Simply put, our goals are to position our students to have the tools they need to be effective learners in a demanding academic program and to be at the cutting edge of leaders who understand and are able to use technology as a lever for systemically improving teaching and learning. Curriculum First-year students in USP complete 12 courses focusing on teaching and learning, law, politics, economics, organizational development, negotiations, adult development, research methodology, and other content and skills considered fundamentally important to insightful and effective educational leadership. The professional seminar alternates back and forth between case studies of superintendents and specific issues in urban education. One of the issues of focus is the role of technology in enhancing teaching and learning. There are many leadership challenges and opportunities that currently and potentially promote or constrain the quality of education in urban school districts.
Hard choices have to be made regarding the curriculum.
This raises the question of why we have decided to include technology in education in the professional seminar. To address this question is also to address the question of why sitting superintendents should pay attention to technology in education. At the local level, broad support for technology in education is exemplified by the host of NetDays that have been and continue to be organized around the country. In the Urban Superintendents Program, we believe that an important consideration in selecting a strategy to improve teaching and learning is the degree to which the leader can marshall community support. A strategy that readily finds strong community support is more likely to take hold in all classrooms in all schools and lead to the desired result than a strategy that parents and other community members find difficult to understand and endorse.