A Model of Statewide Collaboration in Administrator Preparation The Aspiring Principal's Program in Southeast Kentucky

Employment patterns for educational administrators in southeastern Kentucky are shaped by the impending retirements of a large proportion of educational personnel; the changing nature of the principalship; shallow candidate pools for elementary and secondary principalships; and increased collaboration between elementary-secondary schools and higher education. These factors provided the impetus for creating the Aspiring Principal Program. This paper describes how the program was developed and implemented among three universities--the University of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, and Morehead State University. The paper describes the program's procedural and philosophical agreements, curricular objectives, and course content. Students participated in the following activities: the Leadership Early Assessment Program, a student-selected event, a staff-development workshop, a simulated job interview, principal shadowing, the Kentucky Technology Conference, community visitation, a state-legislature visitation, and a portfolio-development workshop. The program's experiences are being used to plan a restructured model for the development of school leaders in Kentucky. (Contains 16 references.) (LMI) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document