Chapter 3: Bridging The GAP between Higher Education and K–12: The Role of Program Coordinators in Educational Leadership Programs

In 2016, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) changed principal certification requiring a performance measure, the Performance Assessment for School Leaders (PASL), and requiring all Education Preparation Programs (EPPs) to reapply to offer the new Principal as Instructional Leader Certificate. When reapplying to offer the new certificate, it was mandatory for EPPs to include the TEA’s framework of six pillar assignments. These re-certification requirements fueled EPPs to revise curriculum. Subsequently, the TEA offered a grant opportunity requiring EPP and K–12 partnerships to offer a year-long, full-time residency for principal candidates. This expanded the educational leadership preparation program coordinator’s role to include developing K–12 partnerships. Against this backdrop, utilizing duoethnography, this chapter examines the program coordinator’s role in university-district partnerships looking at: partnership inception, collaborative efforts, relationship-building, role and responsibilities of the coordinator, and leadership commitments. Both coauthors served as program coordinators of Sul Ross State University’s Educational Leadership Program and, as such, the chapter is situated in this context. We explore our shared experience to offer insight into this critical role in educational leadership programs.