The Minnesota Principals Academy (MPA) is the University of Minnesota’s professional development program for school leaders that focuses on creating schools where all students graduate ready for college or careers. The program lasts approximately two academic years, uses proven curriculum from the National Institute of School Leadership as its foundation, and is tailored to meet the needs of Minnesota leaders through the direct involvement of University faculty and Minnesota school leaders.
Cost and Funding
Participant cost is $1750 per academic year. The actual cost of the program is $7000/participant. Currently, half of that cost is covered for public school leaders through legislative funding appropriated to the MDE. We are optimistic that this will continue through 2021.
Schedule
The cohorts meet about every 6- 8 weeks for two-day sessions during the week over the course of 18-24 months. There are on average 6 days of meetings in the summer. Examples of current schedules can be viewed here.
Content
The two-day units cover a comprehensive look at the improvements of schools through a standards-aligned instructional system. While the unit topics and detailed curriculum overview can be found here, highlights of the program include: international bench-marking; strategic thinking; a standards based instructional system framework; the content areas of mathematics, science, literacy, and history; ELL; racial equity; data and assessment; teacher evaluation and coaching; professional development and team building, change; and program evaluation.
Expected Outcomes
In addition to the collaborative learning that takes place in the Academy, each participant completes an Action Learning Project where they analyze a problem of practice in their context, develop a strategy for improvement, and evaluate that improvement strategy for its intended objective in order to make continued improvement.
Facilitators / Instructors
The program is run by the University of Minnesota’s Executive Director of Educational Leadership, and sessions are facilitated by the Principal in Residence and practicing school and district leaders in Minnesota who have gone through the program and are certified by the National Institute of School Leadership and the University of Minnesota.