Leadership Excellence Academy
The Leadership Excellence Academy is a joint venture between the National Adult Education Professional Development Consortium (NAEPDC) and ProLiteracy America. They joined forces in 2006 to launch a professional development initiative for local program managers. The initial pilot began in 2006-2007 with managers from Arizona, Maryland and New York. Texas is one of a selected number of states invited to join in 2007-2008. Texas currently has two cohorts consisting of program directors from ABE, Civics and Even Start.
The Academy is designed to offer support to program managers and give them tools and strategies to strengthen their program’s performance. Participants in the Academy will become one of the first administrators to earn national certification in adult education with professional designation after their name (CMPI - Certified Manager of Program Improvement).
Participants from Cohort 1 began their inaugural year in September 2007 and concluded May 2008 with a culminating project. Texas LEARNS would like to thank all of the participants for their dedication and diligence in this initiative. Cohort 2 will begin their first year in September 2008. Texas LEARNS welcomes all new Academy participants. During this period of transition, the Leadership Academy will provide knowledge to help you develop your own leadership and management style as well as put you on a course that will promote success.
The Academy participants complete online introductory courses; participate in face-to-face workshops and follow-up interactive web casts; and complete interim activities and learning projects that allow them to apply the knowledge gained through the training activities. Academy participants may earn a total of nine (9) hours of graduate credit from Ohio University for the two-year training series. Participants must meet all of the requirements for both Year 1 and Year 2 to be eligible.
Comments from Cohort 1:
This Academy has provided me the opportunity to capitalize on the knowledge and experience of other adult education administrators. It has also provided a structured process for programs to collect, analyze, and interpret program data in order to guide program initiatives.
Guadalupe C. Ruvalcaba; Director of SAISD - Adult & Community Education Department.
The Leadership Academy taught me the types of surveys available for program improvement and better ways to implement change within our programs.
Susan Pritchard, Director of Brenham ISD Adult Education Program
Having pushed me out of my comfort zone, the Leadership Excellence Academy, has taken our already existing team to higher levels. At a recent professional development session, one of my team members (a support staff person) was overheard telling a colleague from another ABE site that “we (teachers and support staff) all actually run this program together with our director” because the program has become the product of our collective mind.
Christina Palacios, Director of GED Instruction; Del Mar College; Corpus Christi
The Academy was helpful to lay out steps for programs that were on Program Improvement Plans.
John Stevenson, Grant Services Manager; Texas LEARNS
The Academy has been very productive because it gave us all ideas on how to do our jobs better. Although I had thought about some of these issues, it wasn’t until I had articulated them as priorities (and had those priorities reaffirmed by my staff) that I could focus my attention on developing solutions for them.
Eduardo Honold, Far West Project GREAT Coordinator
I have witnessed the true beauty of evaluation through the Leadership Academy. My staff and I annually review the program’s strategies framework to ensure our vision, mission, values, goals and objectives are clearly reflected in our services. However, learning to use the tools referenced in the Leadership Academy allows data to generate this process. The subjectivity is removed and we as a team can focus on accessing, understanding, judging, and integrating research findings to improve the program.
Paula Bauer, Project LEARN Coordinator
The National Leadership Academy has provided me with a different perspective in identifying program improvement needs for our campus. It has also created a network of resources for us to implement strategies which will lead to school improvement.
Fred Anaya, ABE Director; Ysleta Community Learning Center
I would highly recommend the Academy for any administrator really interested in comprehensive program improvement. This Academy provides tremendous support for identifying a need, structuring and implementing a plan, and evaluating the impact. The homework and deadlines keeps us on track. It is really great to share this experience with Texas colleagues.
Donna Byrum, Director of Adult Education Centers; Grayson County College
The Leadership Academy has given me research- based methods to study and receive feedback from the instructors in our consortium as to what they
observe to be priorities to address for program improvement. I have been able to utilize the talents of our staff in studying and creating processes for program improvement.
Sofia Zamarripa; Adult Education Director; Fort Worth ISD
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About the Author
Sheryl Jefferson worked as a chemist for twelve years before entering the education field. She taught at Integrated Physics and Chemistry, a local high school and at a local community college. She also served as local Even Start program coordinator before joining Texas LEARNS as a grant services manager.
