Chapter 4: Implementing Clinical Simulations Within A School Leader Preparation Or Professional Development Program

This chapter outlines steps toward implementing clinical simulations within a school leader preparation or development program. We begin with an overview of the Wykowski/Spearman simulation, so that the suggestions and implementation processes are grounded within a specific simulation context.

The Wykowski/Spearman simulation was crafted to situate school leaders in a common tough spot, where each leader must balance the seemingly competing perspectives of a classroom teacher and an upset parent. This clinical simulation is complicated by its introduction of two standardized individuals–one standardized parent and one standardized teacher–with whom the leader must dually communicate. To summarize the clinical simulation, we begin with Brian Wykowski, who is the student at the center of this simulation¹. His mother, Marilyn Wykowski, initiates the conversation with each school leader, indicating that she was very upset that her son’s teacher, Darci Spearman, issued an extra credit opportunity to Brian, only to later retract that opportunity when Brian submitted the work for evaluation. Mrs. Wykowski is angry and wants answers as to why her son’s work was not accepted, graded, and credited toward his low course grade. Brian’s teacher, Darci Spearman, confirms for each school leader her offer of the extra credit opportunity, but also clarifies its scope and time limit-two conditions that Brian did not meet. With a full, written account from the teacher, each school leader must balance an upset and partially informed mother with a firm and principled novice teacher.