Chapter 10: Using a Principal Pathway Partnership to Test the Learning Partnership as Communities of Practice Model

School/university partnerships where school administrators were trained and recommended for positions by their former professors were arranged out of convenience after World War II according to Levine (2005). The partners— school systems, schools of education, aspiring administrators, and states with licensure requirements all benefited (Levine, 2005). Two movements, the civil rights movement in the 1960s and the school reform movement in the 1980s, began to unravel the partnerships, and alternatives for preparing aspiring leaders emerged (Levine, 2005). Reports such as Leaders for America’s Schools (Griffiths et al. 1988) and A Nation at Risk (1983), along with Levine’s critique of university preparation programs, spurred studies on program improvement and prompted universities to redesign programs to better meet the needs of their constituents. A common theme for improvement was the identification of strong, university-district partnerships as essential for high-quality preparation programs (Darling-Hammond et al., 2007; Davis & Darling-Hammond, 2012). In their recommendations to the National Policy Board for Educational Administration, Hitt et al. (2012) stated that “building ways for districts and universities to authentically collaborate and make shared decisions strengthens the relationship as well as the profession” (p. 3). A study of four reports commissioned by the Wallace Foundation examining university-based training programs included “building stronger connections between universities and districts” as one of three areas for action (Davis, 2016, p. 17).