Administrative Services and APA

Administrator Preparation in California

California has a two-tiered credentialing system for administrators. During the first-tier preliminary program, candidates prepare for a future administrative position with a focus on the skills needed by a school site administrator. Preliminary preparation includes successful completion of required coursework, fieldwork, and passage of the CalAPA, a performance demonstration of their knowledge, skills, and abilities. The clear induction program, the second tier of preparation is a two-year job-embedded individualized program, based upon the candidate’s employment position. This preparation involves extensive support for, and mentoring of, new administrators in their first and second year of service.

• Administrative Services Credential Program Standards Handbook. Guidance for program sponsors in both designing and implementing a preliminary or clear/induction Administrative Services Credential program are captured in one location in this booklet.  Containing the programs’ preconditions, content expectations, performance expectations, the 2017 preliminary program standards, the 2014 clear induction standards and glossaries for both programs, the booklet also offers contextual information and graphic aids to help understand program requirements.

Preliminary Administrative Services Credentials

• 2017 Content and Performance Expectations, are used in the preliminary tier of preparation, supporting future education administrators and beginning practitioners, define the content of courses and the performance levels expected of a beginning administrator. Both sets of expectations are aligned to the more complex California Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (CPSEL) used to measure current administrators’ practice. The performance expectations are assessed through a combination of the California Administrator Performance Assessment (CalAPA) and coursework/fieldwork assignments.

• Passage of the California Administrator Performance Assessment (CalAPA) is now a mandatory requirement of the Preliminary Administrative Services Credential program. Focusing on school site leadership, candidates demonstrate their knowledge and skills of the California Administrators Performance Expectations (CAPE) in preparation to serve as a school leader. Assessment Materials for Year 2 are available to program faculty through a password-protected link on the Faculty Resources page of this site.
  • Assessment Materials for the 2023-24 Year
    • CalAPA Leadership Cycle 1 Assessment Guide
    • CalAPA Leadership Cycle 2 Assessment Guide
    • CalAPA Leadership Cycle 3 Assessment Guide
    • 2022-23 CalAPA Program Guide
      
      

• Meredith Fellows Implementation Conference is an annual event where programs showcase best practices in their implementation of the CalAPA.  A compendium, offering synopses of the general sessions and the breakout sessions (presenters, content, research, materials shared, content information) of the September 2023 event  is available.

• Partnership Letter to District and County Offices Candidate fieldwork locations are important factors in preparing candidates for mastery of program the CalAPA. CTC’s Executive Director Mary Sandy has authored a letter to aid schools, district, and county office personnel understand their role in preliminary preparation, through initial partnerships and ongoing relationships with initial preparation programs.  This letter is being provided here for programs to download and distribute to all district and county offices with whom their candidates work during their preliminary program enrollment as they continue to partner together for candidate success.

• Sample Submissions for each of the CAlAPA cycles (Cycles 1, 2, and 3) can be found at CalAPA Faculty Policies and Resources in the Faculty Resources section.

• CalAPA Support Structures
  • Please visit the California Induction Conference 2024 website to register. March 4-6, 2024, San Diego, CA. 
    
    
• The CTC now requires preliminary administrative services credentialing programs to identify 1-2 CalAPA program coordinators.  For instructions on how to add and update the performance assessment models and associated coordinator contact information, please review the How to Add and Update the Performance Assessment Model and Program Contacts available on the Annual Data Submission page.

Clear/Induction Administrative Services Credentials

• CPSEL Companion Booklet: California Professional Standards for Education Leaders 2014. The CPSEL are the deeper, more complex performance standards against which clear credential candidates are measured to indicate sufficient mastery of the clear induction program content. After completion of the clear program, many employers use the CPSEL for administrator performance evaluation.

• Moving Standards into Everyday Work: Descriptions of Practice, Second Edition. Enhancing the usefulness of the California Professional Standards for Education Leaders (CPSEL), this booklet illustrates what individual elements within each of the six CPSEL look like across a continuum of practice, including developing credentialing criteria and assessments, planning leadership preparation, induction, professional learning or coaching, and clarifying performance expectations. Programs and districts across the state use this booklet in evaluating the performance of administrators and candidates.

• Program Design aids can be found in the Support and Guidance for the Development and Submission of Clear Induction Programs proposals The CTC, in collaboration with the California Comprehensive Center @ WestEd and the California Department of Education, has created programs resources to help institutions who are developing clear induction programs. Organized by the six CPSEL categories, this website offers resources, implementation tips, training ideas, and development guidance.
  

• To better understand the requirements of each CalAPA Cycle, listen to the following recorded webinars where each cycle is presented step by step

CalAPA Deep Dives

Contacting Commission Approved Programs      

• PASC Programs
• CASC Programs

Foundational Commission Resources for Clear Administrative Services Induction Program        

• Accreditation Schedule and Activities
• Common Standards
• General and Program Preconditions