Principals Fly High to the United States

The 3rd phase of the Principals’ Institute was successfully held last April12-23, 2011 at the California State University. After having participated in the 1st and 2nd phase of the Principals’ Institute, Ms. Mary Genevieve Mirafuente and Mr. Ronald Santos, Assistant Principal of St. Paul College Pasig for Grade school and High School, respectively flew to the United States to participate in the 3rd phase of the program.

The Principals’ Institute is a unique program for educational leaders, dedicated to improving the quality of education by honing educators’ skills in leadership, management, classroom instruction, and assessment.

The last phase of the program provided the principals opportunities and exposure to the current practices in teaching and school programs in the United States. Both an educational and cultural experience, participants do not only enrich their teaching and leadership skills, participants were also able to observe classes, attend short courses on educational leadership with other Masteral and Doctoral students, exchange ideas and develop personal and professional relationships.

For the two week program, participants visited both public and private schools in San Francisco and Oakland. Together with Ms. Willie Santamaria and Dr. George Gagnon, participants were given the opportunity to ask questions concerning the school programs and activities. Participants were also able to observe classes, visit laboratories, and other facilities of the school. Among the private schools visited were Mercy High School, and St. Anne’s School, both private Catholic schools in San Francisco, and Bishop O Dowd School in Oakland. Public schools like the Cleveland Elementary School and Pleasanton Middle School were also visited by the participants.

The program also consisted of courses in Research and Educational Leadership where participants had the opportunity to join other students taking their Masters degree. These included classes on Urban Teacher Leader Inquiry focusing on middle school student writing; Research Institute focusing on Student Research: Doctorate, Master’s and Principal License; Dissertation Seminar on Outlining Chapters 1-3 of Dissertation; Cross-cultural Counseling Research Facilitating Organizational Change; Leadership and Curriculum Design

Part of the program is also a cultural exposure wherein participants learned about the Sociology of Education specifically The American Colonization and Education; Cross Cultural Education in US, Guatemala and the Philippines, being once a colony of the United States.

Apart from lectures, specific courses on Geology, Linguistics were also attended by the participants. Several tours focusing on Science education were also part of the program such as Lawrence Hall of Science Tour, Academy of Sciences Tour.

The Principals’ Institute is a program instituted by Dr. Leticia Asuzano, Chairman and CEO of APSA in partnership with Dr. Michelle Collay of the California State University.