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PESB Domain 6: Principal Program Review

Context Narrative

Washington State University (WSU) offers a comprehensive and rigorous internship program for aspiring principals. This program is designed to provide authentic leadership experiences and provide practical knowledge essential for future educational leaders. The internship serves as a bridge between theoretical learning and real-world application, ensuring that candidates are well-prepared to take on leadership roles in educational settings upon completion of their studies.

WSU Principal and Program Administrator (PPP) candidates complete a full school year internship, comprising at least 540 hours. Half of these hours must occur during school hours when students and/or staff are present. Candidates track their hours in an internship log. The internship activities are outlined in the EdAd 590 course shell, the program handbook, and the Washington Council of Educational Administration Programs (WCEAP) common performance tasks. Districts hosting interns sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that details partnership responsibilities and relationships.

Throughout the internship, candidates receive ongoing feedback from university supervisors and school-site mentors (candidate internship plan process) Each spring, a panel of interns presents to the WSU administrative program’s Professional Educator Advisory Board (PEAB). The internship is also a regular agenda item at PEAB meetings.

The Candidate Field Supervisors are all former school principals and/or superintendents and work collaboratively to assure that all WSU interns state-wide are provided opportunities to demonstrate school leadership and complete a portfolio that evidences their learning.

The WSU Principal and Program Administrator internship program represents a crucial component in the development of future educational leaders. By combining extensive hands-on experience with ongoing mentorship and evaluation, the program ensures that candidates are thoroughly prepared for the challenges of educational administration. The collaboration between WSU, school districts, and experienced professionals creates a rich learning environment that benefits not only the interns but also the educational community as a whole. WSU’s PPP collaborates with its PEAB, partner mentors, and faculty to continuously improve the program. This comprehensive approach to leadership preparation underscores WSU’s commitment to excellence in education and its dedication to shaping the next generation of effective, innovative school leaders.

The Washington State University Professional Preparation Program (WSU PPP) integrates coursework and field experiences to prepare students for clinical internships and engender reflective practice and learning. During their internships, students must complete four Washington Council for Educational Administration Programs (WCEAP) common assessment tasks (Candidate final portfolio):

  • Developing a Vision and Improvement Plan
  • Fostering a Culture of Learning
  • Teacher Observation, Analysis, and Feedback
  • Family and Community Engagement to Improve Student Learning

The program’s courses prepare students for these tasks by emphasizing:

  • Comprehensive school context analysis
  • Integration of equity and cultural responsiveness
  • Data-driven decision-making and improvement planning
  • Stakeholder engagement and perspective-taking
  • Application of theoretical frameworks to real-world contexts
  • Instructional leadership and supervision skills
  • Self-reflection on leadership development
  • Ethical leadership practices

These concepts are woven throughout the course curriculum and field experiences, contributing to all four tasks completed in the clinical internship. This approach creates a comprehensive framework for developing educational leadership skills, with a strong focus on equity, cultural responsiveness, and data-driven decision-making. The PPP curriculum map reflects this progression as illustrated in the following table. This table demonstrates the linkages of coursework to field and clinical experiences and provides examples of where they are present within the coursework.

Principal Program Course and Field Linkages Table (open in new window)

This integrated approach creates a learning environment where theory and practice are consistently interwoven across various aspects of school leadership. Candidates engage in a cyclical process of learning, application, reflection, and refinement, which is essential for developing effective, reflective school leaders. The emphasis on real-world problems, stakeholder engagement, equity considerations, and cultural competence ensures that candidates are well-prepared to lead school improvement efforts in diverse and complex educational settings.

C) Providers offer field experiences that are in accordance with chapter 181-78A and the board-approved candidate assessment requirements.

Context Statement

Candidate coursework, field experiences, and clinical experiences are structured and implemented to ensure candidates have robust learning opportunities. This is achieved through a system of progressive responsibility, where candidates advance from shadowing to leading substantive leadership projects. High-quality in-service mentor principals and university field supervisors provide ongoing support throughout this journey. Leadership project implementation is carefully scaffolded to match candidates’ developing skills and confidence. All projects and experiences are aligned with professional leadership standards to ensure relevance and comprehensiveness. Additionally, candidates engage in required reflective practice, allowing them to critically examine their experiences and growth. This comprehensive structure ensures aspiring principals receive a well-rounded and supported learning journey, preparing them effectively for future leadership roles.

Progressive Responsibility:

As described in the program handbook a principal intern typically begins their field experience in coursework by closely observing an experienced principal’s daily activities and decision-making processes. As the intern gains familiarity with the school context and demonstrates readiness, they transition to active participation in leadership activities. This might involve contributing to staff meetings, assisting with teacher evaluations, or helping to analyze school data. The mentor principal gradually increases the intern’s responsibilities, allowing them to take on more complex tasks such as leading professional development sessions or managing specific school improvement initiatives. Eventually, the intern progresses to assuming full responsibility for certain leadership actions. This could include independently handling disciplinary issues, leading parent-teacher conferences, or overseeing a school-wide project. Throughout this progression, the mentor principal provides ongoing feedback and support, while the intern engages in regular reflection to deepen their understanding of effective school leadership practices. This gradual release of responsibility ensures the intern develops confidence and competence in various aspects of school administration, preparing them for future principalship roles. Candidates document their work and progression through the interns in the internship log, through portfolio development, and ultimately completing the WCEAP common performance tasks.

Mentor principals and university field supervisors:

Candidates are paired with experienced principals who provide guidance and feedback. Mentor principals have at least three years of experience documented by MOU. University field supervisors are all former principals and/or superintendents who oversee the interns’ experiences, providing additional support and ensuring alignment with program goals. Mentor principals and university supervisors support the candidate through all leadership activities via one-on-one visits, emails, written feedback, and graded performance assessments.

Scaffolded project implementation/standards alignment

Standards-based coursework, field experiences, and internships for aspiring principals are carefully scaffolded to support progressive learning and skill development. This scaffolding begins with foundational coursework that introduces key leadership concepts and theories aligned with professional standards. As candidates advance, they engage in increasingly complex field experiences, starting with shadowing and observation of experienced principals. These experiences gradually expanded to include supervised participation in leadership tasks, such as contributing to staff meetings or assisting with teacher evaluations. The progression of teacher supervision that begins EdAd 516 and cumulates in the completion of Task 3 serves as a nice example of this kind of progression. Concurrent advanced coursework deepens theoretical understanding and introduces more sophisticated leadership strategies. The scaffolding culminates in a comprehensive internship where candidates take on substantial leadership responsibilities, including designing and implementing school improvement projects.

For example, the project that interns begin in EdAd 509 contributes to tasks 1 and 2. Throughout this progression, assignments and projects become more challenging and open-ended, requiring greater independent decision-making and application of leadership skills. Regular feedback from mentor principals and university supervisors, along with structured reflection activities, helps candidates connect theory to practice and build their leadership competencies. This scaffolded approach ensures that aspiring principals develop the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed to effectively lead schools in alignment with professional standards.

Reflective practice

Principal candidates are required to engage in ongoing reflection throughout their preparation program, encompassing their coursework, field experiences, and internships. This reflective practice is designed to deepen their understanding of leadership concepts and their application in real-world settings. In courses, candidates write reflective essays (EdAd 589, 516) and participate in classroom discussions analyzing how theoretical concepts relate to their observations and experiences. During field experiences, they maintain reflective journals, documenting their observations of leadership practices and considering how these align with or diverge from their coursework student work examples. In internships, candidates typically engage in more structured reflection, such as weekly or bi-weekly meetings with their mentor principals and university supervisors to discuss challenges, successes, and areas for growth. They also complete reflective assignments that prompt them to critically examine their decision-making processes, leadership actions, and their impact on school communities. This multi-faceted approach to reflection helps candidates develop a habit of continuous self-assessment and improvement, a crucial skill for effective school leadership.

Context Statement

WSU principal preparation programs are delivered across the state, primarily in Southwest Washington, the Tri-Cities, and Spokane County. These regions of Washington state include a wide diversity of K12 students. As the Seattle Times documented in 2023, the majority of students in Washington Public Schools are students of color. The current OSPI report card supports these data. As the OSPI report card suggests, diversity goes far beyond race, including English Language Learners (ELL), students in foster care, low-income and homeless children, students with disabilities, and migrant families.

Therefore, Washington State University’s educational leadership program places a strong emphasis on preparing future principals to effectively lead diverse school communities because they already work and live in diverse communities.
While candidates primarily intern at their current teaching sites, the program ensures exposure to diverse student populations, fostering skills in cross-cultural communication (EdAd 583) and inclusive learning environment creation (EdAd 516, 588). Cultural responsiveness is at the core of both coursework and clinical experiences (EdAd 590), enabling candidates to recognize unconscious biases and implement culturally responsive practices.

The program facilitates networking opportunities with diverse community leaders and educators, amplifying marginalized voices through readings (see Course Information), course assignments and assessments (see common assessments in course templates), and course, field, and clinical experience projects (EdAd 590 template and program handbook). Future leaders are equipped with strategies to create schools of belonging, engaging families from various backgrounds and addressing systemic inequities. Graduates emerge with a deep understanding of diverse student needs, the ability to lead culturally responsive initiatives, and the skills to foster equity and inclusion in educational settings (Principal Program Candidate Voices).

This comprehensive approach ensures that WSU-trained educational leaders are well-prepared to create and maintain schools that truly serve and support all students, regardless of their cultural background.

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