FIGURE 28 . YEARS OF EXPERIENCE FOR TENNESSEE PRINCIPALS
50 %
|
40 %
30 %
20 %
10 %
0 %
|
25 % |
38 %
33 % 29 %
31 %
15 % 8 %
0 1 - 3 4 - 8 9 +
|
21 % |
2013
2015
Source : Tennessee Department of Education , 2016
|
As a reflection of Tennessee ’ s commitment to developing strong school leaders , in October 2015 Commissioner of Education Candice McQueen announced the creation of the Transformational Leadership Advisory Council ( TLAC ). This advisory council , composed of state and district leaders as well as representatives from the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors , pursued three goals . 35 Those goals included identifying common elements of successful preparation programs , supporting the development and expansion of regional providers that focus on innovative school leadership models , and supporting the design or refinement , implementation , and evaluation of pipeline programs .
GOVERNOR ’ S ACADEMY FOR SCHOOL LEADERSHIP
The Governor ’ s Academy for School Leadership is a partnership between TDOE , the Governor ’ s Office , Vanderbilt University ’ s Peabody College , and local school districts . The academy aims to cultivate transformational school leaders . The program pairs assistant principals with experienced principal mentors . Participants attend monthly training sessions and a summer institute at Vanderbilt , and they receive individual coaching sessions . After completing their year with the academy , participants are expected to pursue placement as a school principal in their district or region .
TLAC produced a report in August 2016 that outlined eight components of effective principal pipelines , called for program models based on cost-sharing among partners , and recommended a model leadership program designation to recognize exemplary programs . To act on these recommendations , the advisory council created the Tennessee Transformational Leadership Alliance ( TTLA ). TTLA will be comprised of a design team and TTLA partners . Members of the design team will focus on stakeholder engagement and communication , development of support tools for program partners , and membership , monitoring and evaluation of programs . TTLA partners will represent foundations , businesses , institutions of higher education , and school districts willing to implement a shared-cost partnership model to develop new or refine existing transformational leadership pipeline programs .
The efforts of TLAC and TTLA represent the culmination of years of conversations among state , district , and local partners across Tennessee to advance the quality and commitment of school leadership . With TTLA , Tennessee is poised , through an organized , collaborative effort , to address many existing challenges to school leader success .
PG . 35