Designing the Clinical Experience of Principal Preparation for Equity-Oriented Aims

This manuscript considers the design of equity-oriented clinical experiences within principal preparation programs as a salient mechanism for supporting equity-oriented school improvement in PK-12 schools. This manuscript presents an integrative review of the literature that has examined equity-oriented principal preparation and clinical experiences. While prior reviews have examined principal preparation clinical experiences broadly, this review extends that work by examining how the clinical experience has been and might be designed to cultivate leadership that better serves equity-oriented purposes, specifically. Given that principal leadership is widely recognized as a critical lever for school improvement, and that the clinical experience is arguably the most consequential component of preparation, how programs design that experience for equity-oriented aims has direct implications for whether school leaders are prepared to do the improvement work that marginalized students most need. Our analysis attends to key design features of the clinical experience, including its form and format, clinical work tasks, and developmental supports, with attention to how each has been or might be reoriented for equity-oriented aims. This review highlights broad recommendations advanced by the more conceptual and theoretical literature as well as more granular insights from individual programs’ experiences, making it a comprehensive and actionable starting place for programs interested in strengthening the clinical experience for equity-oriented aims.