Certificate Programs Recognize Efforts to Improve School Equity

“When you see these children, you realize they have hope for a better future.”

SDSU Global Campus and the National Center for Urban School Transformation (NCUST), a San Diego State University center working to transform urban schools nationwide, have partnered together to provide new professional certificate programs that aim to support and recognize school leaders for their work advancing equity in education.

NCUST works to equip urban schools with tools to provide all students with the opportunity to succeed and to prepare for an endeavor in secondary education, the workplace, or their communities.

“The first pillar of what we do is identify, celebrate, and try to learn from these schools that achieve great results,” said Joseph Johnson, founding executive director of NCUST and former dean of SDSU’s College of Education. “The other part of our work is we try to take what we learn from studying those schools with great results and help other schools.”

Two Certificates

Since 2005, 167 schools in 25 different states, plus Washington, D.C., have been recognized by NCUST. Now, NCUST is expanding its efforts to improve national urban education by offering two new certificate programs focused on strengthening school leadership:

• National Principal Certificate for Equity and Excellence for school-level leaders, including principals, assistant principals, and school directors.
• National Principal Supervisor for Equity and Excellence for district-level school leaders who supervise principals, including superintendents, administrators, and school board members. 

The professional certificate programs are being offered online and exclusively for school and district leaders nationwide. The program prepares leaders to apply for and earn NCUST’s National Principal Certificate for Equity and Excellence and the National Principal Supervisor Certificate for Equity and Excellence. To earn the professional certificates, each candidate must demonstrate, through measurable evidence, that they have advanced equity and excellence in one or more of the schools they supervise.

Throughout the program, participants have opportunities to engage with leaders who influenced the success of schools that have achieved remarkable results for every demographic group served. Each of the two tracks is tailored to the specific needs, motivations, and skills of of their educational leaders.

Advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in research, teaching and in community engagement is at the forefront of the university’s new five-year strategic plan, "We Rise We Defy: Transcending Borders, Transforming Lives."

The certificate programs were developed, in part, with the support of the Wallace Foundation, a national philanthropy organization based in New York City that seeks to foster improvements in learning and enrichment for disadvantaged children and vitality of the arts for everyone.

Applications for the National Principal Certificate for Equity and Excellence and the National Principal Supervisor for Equity and Excellence will be considered on a first-come, first-served basis. Register through the NCUST website before October 14 to be considered for admission to the program.

Johnson, a former provost and senior vice president at SDSU, has worked with many schools, many educators, and many students since starting NCUST in 2005. His favorite part of the job, however, remains the same.

“The best part of my job is being able to go into these very high-performing schools and see the powerful difference they’re making for children, for families, and for communities,” said Johnson. “When you see these children, you realize they have hope for a better future.”