Part of the plan is to look at what established school are doing to educate leaders in education. While there may be other schools with better programs, I looked specifically at Stanford’s Policy, Organization, and Leadership Studies (POLS) program and Harvard’s School Development Strand in the School Leadership program. I chose to study these programs because they both seemed to take a progressive stance in methodology and curriculum. Stanford’s and Harvard’s programs offer chances to work with issues in a real educational settings. This fits perfectly with my situation as I deal with real issues in education on a daily basis through my job. So, I plan on referring back to them over the next several years to help guide my curriculum.
Both POLS and the School Development Strand offer latitude and choice within the programs, which supports my desire to follow my own interests. Off the bat, I noticed a course at Stanford, the History of School Reform, that deals with the history of why the reform movements in education have not worked. While I already have some background in reform movements of the last century, I have not looked at them from this particular angle. So, I emailed Dr. David Labaree who teaches this course and asked him to send me the reading list and any course materials. I was pleasantly surprised when I received a prompt reply with the course syllabus attached.
This is exactly how envision this process working. I find a topic that interests me, I look for an expert in the field and get advice and direction, then I pursue the work of learning. The “work of learning” will hopefully include others who can help me to pursue alternate lines of thought.
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