Educational Research Service Making a Difference in Our Children’s Future 
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Educational Research Service Making a Difference in Our Children’s Future
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ERS Successful School Practices
A selection of successful practices, programs, and ideas contributed by school districts to the ERS Successful School Practices Collection and announced in the ERS periodical, Successful School Practices, mailed to ERS Comprehensive subscribers three times a year.
Spring 2000
Intern Program “Grows” New School Administrators
G
ood principals are a key ingredient of good schools. That is why, as far back as 1983, the Council Bluffs Community School District dedicated itself to a comprehensive system for recruiting, selecting, inducting, and developing building principals. Several years ago, the district redesigned its Administrative Intern Program in order to select the very best leaders for the district’s schools and to support them in their early years of service.Teachers in the school district are encouraged to apply for the Administrative Intern Program, and are selected through a screening process that includes a written application, an interview with presentation, and a formal outside evaluator telephone interview. Candidates are also required to respond, using a computer, to questions dealing with administrative concerns.
Candidates who are recommended for hiring move on to the development segment of the program, which lasts from one to three years depending on the growth of the Intern and the needs of the district. During this time, Interns are assigned to smaller schools where they establish the experience to run schools on their own.
Interns are assigned mentor principals who devise a formal plan for continuous support throughout the year. They are paid their regular teaching salary as they learn, but they receive extra pay for the additional days they are expected to work during their Intern years.
Monthly General Meetings are held with all Administrative Interns, focusing on Mission, Vision, Beliefs, Strategic Goals, Building Goals, State Assessment Goals, and curriculum, including integrating technology, finance and facility issues, personnel concerns, community involvement, and district responsibilities. All sessions include a special time for sharing of concerns.
Along with the monthly meetings, each Administrative Intern is supervised by the Assistant Superintendent in collaboration with the mentor. They meet with the Assistant Superintendent at least six times during the year. The first meeting is a planning session that happens in August or September. The next four meetings are observations of the Interns’ work in their assigned schools.
Each Intern invites the Assistant Superintendent to four different types of experiences such as staff meetings, parent meetings, supervision conferences, etc. The sixth meeting is a summative conference where the Intern shares supportive materials that he/she has gathered, such as portfolios, surveys, data on student growth, etc.
Persons who successfully complete the Administrative Intern Program are placed as full-time administrators with the district. The school district has found that the Administrative Intern Program “allows the beginning principal the opportunity to experience the day-to-day challenges as an administrator with an incredibly strong base of support.”
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