The Missouri Professors of Education Administration (MPEA) is pleased to acknowledge that the development of this website which includes member colleges/universities, a collection of instructional materials, registration/guidelines for assessing the MPEA Performance Assessment, conference registrations/events, and assessment items tied to the MLDS standards.

New materials are added from time to time. We make a difference only if we maintain an aggressive posture to move forward with what is right for kids and for the adults who teach and lead them. We need right-minded leaders not compliant technicians. We need leaders with an understanding of the vision, not leaders who audit numbers without seeing the big picture. We need leaders who truly understand collaboration and collaborative learning, not leaders who monitor and reprimand. Let’s not allow our teaching of future leaders to be influenced solely by the way the lives of today’s classroom teachers have been influenced by the press for success on high- stakes tests.

We have a good culture of collaboration in Missouri among the professional associations, including DESE, MoASSP, MAESP, and MASA. We reside in a state where an organization like MPEA can make a difference. We have a culture more conducive “to doing what’s right for students” than is the case in most states. We need to prepare leaders to think more creatively and holistically than ever before. As we admit leader candidates, as we teach leader candidates, as we certificate leader candidates, we must raise the bar because the challenges they will face will be greater and they will have to be more talented than ever to do what is best for students. We should take our students well beyond the surface of knowledge and into the depths of understanding of how leadership is defined by state and national standards. As professors, we must be responsible for seeing, and responsive to shape the big picture of good education.