UCO INTRODUCES NEW PROGRAM FOR SUPERINTENDENT CERTIFICATION

Beginning this fall, the University of Central Oklahoma will offer a new superintendent certification program for Oklahoma school principals.Dr. Kirk Webster, the program coordinator and an assistant professor of Advanced Professional Studies at Central, said the state will soon need more qualified superintendent candidates. “In the very near future there will be a great number of current school superintendents retiring in Oklahoma, and UCO’s new superintendent certification program will help fill this growing need,” Webster said.”UCO currently certifies school principals, and it is only logical we offer a program to certify school superintendents, as well.”Applicants are required to have completed a certification program like Central’s to be hired as a superintendent in Oklahoma. The certification program is an 18-hour course sequence including five separate three-hour credit courses that address knowledge, skills and dispositions associated with the Educational Leadership Constituent Council (ELCC) standards, and candidates must pass the Superintendent Test at the end of the sequence.The program will be offered through UCO’s College of Education and Professional Studies and the Department of Advanced Professional Studies in association with the National Council for Accreditation for Teacher Education (NCATE) and the ELCC for Oklahoma school principals who have successfully completed a master’s level education program in educational administration and a minimum of five years of successful teaching and/or principal experience. Currently, UCO is only one of three universities in Oklahoma to offer superintendent certification.For the list of course titles and to apply for the certification program, contact Webster at (405) 974-5448 or jwebster9@uco.edu.For more information about the University of Central Oklahoma, visit www.uco.edu