Western Kentucky University awarded grant from U.S. Department of Labor for principal apprenticeship program

Western Kentucky University’s College of Education & Behavioral Sciences has been awarded a $1,323,733 grant from the US Department of Labor. The grant will support Project ELEVATE, which stands for Educational Leadership Experience and Visionary Apprenticeship for Transformative Excellence, the state of Kentucky’s first K-12 principal registered apprenticeship program.

According to an article on Western Kentucky University’s website, Dr. Margie DeSander, who is the Chair of the School of Leadership and Professional Studies at Western Kentucky University as well as the director of Project ELEVATE, explained what the grant is supporting. She is quoted as saying, “This is an exciting moment for the faculty and district partners of the WKU principal preparation program. This group of educational professionals are consistently making a positive impact locally, across Kentucky, and nationally by elevating the practice of preparing competent, profession-ready school principals. Developing pathways to the principalship with programming focused on experiential learning through an apprenticeship model allows for emphasizing equity-in-context. This grant provides the funding to help encourage non-traditional candidates to explore school leadership in a pre-apprenticeship program and as a pathway to the principalship in an apprenticeship model by reducing the financial barriers associated with balancing family, work and school.”

The US Department of Labor’s Apprenticeship Building America program is responsible for funding the grant that was awarded to Project ELEVATE. The goal of the Apprenticeship Building America program is to expand the Registered Apprenticeship systems across the country as they apply to growing industries. In the state of Kentucky, a K-12 principal is considered a high demand job.

The goal of Project ELEVATE is to provide training opportunities for aspiring principals, particularly those who come from underprivileged or rural communities, via Registered Apprenticeships, coursework, and experiential learning. Individuals who participate in Project ELEVATE will be able to earn credit hours and certifications through Level Up Leadership Academy.

Corinne Murphy, the dean of the College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, explained the project further, sharing, “This project provides the opportunity to establish a framework of program delivery that builds on the outcomes of our most recent $6 million Wallace Research Foundation work including co-teaching, co-curricular alignment, and in-context project-based learning. School district leaders and university faculty will again partner to leverage all available aspects of community context to establish a live, learn, and lead model of principal preparation across multiple school districts. Given our Commonwealth's current teacher and leader shortage, the timing for this award is critical to the needs of our schools.”

Rob Akers is the Co-Director of Project ELEVATE. He sees the project being awarded the grant as a good sign for the future. He said, "Receiving this grant is proof positive the WKU Educational Administration faculty continue to move the needle in the preparation of educational leaders. This grant will enable us to provide funding to districts to develop their benches of future leaders. It is exciting to be on the cutting edge of this work and to be doing it at WKU.”

For more information about Western Kentucky University, visit the school’s website.