THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT EL PASO
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND FOUNDATIONS
Internship in the Principalship
Introduction
EDAD 5375 and 5376, School Management Internships I & II, are designed to introduce students to the daily routine one would expect to encounter as a mid-management certified school administrator. Professional administrators are required by the Texas Education Agency to complete this experience for public school administrative certification for management positions of Assistant Principal to Assistant Superintendent. The internship provides opportunities to engage directly in actual experiences relating to the practical side of school administration with the assistance of a fully certified field mentor. The Internship supervisor will be a professor at The University of Texas at El Paso in the department of Educational Leadership and Foundations. The supervisor and field mentor will assist interns in combining the academic content of administrator preparation with the practice of administration in school settings. The internship becomes the bridge between theory and practice.
The internship is a collaborative effort requiring the assistance of a fully certified field practitioner who is willing to share his or her expertise with an apprentice administrator. That field administrator and the intern must plan time to talk about school events, allowing the mentor to comment on the intern’s choices of action when that individual functions in an administrative capacity and allowing the intern to review past practices of the field mentor. The field mentors must be willing to share those past experiences, noting which administrative approaches have proven successful for them, which approaches have proven to less successful, and why those efforts yielded the results they did.
Students are enrolled in either section of the Internship are asked to select a field mentor with whom to work. In the selection process, students should consider at least the following: (a) school and system personnel policies governing the operation of field experiences; (b) the willingness of a prospective mentor to collaborate on a set of required internship experiences for the duration of both sections of the internship, approximately one year; (c) the likelihood of a prospective mentor making significant positive contributions to the knowledge and practical expertise of the students, (i.e. will this be a growth experience for the student/inter?); (d) logistics in terms of time and space. The relationship between the student/intern and the field mentor is of critical importance to the success of the internship experience. Choose carefully.
Students in the internships will be expected to complete a portfolio including artifacts, a master log of activities agreed upon by the student/intern, the field mentor, and the supervisor. The student/interns are expected to organize their time in a manner permitting the satisfactory completion of portfolio requirements. In addition to completing the portfolio, student/interns are expected to attend and participate in a series of seminars with the supervisor.
EDAD 5375 & EDAD 5376
Suggested Activities
1. Review a public relations initiative or a curriculum initiative;
2. Revise or design an administrative initiative for a school;
3. Follow a student through dealing with the juvenile justice system;
4. Investigate relations between the school(s) and local media outlets;
5. Investigate substance abuse programs and how they are (or are not) utilized by schools;
6. Investigate social service agencies and how they are (or are not) utilized by schools;
7. Investigate the relations between the school(s) and the offices of Immigration and Naturalization;
8. Shadow any (or all) of the following individuals: (a) a student; (b) a member of the custodial staff; (c) the school receptionist; (d) a school security officer (e) an assistant principal; (f) a teacher of special needs children; (g) a cafeteria employee;
9. Other areas to consider:
a. Discipline
b. Supervision of instruction
c. Plant maintenance
d. Technology
e. Testing
f. Special populations
g. Media services
h. Community relations
i. Interpersonal relations of school personnel
j. Your future professional goals
k. Budget