Capella receives state approval for K-12 leadership specialization

Capella University receives state approval for K-12 leadership specialization

Capella University's graduate specialization in K-12 Educational Leadership was approved by the Minnesota Board of School Administrators on April 2, 2003. State approval of the K-12 Educational Leadership program is a significant accomplishment for Capella University. It is the first online university to receive approval to endorse K-12 principals and superintendents for licensure in Minnesota and the only online university in the nation to achieve both regional accreditation and state approval.

Throughout the United States, schools have begun to experience a shortage of qualified school leadership candidates; a recent study by the Education Research Service (ERS) estimated that more than 40% of public school principals will retire over the next ten years. Capella University is addressing this and other major issues in the K-12 education market with online education programs that tackle contemporary issues of leadership.

"The skill-set for school and district leaders has changed enormously in the last ten years," said Jim Wold, PhD, executive director of the School of Education at Capella and former superintendent of schools in New Richmond, Wisconsin. "Today, building and district leaders need skills in human resources, project and resource management, professional development, instruction, governance, politics and law. In a corporation, these would be separate functions managed by a team of personnel."

Capella programs address the known and the newest issues affecting the education marketplace. "Because we are a virtual university, we can implement courses quickly-curriculum decisions aren't bogged down for months in a faculty senate," Wold said. For example, when President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001(NCLB) in 2002, Capella reacted with integrative projects for master's and PhD students to ensure that candidates understood the principles and impact of the NCLB.

"The way I see it," Wold said, "There are three things on the minds of school leaders today: understanding how to administer unwieldy special education programs; the federal "No Child Left Behind" mandate; and how to deal with overzealous and frequently litigious parents. Our instructors have the same issues the students have and can offer immediate solutions that work in real-time."

The K-12 Educational Leadership program prepares individuals for principal and superintendent positions through a combination of theoretical coursework, field work and a 320-hour on-site internship in courses taught by scholar/practitioners-principals and superintendents from around the country.