School administrators or teachers looking to become a principal have multiple paths to that goal within the UNCG School of Education. A pair of programs specifically provide the essential training to achieve that goal – the nationally-recognized and award-winning Principal Preparation for Excellence and Equity in Rural Schools (PPEERS) is a partnership with multiple rural school districts, while the Assistant Principal Leadership Academy (APLA) is run in connection with Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (WSFCS).
While both programs focus on preparing school leaders to hold principal roles, participants have different experiences in each. Both programs are housed within the Department of Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations.
APLA Develops Leaders for WSFCS
The APLA partnership was made possible through a $102 million grant from the Wallace Foundation that supports eight large school districts around the country in building principal pipelines that can produce school leaders capable of advancing their district’s vision of equity. WSFCS was one of those eight districts selected as part of this Equity-Centered Pipeline Initiative and has been collaborating with UNCG’s Dr. Brian Clarida to train future principals.
A former principal and assistant principal, Clarida is uniquely positioned to guide this initiative. His experiences helped lead him to wanting to train future school leaders.
Clarida said, “I think after having been a principal and coaching and mentoring other principals, I see that there’s a need to make sure that people are prepared to go into leadership. In so many cases, it’s a lonely job and can be a scary job. I just want to make sure that I am able to ensure that our students are going out prepared and that they have what they need to be successful.”
Students in the APLA conduct monthly, day-long meetings that help them build the skills necessary to handle the role of a principal. Among the skills they work on are teacher evaluations, discipline, budgeting, parent and community involvement, and mock interviews. Much of this is accomplished through role-playing scenarios.
Clarida said, “We try to figure out ways to make sure they are well-rounded because we want them to be successful. What we know is that if we can prepare successful leaders, they’re going to help students be successful. They’re going to help teachers be successful.”
Now a few years into the project, a strong bond has been built between UNCG and WSFCS. Clarida has been able to participate in monthly district team meetings in what is an exchange of ideas, concerns, and needs. These discussions allow the program to adjust the focus for participants to address those concerns and needs. Over the course of the program, the cohort size has grown from 10 to 25 participants.
While the grant funding this program is slated to end in 2026, Clarida is hopeful that the program will continue. Both he and WSFCS have already begun planning for the future, but both sides are looking to build a lasting program, one that will continue to develop principals for the district for years to come.
Clarida said, “I think I’d like the legacy of this program to be a model for how other districts can do the same thing with university partners. We don’t have to work in silos. This is something that doesn’t have to end even when the funding ends; this is something that can continue.
“We know that we’re going to need more and more administrators, ones that are effective. In order to do that, we have to have things in place to make sure that we are creating those leaders. We’re providing those opportunities for them to understand what success looks like.”
PPEERS Addresses Specific Needs for Rural Districts
With 15 partner districts PPEERS works to prepare principals for rural counties whose schools receive fewer school leader applicants and face unique challenges compared to larger districts across North Carolina.
Dr. Christopher Kelly, program director, and Dr. Mark A. Rumley, assistant director, lead the UNCG team that allows PPEERS participants to earn not only their principal licensure, but a Master’s of School Administration (MSA) as well. Both have backgrounds as highly effective principals and district leaders.
From the previous cohort that graduated in May of 2024, to the current cohort that began in the fall semester of 2024, the cohort size has grown from 18 to 28 participants.
Rumley said, “(PPEERS) is carved out as a specialty program that really prepares people for rurality. It looks different than most other principal fellow programs, and certainly different from a traditional MSA program. We emphasize equity and are constantly looking at what do equitable outcomes look like for all students. We constantly engage candidates in data dives using real-time data from their own schools and from their internship sites. So, what does school improvement look like as a result of having that kind of lens and that sort of ability to focus? We have set a goal of preparing the brightest and the very best that our partner districts send us. Our impact thus far has been to produce really effective school leaders.”
Participants in the two-year program, which is funded through the North Carolina Principal Fellows Program, complete 42 semester hours of classwork in addition to an 11-month internship. Many members of the cohort are currently teachers, while others are instructional coaches or facilitators, and a small number are assistant principals. They are identified by their districts and are screened first by those same districts before going through the application process at UNCG. That includes a “performance day” where candidates sit through interviews, are given scenarios they need to respond to, and conduct conferences as one would as a principal.
Of the focus on rural districts, Kelly said, “PPEERS is a research-based grant. These districts have a high need for effective administrators and have to grow their own administrators in terms of building up their pipeline within their own districts. This is what we strive to do for our partner districts in our program. There aren’t a lot of resources and there’s not a large pool of candidates to choose from. So, we really have to grow and develop our own.”
Despite the fact that each of the districts PPEERS works with are considered rural, they all still have different needs and areas of concern.
Kelly said, “We try to focus and utilize specific things in our program. For example, our last cohort and our current cohort conducted training specifically around literacy and building literacy as a leader.
“We’ve also partnered with NCA-STAR and the North Carolina Center for Resilience & Learning to conduct specific trainings. Dr. Karen Fairley, the Executive Director of Center for Safer Schools, came and provided a presentation and information to our current cohort and our previous cohort, as well. We try to build partnerships and bring in special presenters that align with our mission and vision to aid in growing our fellows.”
Two Distinct Programs, One Goal
While the APLA and PPEERS programs each have a specific focus for their cohort members, they share the same goal – develop effective principals who can fill a need for their district.
Each district has its own challenges and distinct desires for what those school leaders will be. With these two programs, leaders are stepping up, principals are finding jobs, and needs are being addressed.
Clarida said, “We try to really make sure that we provide a rich environment for our students. We create an open space for our students to come in and be themselves and to be able to know that we’re there for them, that we care about them, and that we want them to be successful. Our students always brag about how they can tell that we as a whole – our department, the university – how we really care about people.”