New MBA school leadership program coming to MSOE

The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation is starting a new MBA school leadership program through the Rader School of Business at MSOE. It marks one of the first such fellowship programs in the country, the other launching at the University of Indianapolis.

The new program, titled the Woodrow Wilson MBA Fellowship in Education Leadership, will recruit experienced educators and take them through 12 to 15 months of executive-style MBA courses. The courses will include college coursework alongside a tailored business curriculum featuring intensive clinical experience in schools – both here and abroad – corporations and nonprofits.

The first 15-member class will be announced in late spring next year. The program itself will then begin in summer 2014. Applications for the program are available by nomination only.

The goal of the fellowship is to provide Wisconsin, and hopefully the rest of the nation, with a new manner of preparing its school leaders. Its focus is on innovation in schools, the expanded use of evidence-based practices and analytics, and improving both students’ performances and the school systems.

By doing so, the program hopes to not only close the achievement gaps between the nation’s lowest and highest performing schools, but also close the gap between U.S. schools and those around the globe.

In fact, the program at MSOE will focus entirely on closing the international achievement gap. According to McKinsey & Company, United States schools’ lag behind other nations is responsible for the U.S. economy losing up to $2 trillion every year.

Candidates for the Woodrow Wilson MBA Fellowship in Education Leadership will be nominated by Wisconsin school districts, as well as choice and character schools. The aim will be to find candidates that have demonstrated effective leadership characteristics and are experienced with the culture of schools.

Those selected will be given a $50,000 stipend, along with mentoring and opportunities to gain experience working in notable innovative schools across the globe. In exchange, those selected will serve leadership roles in selected schools for at least three years.

The program is currently under review by both the Higher Learning Commission and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. It expects to receive a decision from the former in summer of 2014 and from the latter by early next year.

To learn more about the Woodrow Wilson MBA Fellowship in Education Leadership at MSOE, visit the program’s website.