Preparing Social Justice Leaders in the Era of High-Stakes Licensure Assessments: Student and Faculty Perceptions of a Redesigned Principal Preparation Program

Principal preparation programs face the unique challenge of preparing social justice leaders who are equipped to dismantle the many inequities in K-12 schools. In 2017 California’s credential requirements for school administrators (e.g., principals) changed significantly with the adoption of new state standards for administrators and the addition of a new high-stakes administrator performance assessment (the California Administrator Performance Assessment, or CalAPA). Accordingly, principal preparation programs throughout California had to respond to this change. The purpose of this paper is to share faculty and student perceptions of one principal preparation program’s revision to equip candidates to be social justice leaders; to align to new state leadership standards (the CAPE); and to prepare candidates for a high-stakes, state-mandated performance assessment (the CalAPA). Data for this study included student focus groups and faculty interviews as students and faculty shared their perceptions of and experiences with the new program and the CalAPA performance assessment. Several implications for principal preparation programs were found: the need for a comprehensive curriculum with an explicit social justice focus, the benefits of the cohort model, the value of field based assignments, the need for supportive instructional practices, and the challenges and benefits of state-mandated performance assessments such as the CalAPA. The process of program revision and adaptation to a new state-mandated, high-stakes administrator performance assessment may be relevant to other programs seeking to prepare social justice leaders.