Inspiring Confidence and Professional Growth in Leadership - Student Perspectives on University District Partnership Master’s Academies

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag

Student narratives and survey-informed perspectives describe how University District Partnership Master’s Academies build leadership capacity through hands-on learning aligned with ISLLC standards. The program supports a master’s cohort model over two years, pairing university instructors with district liaisons and mentorship to connect theory with practice in authentic school contexts. Participants report increased confidence, system-level thinking within learning organizations, and personalized ownership of learning.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

General Academy Benefits

Academy Model Outline

Partnership academy graduates focus on student perspectives in the academies through the use of surveysand through personal narratives oftheir own experiences. Inspiring Confidence and Professional Growth in Leadership: Student Perspectives on UniversityDistrict Partnership Master's Academies Pilar Mejía, Samrie Devin, and Heather Calvert Ms. Pilar Mejía is a native Colombian who has resided in the United States for 17 years. She joined Topeka Public Schools in 2004 after receiving herB.Ed from Washburn University. She holds a M.S. from the University of Kansas and is pursuing herEd.D from Kansas State University. Her 11-year career includes experience as an elementary and middle school teacher, ELL Instructional Coach in secondary education, and Dual Language Coordinator at Scott Dual Language Magnet Elementary where she is currently Assistant Principal. Ms. Samrie Devin has been a public educator for 27 years. She has served as an elementary principal and classroom teacher. She is currently the Human Resources Director for Lawrence Public Schools in Lawrence, Kansas, and a doctoral student at Kansas State University. Ms. Heather Calvert is an Educational Leadership student at Kansas State University, and an Assistant Principal at Meadows Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas. After graduating from Kansas State with a bachelor’s in 2006, she has served as a classroom teacher, a literacy coach, and a building leader. She earned a Masters’ in Curriculum and Instruction from Peru State College in 2011 prior to joining the KSU-Topeka Leadership Academy. Currently she is working her doctorate in Educational Leadership. Change really isn’t as hard as we thought if we capture people’s interest and give them enjoyable, worthwhile experiences. – Michael Fullan (2013, p. 77) Introduction School leadership matters when discussing teacher effectiveness and student performance, and preparation programs need to graduate principals with the skills necessary to lead schools for tomorrow. The traditional approach to preparing educational leaders is no longer getting the job done. It is going to take everyone working together to better prepare those who will lead the schools we need (Miller, T., Devin, M., Shoop, 2005). Working together is exactly what Kansas State University (KSU) is doing by partnering with public school leaders to design a preparation program for leaders based on an effective blend of theory and practice. This collaborative relationship, in the form of universitydistrict partnership master’s degree academies, have prepared over 300 educators in the last 15 years for various leadership responsibilities at the building level, whether serving from the classroom or in an administrative position. As students who completed such a KSU-district partnership academy as part of our professional development, we can speak to the experience of being a student in the academy and we can comment on connections between our learning experiences and the leadership roles we have assumed in the years after the academy. After reflecting on our own experiences and reaching out to other former academy students, we found that the partnership master’s academies inspire high levels of confidence and professional growth in students, and at the same time helped the students think systemically as members of a larger organization. General Academy Benefits Partnership academies give students hands-on learning experiences that engage them in the day-to-day realities of a school from a leadership perspective. Students in the 30 Vol. 43, No. 4, Fall 2016 academy study current research, partner in a mentorship, engage in assignments and field experiences based on Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) standards (Council of Chief State School Officers, 2008), and reflect on their learning in order to grow as leaders. Through these experiences, students are given the opportunity to immediately make connections between th

FAQs

What outcomes do students report from the university-district partnership master’s academies?

Students report high levels of confidence and professional growth, along with learning that helps them think systemically as members of a larger organization.

How does the academy model structure cohort learning?

The academies run as a two-year master’s cohort where the same group of students progresses through courses in an established sequence with shared support from university instructors and a district liaison.

What learning approach connects theory to day-to-day school leadership?

Students engage in research study, mentorship, assignments, and field experiences and reflect on learning to immediately apply theory in authentic school situations.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag