The Educational Leadership Endorsement offers a transformative experience. Current and former school administrators, in collaboration with Longwood faculty, will mentor, guide, and instruct you in the skills you need to become a leader among your peers.

Longwood University’s Educational Leadership Endorsement courses will prepare you to join the next generation of leaders at your school or district. Successful completion of the courses and the School Leaders Licensure Assessment (SLLA) will allow you to obtain the Administration & Supervision PreK-12 endorsement through the VDOE and apply for positions such as principal, assistant principal, curriculum director, department chair, and more.

Why an Endorsement?

The sky’s the limit with an Educational Leadership Endorsement. Of all those who complete our endorsement coursework, 92 percent have been hired, have interviewed for, or are planning on applying for an administrative position. You’ll be ready for a career change that leads to potentially higher income and job security with the ability to be a leader in PK-12 education.

Convenient

We bring Longwood to you! We offer the endorsement courses in a hybrid format which meets face-to-face once per month (always on a Saturday from 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.) and you’ll work with your intern mentor to complete internship requirements within your own school division. The remainder of the coursework is online, optimizing your learning experience and providing you with greater flexibility.

Currently, we have cohorts in Arlington, Bedford, Fredericksburg, Manassas Park, North & South Richmond, Southside, and Newport News to provide you with in-person instruction from school leaders who have worked or are working in the field as well as networking with your colleagues.

These courses will use the evidence based best practices of a flipped classroom and active learning. This means at no point will students sit through an extended lecture on a topic. Learning is work and involves student participation.

These courses are also unique in their organization. They use a badge progression model, which is a method of gamification for learning. Essentially the content of these courses is divided into easily identifiable units called badges. By completing BIMD 220 and 221 students will work their way through 14 content badges that represent all the major body systems. Students will start at the Beginner level in BIMD 220, progress through to Advanced at the end of BIMD 220, and finally finish at Scholar when they have completed BIMD 221. This gives students a more visual way to track their progress. The topics covered in BIMD 220 are: 

• Intro
• Cells
• Tissues
• Skin
• Skeletal
• Muscle
• Nervous
• Endocrine

What can I expect in each lesson?

Students have 3 to 9 months to complete this course from the time of enrollment. You may work at your own pace and complete lessons on your own schedule. The instructor will grade up to one lesson/topic per week. Each content badge will consist of the following elements located in TopHat and Blackboard:

• Things to Know – A content assignment not worth points, but lists the learning objectives and anatomical terms students should know for the badge. The assignments to be completed, point totals, and schedule is also listed.
• Textbook Assignments – This course uses an active virtual textbook. Textbook content assignments are the only textbook required for students, which consists of readings, images, and videos interspersed with practice questions. These questions will always only be worth participation points.
• Lecture Series – These content assignments consist of short lectures recorded by Dr. Haage broken down by objective, followed by practice questions. Each question in these assignments are worth 0.5 participation points and 0.5 correctness points.
• Picture Essays – These content assignments require students to draw and label various anatomical structures by hand and upload a .jpg .png or .pdf file. These assignments are always worth correctness points.
• Case Studies – These content assignments focus on application of A&P content to various illnesses. They consist of readings, images, and videos interspersed with practice questions. They are mostly correctness points but may ask for students to participate in opinion style questions.
• Scientist Profiles – These content assignments spotlight one or a few relevant scientists, including aspects of their identities and the science they have contributed. They have readings, images, and videos interspersed with practice questions. They are mostly correctness points but may ask for students to participate in opinion style questions.
• Culture & Med Assignments – These content assignments focus on application of A&P content to various diversity contexts including conversations about race, gender, and disability. They have readings, images, and videos interspersed with practice questions. They are mostly correctness points but may ask for students to participate in opinion style questions.
• Reflections – At the end of each badge students will be asked to complete a short reflection essay to promote metacognitive thinking. These also serve as grading triggers for the entire badge content.
• Exams – Each content badge has an exam. That means this course has 7 exams. Exams are video proctored and consist of 30 multiple choice questions and 1 essay question. Students are provided 3 possible essay questions ahead of time to be prepared, but will be assigned one at random on the exam. No outside resources are allowed on the exams