Submitted Fall, 2004
(Objectives 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9)
Assessment
All candidates participated in Practicum, a course designed to provide practical learning experiences relevant to elementary and secondary school principals. Experiences included discussion of needs and problems, utilization of resource personnel, development of a portfolio, school visitations and an internship of no less than 60 clock hours.
Visitations were scheduled in Omaha Publics Schools and Omaha Westside. Candidates "shadowed" administrators over a two-day period and submitted a narrative summary of the visitations that included information received from the schools visited. As part of their summaries, the 32 students reflected on the challenges of diversity in large school districts compared to out-state Nebraska. Diversity was a major topic of discussion at the final class session.
Candidates were required to develop a portfolio, an accumulation of evidence about the candidate's intern experience. The following was included: Internship log, budget procedures, staff development plan, teacher evaluation, parent involvement, book reports, Board of Education meeting reviews, journal reviews, resume/application, book report, class presentations, and school visitations.
Both the site mentor and the faculty member evaluated the internship experience according to specific criteria in the Practicum Internship Assessment. All students successfully completed their internship experiences.
Recommendations
It was recommended that students have the option to submit their assignments either in a bound notebook or in an electronic portfolio.
It was recommended to align the practicum activities with the NPBEA standard and note both the required and suggested activities.