Starting in 2023-‘24, University of Texas Permian Basin will be able to partner with school districts and charter schools to provide principal residency opportunities.
UTPB’s College of Education was selected by the Texas Education Agency to participate in the TEA’s Principal Residency Grant initiative for 2023-‘24 through UTPB’s master of arts in educational leadership online graduate degree program.
College of Education Dean Larry Daniel said TEA created a set of requirements for any institution to apply. If an institution met those criteria, it could be added to a list of vetted programs that could accept principal residents.
“We got on the list of being eligible. Not every principal preparation program in the state is eligible. They have to apply,” Daniel said.
The college applied in late June and was added to the vetted list.
Probably in the early fall, he said, TEA will issue a call to school districts that want to participate in the vetted residency program.
“As they’re applying for the funds, they can get up to $70,000 per candidate (that) they would like to have go through the program; they will have to identify a partner institution,” Daniel said.
He said seveal local districts have already contacted UTPB about the residency program and have expressed excitement about UTPB being on the vetted list.
“We know that we’re likely to get some calls in a month or so when that application from the state goes out to the school districts. … It’s a multi-stage process. We’re officially eligible to work with a district to create the residency experience for the candidates,” Daniel said.
Associate Professor, Educational Leadership Department Chair Kevin Badgett said the faculty decided they could offer the residency.
Ethel Arzu, assistant professor in the College of Education in the Department of Educational Leadership, noted that the College of Education is experienced in this area. She added that districts that are awarded this grant partner with an effective principal educator preparation program that provides residents with course content focused on best practices and campus leadership, including a concentrated focus on instructional leadership.
Badgett said they are taking leadership candidates, aspirational leaders, promising teachers and embedding them into active leadership while they’re going through a preparation program.
There are other principal fellow programs out there, but Daniel said he thinks the demand is strong enough that there’s room for everyone.
He added that principals are going to be retiring in the next few years and there is still growth in local school districts. Eventually, Daniel said more schools will need to be built. “Most people when they get into this work, their first job will normally be as an assistant principal. They still have to have the same credential, so it’s kind of growing that next level; that next wave of leaders to come into the school. We’re probably preparing, very likely, the next round of assistant principals that they will in due time become principals,” Daniel said.
The credential is also good for assistant principals. Daniel said some districts require that certification for other leadership roles.
He added that Odessa and Midland school districts are the big players, “but a lot of our smaller rural districts are not very well served. And that’s not our fault. It’s not any other university’s fault. It’s just, they’re a little more out there. We aren’t as attentive because they don’t have the volume sometimes, but they still need to need prepare their next wave of leaders,” Daniel said.
Eventually, people will move on or retire.
“And they’ll need a constant stream of new people coming in, so we’re thinking we may be working with some of our rural districts in this endeavor, and we would look forward to doing that,” Daniel said. Daniel said UTPB is going to begin reaching out to a range of districts in the area. “Unless we feel we’ve got so much interest we could not possibly meet the demand, we will probably partner with any and all of our local districts who would have an interest in our working with them,” he said.
He noted that the College of Education is not changing its master’s program in educational leadership.
“We have two practicums that are set up for the intense field-based experience. We will tailor those practica to the needs of that district so the activities will be relevant, both to meeting the academic requirements we have and what the district may need to focus upon for their new leaders. There may be certain programs or academic emphases that they have in their district and they’ll probably want the candidates to focus a little more on some of those things that are district specific,” he said.
Daniel said participants will be paid while they are going to school.
“It’ll be up to $70,000 which will help them pay salaries, pay tuition to the university, and also the licensure fees. They do have to take a state licensure exam for building-level principal. The funds can be used toward any of that. Obviously, they’ll already be a salary of some type that person’s earning in the district, so this will supplement and enhance existing line of some sort probably a teacher line that the person currently has,” Daniel said. He said UTPB’s history of getting involved in partnerships with schools has been to focus on things that will enhance the educational experience while the person is preparing for a role in the schools.
“Our teacher residency program would be an example. This is actually a very good extension of the Teacher Residency Program. That program allowed us to take what’s typically a one-semester experience and broaden it out to a full year — preparing a teacher to be ready to assume duties in a classroom,” Daniel said.
Under the current model, students have to fit all the field-based experiences around being a full-time teacher, for example.
“This model would allow the district to designate the person as a principal resident, so they would actually have responsibilities at that school that would be focused on leadership and assisting a principal at the school,” Daniel said.
