School principals in remote areas of Alaska will receive professional development to hone their leadership skills, thanks to a grant from the United States Department of Education. Measured Progress is a recipient of the $3.75 million Rural Alaska Principal Preparation and Support grant (RAPPS), along with the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development; the Alaska Staff Development Network, a division of the Alaska Council of School Administrators; the University of Alaska, Anchorage, Educational Leadership Program; and a number of others. As part of the grant, Measured Progress’s professional development team will also work with principals from 18 remote schools in need of improvement or in need of corrective action, as designated by No Child Left Behind (NCLB).

RAPPS will provide extensive leadership training for principals from 141 schools in 18 Alaska school districts—only one of which includes schools on the state’s road system. These schools are among the most isolated in the United States, reachable only by airplane year-round and by snowmobile or small boats seasonally.

The project will take place over five years and is comprised of three major components: 1) recruiting and training new principals, 2) coaching new principals, and 3) providing technical assistance for practicing principals in high-need districts and schools in need of improvement, corrective action, or restructuring.

Component I aims to prepare new principals to lead rural, high-poverty, academically struggling schools. Major elements include:

• Enhancing the high-quality principal preparation program in place at the University of Alaska to more strongly emphasize the needs of rural principals.
• Recruiting principals, with special attention to participants taking the University of Alaska rural emphasis courses.
• Extensively using distance education to facilitate participation, course delivery, and support.
• Conducting summer symposia to connect rural principals with each another.

During component II, the RAPPS team will work with principals during their first two years on the job. Major elements include:

• Providing principals with both onsite and distance coaching by successful and experienced rural Alaska school principals.
• Learning organizational and facilitation skills, teacher observation and evaluation, how to use data to improve instruction, and effective school- and classroom-level assessment practices.

Component III will coach principals from schools in need of improvement or corrective action, in coordination with NCLB School Improvement/Corrective Action plans. Major elements include:

• Distance-delivered professional development through Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning, Dr. Pam Robbins and Dr. Harvey Alvy, and other partners.
• Work with the Alaska Department of Education and Early Development and district team leaders through site visits.

Through implementation of the RAPPS grant, the State of Alaska expects to see a number of strong outcomes by August 2014, including: 

• Fifty-five new principals will graduate from the University of Alaska-Anchorage with the skills they need to be successful principals in Alaska’s rural schools.
• Forty or more rural principals will be employed in one of the project’s 18 high-need schools.
• Ninety percent of RAPPS principals, who are new to the profession and have received two years of coaching, will remain employed as a principal in a high-need school for at least four years. 
• Seventy-five percent of principals involved in RAPPS for at least two years will show gains in effective leadership.
• Twenty percent of the RAPPS program schools identified as in need of improvement or corrective action will make Adequate Yearly Progress in that year.
• Starting in May 2010, fifty percent of RAPPS program schools identified as in need of improvement or corrective action, and who are actively involved in RAPPS professional development, will achieve one or more of the student academic learning objectives stated in their School Improvement Plans by May of each year.
• By May 2013, Alaska rural school districts with similar leadership will receive RAPPS project findings, results, and materials. 

"We believe that our partnership with Measured Progress will benefit educators and students in many of our rural Alaska schools. We are pleased and excited that the grant will fund collaborative professional development activities with Measured Progress," said Gary Whiteley, director, Alaska Administrator Coaching Project. 

Measured Progress shares Whiteley’s enthusiasm, both about the RAPPS project and the importance of strengthening the leadership skills of school administrators.

“Our mission is to improve teaching and learning—not just through developing assessments that uncover what students know and can do, but also through providing professional development to educators,” said Michael Ehringhaus, Measured Progress director of Professional Development. “Research shows that providing education and support to new and veteran principals has a direct, positive impact on student learning.”

Krysten Godfrey Maddocks