New Leadership Endorsement Challenges Administrators to Move Beyond Current Assumptions

The Michigan Department of Education, along with Microsoft Partners in Learning, is asking education leaders to confront and question their current assumptions about leadership, teaching, and learning. The Michigan Leadership Improvement Framework Endorsement (MI-LIFE) program is designed to build leadership capacity for sustainable and continuous school improvement throughout the schools and districts of Michigan. A long-term program goal, still in the works, is to align the MI-LIFE program with Michigan’s new voluntary administrator endorsement from the state.

The program is especially timely, as Michigan recently adopted a law to allow the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) to issue administrator certificates on a voluntary basis. Successful completion of the curriculum will result in a MI-LIFE endorsement and State Board of Education Continuing Education Units (SB-CEUs) for Michigan educators. MI-LIFE’s specific training schedule has not yet been developed.

Much like Michigan’s Continuous Improvement and Monitoring System (CIMS) initiative for students receiving special education services, MI-LIFE provides a multiple step effort to ensure that quality services are provided within general education. Focused monitoring, service provider self-review, and verification are all important components of the systemic approach that Michigan has in place under the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA). MI-LIFE will train school leaders using these same components.

MI-LIFE is directly linked with Strand II of the Michigan School Improvement Framework (SIF), www.michigan.gov/schoolimprovement, which focuses on the concept of leadership. MI-LIFE is designed to model the three standards within the SIF leadership strand: instructional leadership, shared leadership, and operational resource management. Additionally, MI-LIFE is based on current research from Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning’s (McREL) Balanced Leadership Framework, www.mcrel.org, as well as the research efforts of Robert Marzano, Brian McNulty, and Tim Waters.

MI-LIFE also integrates technology tools into its leadership program and currently is developing a series of technology modules. Courses within each module will be delivered in a variety of formats, including face-to-face or real-time workshops and either a blended or total virtual delivery method online. Two core courses set the basis of the curriculum: one focuses on the importance of using school-related data to make improvement decisions, while the other focuses on educational leadership.

Another innovative feature of MI-LIFE is synchronization of learning modules to the Microsoft Education Competency Wheel, www.microsoft.com/education/competencies. The Wheel is a tool designed to help organizations follow a comprehensive approach in their improvement strategies. The tool was provided to MI-LIFE by Microsoft, along with a series of “education success factors” that cover the areas of organizational skills, individual excellence, operating skills, strategic skills, courage, and results.

Following the idea of “moving from paper to people,” MI-LIFE is designed to increase student achievement through a coherent, systematic, research-based leadership training model for school leaders.

MI-LIFE team members are Marion Ginopolis, Director, mginopolis@mi-life.org; Jane Perzyk, Consultant, japerzyk@mi-life.org; Ron Faulds, Consultant, rfaulds@mi-life.org; and J. Mark Rainey, Consultant, mrainey@mi-life.org. For more information, contact: Marion Ginopolis, Director, or visit www.mi-life.org.