Newswise — For K-12 administrators Paul Hertel and Rob Grossi, the next few years will include a lot of weekend work. Both hold high-level positions in the educational leadership world in Chicago's suburbs -- Hertel as an associate superintendent in Des Plaines, IL-based Community Consolidated School District 62, and Grossi as the treasurer for the Bloom Township Trustees of Schools. Both, along with 12 others, are enrolled in Western Illinois University's Department of Educational Leadership's fifth doctoral program cohort.
For its students, the department's fifth cohort doctoral program began similarly as it has in past years; as part of the cohort, they met their fellow students they will be attending classes with for the next few years. In each cohort, the candidates take courses during weekend academy sessions for eight consecutive terms. This intensive, yet workable, program enables the candidates -- generally individuals with demanding careers in educational administration -- to get the courses they need to finish the degree; to participate in a collaborative learning environment; and to follow a clear plan to finish the highest degree in their field.
The fifth cohort began in the Summer 2010 term with some class meetings held in Palatine (IL) and some on the WIU Quad Cities campus. For Hertel, Grossi and the nine other Chicagoland candidates, this development provides a way for them to better balance the busy few years ahead, as some of their courses will be closer to home. For faculty and staff in the educational leadership department, it provides a better way to serve current, as well as future, doctoral students who hail from districts in the northern part of the state, as well as from west central and central Illinois.
"Over the years, we've gotten more and more candidates who come out of urban, rather than rural, districts. A good portion of that group of Chicago students in our fifth cohort are in large school systems in the Chicagoland area," Lloyd Kilmer, associate professor in WIU's educational leadership department, said. "Earlier this year, while they were preparing to finish up their individual Alternative Certificate Initiative, or ACI, programs through our department, some of them came to us and asked us if we'd be willing to consider offering a cohort in or near Chicago."
Hertel and Grossi are among those in the new cohort who were enrolled in Western's ACI program, which Kilmer describes as a "parallel path to the education specialist degree." An Ed.S. degree provides administrators the additional credit hours and knowledge they need to become qualified for a superintendent position in Illinois.
"The ACI is a compressed, accelerated version of the specialist, and it is only available to certain candidates. We created this program to offer districts the opportunity to grow their own superintendents," Kilmer noted. "Many times, too, those who complete the ACI program go on to apply for enrollment in our doctoral program."
Appealing Attributes According to Kilmer, the ACI program's students include individuals like Hertel, who now serves as an associate superintendent, and who has worked as a principal and in other instructional and administrative positions in elementary and secondary schools. But the program also appeals to professionals who have worked in business-oriented positions in school districts, such as Grossi, who has more than 25 years of experience advising schools about their financial matters.
"If, for example, a district is looking for a chief financial officer, the district's school board may go to the business side of schools to search for candidates. This is a very specialized part of the educational leadership world, and many times, our ACI candidates are individuals who have served in these types of positions. The ACI program provides -- for those who may want the career possibility of expanding into a superintendent position -- a way to get the knowledge, skills and qualifications they need. A good number of business managers, in past ACI classes, have gone on to become superintendents," Kilmer said.
For Hertel, who earned his B.S. in education from WIU in 1986, the ACI program was a good fit. Its compressed format worked well with his job, which, at the time, was director of human resources in Community Consolidated School District 62. Recently, his human resource duties in the district have diminished, and he is now serving as an associate superintendent there, made possible through, in part, his enrollment in the ACI program. He decided to carry on in the WIU educational leadership department's doctoral program because of his experience in the ACI program, as well as the prospect of someday moving into a superintendent position.
"In the northwest suburbs, there are not too many 'misters' or 'misses' when it comes to those who serve in superintendent positions," Hertel noted. "Most of the superintendents in this region of the state have achieved that doctorate degree. Also, for me, it has a lot do with that I'm already in the 'groove,' so to speak, so I figured, why stop? There's also the fact that many of the individuals I was in the ACI program with are also continuing on in my cohort in the doctoral program. It seems to be a nice flow. Through our courses together in the ACI, we've built close working relationships. I feel like I've got a good level of trust with everyone, which, hopefully, will make the doctoral program even more valuable for each of us."
For Grossi, he explained, the relationships he's built with the program's faculty, as well as with his fellow ACI alumni, had a lot do with why he chose to continue on for his doctorate degree.
"The primary asset of the program, in my opinion, is the faculty. Of course, it's nice to have the courses offered closer to home, too. But the faculty in this program share their experiences and help us relate the theories to practical situations, which greatly enhances what we learn," Grossi said. "The other thing is there is a great diversity of backgrounds in regard to the students in the program, and this enhances the learning experience, too. This is a significant thing about this program. We share our experiences with one another -- fellow students are hearing stories about the business side from me, and I'm hearing stories from those who are principals or who are in human resources. You get different perspectives, and it helps provide you with a holistic understanding of how all the parts of the school district work."
Outside of their courses in the doctoral program, Hertel noted that it's not uncommon for him to consult with his fellow candidates like Grossi and benefit from the relationships he's built with these individuals via the educational leadership department's ACI and doctoral programs.
"We all have different experiences and different backgrounds, which really makes it a dynamic group. I am not afraid to pick up the phone and call Rob and ask, 'Hey, can you look at this financial thing, and give me a different view of it?' It provides me, too, the opportunity to get an objective perspective," Hertel said.
Both Grossi and Hertel are at the beginning of the doctoral program, and both recognize the time away from their personal lives and hectic pace of working and attending classes is a difficult road ahead. But both also noted they are looking forward to the knowledge and instruction they will experience by interacting with the department's experienced faculty and with one another. The fact they will be able to keep building on what they started in the ACI program -- as well as attend many of their courses closer to home -- just might make the prospect of the next few years a bit less daunting.
For more information about the educational leadership department's doctoral program and its ACI program, contact Kilmer at (309) 762-9481 or [email protected]. Learn more about the WIU Department of Educational Leadership at www.wiu.edu/coehs/edl/.
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