Culturally Responsive Teacher Leadership Core (15 credits)
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Culturally Responsive Educational Leadership (3 credits)
The focus of this course is developing the attitudes, dispositions, and skills needed to lead in multicultural educational settings. Students will explore and examine their individual leadership styles and will understand processes of school improvement and second order change. Students will explore major state initiatives like: Multi-Tiered Systems of Support, the Iowa Core, and the Early Literacy Initiative. This course will also examine theoretical and historical issues that affect the culture and climate of schools and that require school leaders to be culturally competent and culturally responsive. Participants will examine issues such as, urban education, rural education, immigration, overpopulation, low funding, segregation, linguistic diversity, race and discrimination, and low achievement. This course will deeply examine how school leaders can apply various theoretical lenses to address issues related to urban schooling. Students will also begin to analyze and use data to better understand student achievement and school environment.
Offered first 8 weeks of fall semester.
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Improving Collaborative Culture Through Instructional Coaching, Modeling, and Mentoring (3 credits)
In this course, students will explore a variety of strategies and models for creating a collaborative culture and will develop the effective communication skills required of teacher leaders, such as an instructional coaches and mentors. Students will learn how to use data, gap analysis, and action planning to prioritize professional development needs. Then, students will apply adult learning theory and Universal Design for Learning to plan professional development for classroom teachers. Students will then practice delivering professional development, anticipating and responding to the potential pitfalls that may arise as a result of the change and reform process. This course also focuses on establishing the theoretical foundations for using non-evaluative techniques for peer feedback, coaching, modeling, and mentoring. Students will gain experience conducting walk-through observations, designing questions focused on promoting instructional growth, providing specific, constructive feedback to peers, modeling effective teaching strategies for peers, goal-setting, and problem solving.
Offered first 8 weeks of spring semester.
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Empowering the Community Through Education (3 credits)
In order to meet the demands of the 21st century, schools need to create organized and planned partnership programs that fosters an environment which encourages families to become actively involved and contribute to their student’s academic success. These partnership programs must recognize that student learning is not confined to the school, but takes place in both in the home and the greater community. This course, therefore, features an introduction to the theory and principles of community education, an approach to education that builds upon the strengths and actively addresses needs within a community. Some of the examples studied will be full-service community schools, after school programs, adult and cooperative learning programs, and community based efforts to bring about social change. Students will analyze current and historical examples of community education and design strategic plans for fostering community-school collaboration in their own practice.
Offered second 8 weeks of fall semester.
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Educational Policy and Law (3 credits)
In this course, students will understand the major legal and policy issues that are affecting schools in the 21st century. Students will examine and explore educational legal precedent with a focus on how schools leadership teams collaborate when problem-solving. Students will also understand the legal, economic, and social implications of major policy initiatives at the local, state, and federal levels and how to advocate for students’ and other stakeholders’ needs within policy frameworks.
Offered 8 weeks in May / June.
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Research in Education (3 credits)
This course will focus on exploring the strengths and limitations of various research designs and the use of research in education. Students will have the opportunity to read a variety of research and explore differing purposes of various kinds. They will design a small research project focused on improving instructional practice in their classroom, building, or district. Students will reflect on their own practice and develop strategies for incorporating new research findings and resources into their practice to increase Pre-K/12 students’ achievement.
Offered second 8 weeks of spring semester.
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