NC PFP

Legislation creating the North Carolina Principal Fellows Program was enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly in 1993. The purpose of the Program is to attract outstanding full-time students to two-year Masters in School Administration (MSA) programs, thereby increasing the number and enhancing the quality of licensed school administrators available to serve in the public schools of North Carolina. The first class of Principal Fellows began their studies in 1994-95 and graduated in the spring of 1996.

The Program provides each recipient an annual scholarship/loan of $20,000 for two years of full-time study, for a total of $40,000. The first year of study is dedicated to academic coursework at one of eleven universities in the UNC system. The second year is spent in a supervised full-time administrative internship in a public school in North Carolina. In return, each participating Principal Fellow agrees to repay the scholarship/loan with four years of service as a principal or assistant principal in a North Carolina public school within six years following graduation from the Program.

In the ten-year history of the Principal Fellows Program (1993-94 through 2003-04), there have been 1,403 applications filed for the scholarship/loan. From those applications, 803 scholarship/loans have been awarded to ten classes of Principal Fellows. The 803 Principal Fellows that have been named included 71% females and 23% minorities. The Program is meeting its Legislative charge to attract women and minorities to public school administration.

Classes 1-8 have been through the full two years of the Program. Of the 625 members of Classes 1-8, 613 completed the Program. This is a completion rate of 98%. Following graduation, 98% of the Program graduates have secured employment as a principal or assistant principal within two years of completing the Program. In North Carolina, 12% of current principals and assistant principals are graduates of the Principal Fellows Program. The Program is producing significant numbers of school administrators who are highly employable.

At the present time, there are 324 full-time students enrolled in MSA programs at the eleven campuses in the Program. Of these, 177 (55%) are the Principal Fellows in Classes 9 and 10. In the past four years, 1,299 students have graduated from MSA programs in North Carolina. Of that number, 352 (27%) were Principal Fellows. The Program continues to have a significant positive impact on the enrollment in MSA programs, and is the primary source of full-time MSA students.

For more information on the Program, visit the Center for School Leadership Development website at http://csld.northcarolina.edu and click on NC Principal Fellows Program.

CLICK HERE - The North Carolina Principal Fellows Program