Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Principal Certification Program is designed for committed educators with a Master's degree and a minimum of five years professional experience who are seeking administrative certification as elementary and secondary school principals. The 15 credit certification program is distinguished by its performance foundation requiring portfolio documentation of acquired administrative knowledge, skills, and dispositions. Candidates apply knowledge gained in the introductory 3 credit core course (EDAD 656) to school improvement projects during two administrative internships (EDAD 698), one each at the elementary and secondary levels. During each internship students complete 15-20 school improvement projects reflecting the six major competency areas of IUP's Performance Based Program. These are: 1) Communication of School Mission & Management of Curriculum, 2) Supervision of Instruction and Learning Outcomes, 3) Organizational Management, 4) Human Relations in School and Community, 5) School Law and Negotiations, 6) Research, Evaluation, and Information Management. These competency areas parallel the six Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium Standards for administrative certification in Pennsylvania. Guidelines for projects within each competence area are located under 'Performance Categories and Requirements' in the Internship Handbook. A completed portfolio providing evidence of how each candidate has met curricular, supervisory, managerial, evaluative, legal, and human relations requirements provides one component of the exit review from this 15 credit certification program. Additionally students must submit an updated resume, a log reflecting 180 hours of administrative tasks in an elementary setting and an additional 180 hours in a secondary setting, and pass the state mandated School Leader Licensure Exam.

The 20-25 students in IUP's Principal Certification Program each semester and summer represent primarily counties in western and southwestern PA. Each summer 3-5 students from eastern PA participate in the program. Occasionally we have an out of state participant seeking PA certification, and in 2001 at the request of Souzhou University, People's Republic of China, the structural design of our program was presented to 150 Chinese administrators in a three day workshop in Souzhou. IUP's Principal Certification Program has a balanced gender representation. Approximately 20% of each principal cohort group is non Caucasian. Our candidates teach in settings which are approximately 40% rural and 60% urban.