Six years ago, Tom Brenner was one of the youngest professionals in the first cohort of the Minnesota Principals Academy. From his job as middle-school principal in Cloquet, Brenner drove to the metro many times over 18 months, sometimes more than once a week. It was a big commitment, but his leadership team was supportive.
“Every time I got back from the academy, we would talk through something in a new way,” he says. “After a few times, they were ready for me. In the first year, we started at ground zero, wrote out our mission and vision, and laid out a plan for the next two to three years.”

Over time, Brenner’s faculty and staff implemented a variety of interventions in math and reading, from programmatic changes to scheduling. They formed and worked in professional learning communities structured around instruction. And test scores improved.
“The biggest take-back of the Principals Academy was that it helped me understand and implement myself better in the building,” says Brenner. “I went from managing to being an instructional leader.”
Strong leadership, strong schools
“There are no strong schools without strong leadership,” says Ken Dragseth, director of the University’s administrative licensure program and former superintendent of Edina Public Schools. “School principals are second only to classroom teachers in their importance to student success.”
Research shows that principals impact 25 percent of student learning, yet little professional development is targeted to principals. Since the Principals Academy was established in Minnesota six years ago as part of the U’s College Readiness Consortium, it has helped to train more than 300 school leaders. The academy has used an executive development curriculum developed by the National Institute of School Leadership (NISL).
Brenner’s story is just one of many that illustrate the academy’s personal and statewide impact. Jessica Cabeen applied and was accepted into a cohort held in Rochester as a special-education supervisor in the Austin Public Schools.
“Having the time to read relevant literature and discuss with other professionals was priceless,” says Cabeen. “Looking at context and reality with other districts across Minnesota allowed me time to think through how practices back in my district could change or impact students.”
In the Principals Academy, Cabeen discovered her passion to lead a school building. Today all 400 of Austin’s kindergarteners attend one of the all-day/everyday programs at Woodson Kindergarten Center where she is principal.
“The academy gave me more rigor and helped me articulate that,” she says. “My position has also allowed me to become a strong voice for stuedents with diverse needs as well as the importance of all-day kindergarten and strong preschool programs.”
Mary Jo Schmid, part of Brenner’s cohort, retired in June and calls the Principals Academy a highlight of her career.
“It gave me the information, insight, and training to lead a school into the 21st century,” says Schmid, who was a principal in Moorhead. “Not only did I become a learner, but also the staff at our school valued what I was able to share with them. We were able to pull ourselves through old paradigms and refocus our efforts on our students’ learning, not the excuses for why we couldn’t meet their needs.”
Dragseth credits the cohort model as a key to success.
“You get to know each other so well and can call on people all over the state,” he says. “You build perspective on differences and similarities across districts so you can support students all over the state. You come away with a higher-level appreciation of what people can do.
“When you’re in the Principals Academy,” he adds, “we want you to be not only a great principal but a great state leader.”
New features, new cohorts forming
With the College Readiness Consortium’s move into the College of Education and Human Development this year, the Principals Academy has a new home in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development (OLPD). In preparation for the change, Dragseth led the program through a year-long study, surveying the state’s 1500 principals, past participants, and models beyond the NISL curriculum. They stuck with the model and enhanced the content.
When the next cohort of the Principals Academy meets for the first time in October, it will embark on a program with several new components, including instructional practices for special education and English language learning, teacher and principal evaluations (mandated principal evaluations begin statewide this year), community engagement, and guest lectures from CEHD faculty and staff.
Eight days of training are held during each school year and the remaining 14 days during breaks.
Finally, for school leaders who complete the academy and then enroll in an OLPD doctoral program, 12 elective academic credits will be waived.
One or two more cohorts are expected to begin in 2014, including one in northwestern Minnesota.
Learn more
Learn more about the program and see a short video at Minnesota Principals Academy.
Read Ken Dragseth’s post about key challenges school leaders must address and six ways for principals to create a high-performing school on CEHD’s Vision 2020 blog.
Read a related story about state-by-state differences in effective school leadership and other findings of a national study on school leadership that is now being used by leaders in states including Alaska.
Story by Gayla Marty | Fall 2013