Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

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How we’ll cultivate leaders in education

When we see schools that ensure every child in the building, regardless of race or socioeconomic background, has the opportunity to reach their fullest potential, we see great school leadership present.

Great school leaders engage parents. Great school leaders involve the community in the success of their schools. Great school leaders provide teachers with the support and collaborative environment they need to reach diverse learners. Great school leaders attract and retain effective teachers and are one critical piece of the puzzle in solving our pressing teacher pipeline crisis.

Research suggests the principal accounts for 25 percent of a school’s effect on student achievement and a leader sets the school’s course toward our ultimate community goal: well-rounded students who have the necessary knowledge and tools to succeed.

As the leaders of Teach For America in the Las Vegas Valley and Nevada Succeeds, two groups of many focused on developing long-term solutions to our teacher and leader pipeline challenges, we want to tip our hat to those who have developed a program with the potential to add more great leaders to our system: UNLV’s new graduate program in Urban Leadership Development that will specialize in educational leadership.

Specifically, UNLV Provost John White, Vice Provost Greg Brown, Associate Provost Monica Lounsbery, Planning Director Patti Chance, Clark County Schools Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky and Assistant Superintendent Mike Barton were crucial partners in bringing this program to fruition.

We learned recently at UNLV’s Collaborative Research and Education Initiative (CoRE) event that the primary goal of the educational leadership program is to develop future principals for the School District and to prepare them for the complex challenges of 21st-century society.

Chance and Skorkowsky said the educational leadership program will combine research-backed methods and practical training. A 25-member cohort will work together in four modules: leadership to develop 21st-century structures, collaborative/disruptive leadership, evidence-based leadership, and leadership to develop a culture of learning and equity.

Members of the cohort will also receive field-based experience at schools and mentoring from CCSD principals so they can experience firsthand the characteristics and competencies of an excellent leader.

The program itself is a good practical step forward for Southern Nevada to fill a critical need area and symbolically highlights one of our community’s most pressing challenges — the need to recruit, train and develop effective leaders for Nevada’s classrooms and schools.

We believe this could also become a living example of what is possible when the educational system — in this case UNLV and CCSD — work in partnership to solve communitywide problems.

If, as a community, we are going to make real strides in improving our education system, we must celebrate our successes with as much energy and enthusiasm as we dedicate to highlighting shortcomings.

It is in this spirit that we want to say thank you to UNLV and the School District for working together to build a new urban educational leadership program at the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs.

When the program launches in January, it will mark a collaborative approach to increase the diversity and skill set of school leaders in Nevada.

The future leaders of our city will come together to learn, grow and receive the tools necessary to become great leaders who effect change, promote achievement, engage the community and ultimately work to provide educational opportunity for local students.

Brent Husson is the president of Nevada Succeeds, and Victor Wakefield is the executive director of Teach For America in the Las Vegas Valley.

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