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K-12 LEADERSHIP PRACTICES
Ongoing Professional Development for Licensure Renewal:
Has That Much Really Changed?
Virginia Roach and Louis Wes SmithState policy makers are creating policy to support a career-long system of administrator
development (Sanders & Simpson, 2005). Over two-thirds of the states have amended state
policies for education administrators since 2002. Almost every state now requires
administrators to renew their licensure, often every five years. Renewal is often linked to the
number of continuing education units (CEUs) of professional development an administrator
receives over the life of his or her current certificate. Yet, licensure renewal is increasingly
based on the completion of an individually-created professional development plan that
addresses school improvement and student achievement (Sanders & Simpson, 2005). Policies
related to administrator standards, assessment, mentoring, and certification have gained
momentum over the decade from 1996 to 2006 and have been studied by researchers in the
field (Levine, 2005; Murphy, 2003). Less attention has been paid to the ongoing professional
development and licensure renewal of administrators once they receive their full administrator
license (Adams & Copeland, 2005; Roach, 2006).
The purpose of this study was to determine how local school administrators in one mid-
Atlantic state implemented the requirements for recertification after obtaining the full
administrator certificate. Understanding the implementation of ongoing professional
development policies after an administrator reaches full licensure may provide clues for
structuring policies to ensure maximal implementation. The question driving this study was:
How do local school administrators interpret and fulfill the requirements for certificate
renewal after obtaining the full administrator certificate? By better understanding how
administrators renew their certificates, state policy makers and local administrators can
enhance future planning for ongoing professional development to support administrative
effectiveness. While licensure and certification are two distinct processes, the former
minimal competency and the later professional accomplishment (Adams & Copeland, 2005),
the two terms were used interchangeably in this study.
Research on the link between state-level ongoing professional development policies and
professional development plans and activities of school administrators is scarce. While studies
have focused on new trends in state policy for education administrators, they have not
explored the implementation of those policies at the local or individual level (Illinois State
Action for Education Leadership Project, 2005; Murphy, 2003; Sanders & Simpson, 2005;
Toye, Blank, Sanders & Williams, 2007). One notable exception is Firestone, Hayes, Shalaby
and Robinson’s study (2007) of local administrators’ professional development plans and
their relationship to the Professional Development Initiative for School Leaders in New
Jersey. Firestone, et al. were interested in the degree to which administrators’ professional
growth plans focused on instructional leadership and student achievement. While the majority
of the plans were focused on student achievement, only about one third of the plans “focused
on instructional issues,” (p. 24). Unlike recent changes in other states where ongoing
Virginia Roach, The George Washington University
Louis Wes Smith, The George Washington University