Educators join leadership program

The Philadelphia High School Leadership Project will give aspiring principals customized training through internships, mentoring, and coursework.

Fourteen educators with years of teaching experience are working towards heading Philadelphia’s lowest achieving urban public high schools. They are the first class in a new leadership program that city officials, the School District, and Lehigh University unveiled yesterday. The Philadelphia High School Leadership Project will give aspiring principals customized training through internships, mentoring, and coursework.

Listen:
[audio: 090715lfprincipal.mp3]

JoAnne Moore has few illusions about what it’s like to lead a neighborhood high school. She teaches special education at Randolph Career Academy in East Falls, and says with 5 years of teaching experience under her belt, she understands how to help students.

Moore: My student population comes from a poor socio-economic background so just in terms of helping them, getting them to be more career-oriented and focused and realizing that education is really their way out.

Program participants have to continue working in the District for at least 3 years after graduating.

The project is funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education. Officials say they expect to train 60 leaders over the next 5 years.