Last September, Cabrini University, LaSalle University and Eastern University were awarded a shared grant by the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s Bureau of School Leadership and Teacher Quality (BSLTQ).
The three universities are receiving this resource as part of the Eligible Partnership Grant Program.
This $1.27 million dollar grant is divided equally among the three institutions to help address the needs of elementary school principals and those who wish to become principals.
“What this grant allows us to do now with principals is to give them frame work, a perspective of coaching. Which some have, some are good coaches but not everyone is. So, this will pay tuition money for people who want to become future principals themselves,” Dr. Thomas Conway, education professor, said. “Here at Cabrini, that allows us to bring on 20 new students for this first year, and then 20 new students next year, too. Their courses have been infused with, not only the things they have to learn to become a principal or school leader, but were also added in instructional coaching.”
Conway co-authored the grant proposal, alongside three research partners from LaSalle University.
Cabrini’s Karen Coldwell, assistant professor of teaching education, held the position of project director for the university.
The money from the grant will specifically target the growth and development of those in preschool to fourth grade.
“The other thing that we factored in is this focus on Pre-K – 4. So helping future administrators, future principals have that focus because those developmental needs are so important, if you don’t have a comprehensive plan for your school or connections between all their early childhood learning centers that feed into the kindergarten at your school district or building that just sets the stage for kids to be delayed in terms of knowing topics. There could be other emotional and learning disabilities that could be caught early for a child rather than get in to first, second, or third grade and all of a sudden discover something that could’ve easily been discovered when they were in Pre-K or Kindergarten,” Conway said.
What set Cabrini, Eastern and LaSalle’s grant proposal apart from others was the need that was demanded by certain school districts.
“I think for us it was the fact that we definitely reached out to Southeast Delco School District. It is one of the schools that’s named in our grant. That school district has a lot of needs. They’re a high needs school district. All the problems of America that we hear about in the news and everything else. Those families, for better or for worse its happened to them. Some is just because that’s where the kid was born,” Conway said.
This new program is hitting the ground running. The first course begins in the middle of March.
The course also offers a form of a masters program.
“Sometimes people already have their masters degrees, but then they decide you know what I think I’m going to be a principal. So, they would only need to take the eight classes that lead to certification. But, if they don’t have a masters, and they want to get that masters in addition to the certification three extra classes is not that much more to do,” Conway said.
This new program also exciting to current education students at Cabrini.
“My goal has always been to become a principal, so to know that now Cabrini has a program for it is great. I have been planning to come back to Cabrini for my masters, and now that they have this program, it is a great opportunity for me,” junior history and secondary education major Emily Smull said. It opens a lot of doors in education too. It brings an even better reputation to our already amazing education program here at Cabrini. This will just grow the school of education here.”
