Daring Leadership
June 2020
Daring Leadership: Lessons Learned From Transforming Four Colleges of Education
Leadership matters. When college of education deans take on change efforts, they often feel isolated, as if theirs is the only institution experiencing the challenge of change. This often results in taking fewer risks, as they worry about fallout from key stakeholders such as their presidents & provosts, foundations, faculty, and teacher candidates.
In US PREP, deans and college of education leaders have leveraged one another to strengthen their collective commitments to bring about positive change in their preparation programs. Over the past year, inaugural US PREP coalition leaders have come together to speak about, write, and now share with the nation what they have learned about leading change in teacher preparation. Dr. Chandar Lewis, Interim Director of Teacher Education at Jackson State University shared, “Through this work, we reflected on our knowledge, pooled it together, strengthened our own learning and commitments, and now, we want to share it with others as a resource.”
Daring Leadership: Lessons Learned From Transforming Four Colleges of Education
provides a real, raw, and behind-the-scenes look at how leaders across four of US PREP’s inaugural cohort of institutions were able to lead their institutions through the change process. The leaders identified 5 common problems of practice in their change efforts: building capacity, building support, building productive partnerships with PK-12 school districts, changing university policies, and leveraging internal and external forces. Each problem of practice is accompanied by personal stories, experiences, and lessons learned. These leaders provide valuable insights into how they have led change and have institutionalized the changes, even amidst the varied challenges, constraints, and risks one faces with large-scale transformation efforts.
