Farah Mohamed of the Washington Post reveals today that DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson is the creator of a new master's degree program at Georgetown University established in an effort to improve the leadership skills of public school principals. The reporter captures Ms. Henderson's excitement about the course of study, "This program is about to set these people on fire,” Henderson said. “They’re good principals, but they could be great principals if they had the tool kit.”
25 principals began going back to school this week. The classroom work lasts one year and includes students meeting every other weekend to discuss case studies.
Mrs. Henderson initiated the masters program because she felt that current offerings did not provide the material needed to take her school system to a new higher level. Ms. Henderson went to Georgetown as an undergraduate and completed her own leadership master's degree there in 2007.
One of the most encouraging parts of this news is that there have been significant efforts to lower tuition costs for participants. Georgetown has reduced its normal rates for school principals and two thirds of the expenses are paid by the Federal government’s Teacher Incentive Fund and a grant from Katherine Bradley's CityBridge Foundation.
Here's hoping that numerous public school principals from all education sectors in the nation's capital take advantage of this innovative program.
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