At University, Principals Are Trained Like Business Leaders

By Daniel Gursky

PITTSBURGH--Douglas Masciola was a nervous wreck. Here he was, a health and social studies teacher, off to his first day of class at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Urban and Public Affairs, known for producing some of the country's top public-policy leaders and managers.

"There were foreign students, people from Xerox, people from the banking profession, from health care, all highly successful people," Mr. Masciola recalls. "I'm in the strategic-planning class, and I'm thinking, 'Do I have the skills to compete?'"

Mr. Masciola found himself in this challenging position as one of the first students in an unusual program in educational leadership here at Carnegie Mellon. Rather than taking education classes with a group of would-be principals, Mr. Masciola and other educational-leadership students at Carnegie Mellon undergo the same academic training as leaders from business, industry, and the public sector. When they finish the program, the educators are certified administrators, but they also earn a master's...