s leadership development;
- and a personalized and specific action plan to implement ix
