From the director
Licensure and leadership development for educational administrators:
Mission, vision and beliefs
by Ann Zweber Werner, Ph.D.
As part of the program's continuous improvement process leading to our North
Central Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) program review and our Minnesota
Board of School Administrators program review, our mission, vision, and belief statements
have been more clearly defined. Our belief that the University, licensed educational
administrators, and citizens of Minnesota share in the role of developing strong
educational administrators has been embedded in, not only our guiding principals,
but also in our daily practices.
Mission
The mission of the University of Minnesota’s licensure and leadership development
program is to prepare individuals to successfully fulfill all of the requirements
of the State of Minnesota, the Minnesota Board of School Administrators, and the
University of Minnesota for licensing as school superintendents, K-12 principals,
directors of special education, and directors of community education. The University
of Minnesota is a land-grant university and is dedicated to providing for the educational
needs of all of the citizens of Minnesota. To this end the licensure program welcomes
both the traditional and alternative licensure candidates and strives to be inclusive
of all diversity.
Vision
The vision statement for the licensure program is its guiding light. The three
elements of the vision statement are embedded in all aspects of teaching and learning
within the program.
The University of Minnesota’s Licensure and Leadership Program
is committed to the integration of professional wisdom, inquiry, and authentic practice
in the preparation of educational administrators.
Core beliefs
We believe …
- in the wisdom of those who drafted the guiding principles of MR3512 with
particular emphasis on the shared role among the universities and field practitioners
for preparing educational administrators.
- that individuals bring to the program unique strengths, formal training,
and experiences and that all of these must be valued and recognized in the cumulative
and collective preparation of educational administrators. Therefore, our program
must allow for individualization to accommodate each learner.
- that educational administrators make an essential difference in the lives
of children, communities, and the larger context of the role the children and
youth will play as adults in the world. Therefore, administrators must be well
prepared to meet the challenging responsibilities of leading educational organizations
that respond to the needs of each child that comes to us.
- that leaders must be able to recognize and analyze complexities, think about
problems and solutions in ways that integrate multiple competencies in authentic
practice situations, use research, and model best practices.
Ann Werner is director of the Licensure
and Leadership Development for Educational Administrators program. She also serves
on the Board of School Administrators. Prior to joining the University she served
as a secondary school principal for 21 years. She may be reached at
werne023@umn.edu.
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