February 1, 2005

Director of Whitworth Graduate Studies in Education Elected President
of State Educational Council

Sharon Mowry, director of the Whitworth Graduate Studies in Education Program, was recently elected president of the Washington Council of Educational Administration Programs, an organization, comprising 14 institutions of higher education in the state of Washington, that trains school principals.

"I am enjoying being president of WCEAP right now, because as a state we have just implemented a new performance-based program for training principals," Mowry says. "Principals are very important in determining whether schools are helping more students succeed, so my involvement in WCEAP is exciting work."

Mowry had been a member of WCEAP for four years. A nominating committee asked her to run for the group's presidency, and she was elected in December 2004 to serve as president for two years.

In addition to her new position as president of WCEAP, Mowry also gave a presentation about the new Washington principal-certification process at the Hawaii International Conference on Education, in Honolulu Jan. 4-7.

"Performance-based principal preparation means that prospective principals must demonstrate their ability to perform their job responsibilities before we recommend them for principal certification," Mowry says. "It's the responsibility of the college or university to know that principals must not only take tests and write papers about what they would do as a school leader, but must also provide evidence that they actually can do it."

Conference participants included university and college professors, educators from K-12 schools, school-board members, and educational association members from the United States and Asia.

Mowry, along with colleagues from Central Washington University and Seattle Pacific University, as well as a representative from the Association of Washington School Principals, gave a presentation titled "Performance-Based Principal Preparation and Development in Washington State - A Cooperative Venture."

"We described how all the higher-education programs, along with the principal's association and the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction have collaborated to design a performance-based system for new principals who are being trained to lead schools in our state," Mowry says.

Mowry received her B.S. in elementary education from Portland State University, her
M.A. in school administration from Fresno Pacific University, and her Ph.D. in educational leadership from Gonzaga University. At Whitworth, she is responsible for oversight of the graduate programs for school administrators, school and agency counselors, general administration, and elementary and secondary master's programs, with emphases in special education and gifted education.

Contacts:

Julie Riddle, public information specialist, Whitworth College, (509) 777-3729 or jriddle@whitworth.edu.