College of Education and Behavioral Sciences News

In 2016, WKU was one of seven universities to earn part of a $50 million grant from the Wallace Foundation to redesign programs to prepare principals and school leaders for the reality of the job. The program required a partnership with a school district and WKU worked with Green River Regional Education Cooperative (GRREC) in western Kentucky.

The findings from this program, published by the RAND Corporation, have now been released. Some of the takeaways include: principal prep programs benefitted from the school districts being involved in selecting candidates for the cohort, universities found success when they shifted away from lectures and more towards real-world assignments to help candidates experience what the job of a principal is truly like, and students thrived in a cohort because it allowed them to network with peers that have similar goals. You can read the full report at https://www.wallacefoundation.org/knowledge-center/Documents/redesigning-university-principal-preparation-programs-brief.pdf.

To learn more about the Principial Preparation degree program and to see admission requirements, go to https://www.wku.edu/slps/school_principal_mae.php.