Pirate Leadership Academy at ECU

Pirate Leadership Academy at ECU

The PIRATE Leadership Academy (PLA) at East Carolina University will prepare effective Principals from eastern NC, for eastern NC, who Innovate, Revitalize, Advocate, and Transform Education for all students, families, and teachers. 

PLA framework

Our Goal

Using two distinct grants, the ECU PLA will partner with the Northeast Regional Education Service Alliance (NERESA) and the Southeast Education Alliance (SEA) starting in the Fall of 2020, through Spring of 2028, to train and support over 140 highly qualified leaders to build leadership capacity, serve schools, and school districts in eastern NC.

Our Recruitment Strategy

To work with district leaders to nominate the best “proven” teacher leaders, who have not seriously considered entering the principal pipeline due to potential financial costs related to graduate school and the inconveniences of retooling (i.e., money, time, travel commitments, maintaining a work/life balance) to become effective principals for their schools and communities.

The ECU PLA Principal Preparation and MSA Delivery Model

The ECU Pirate Leadership Academy Principal Fellows Program will be a two-year program leading to an MSA degree at ECU, a NC Principal License, and the option of adding the NC Curriculum Instructional Specialist License.

  • Year One: Our district will support our Principal Fellow (PF) and maintain the PF as an employee and hold the PF’s salary package harmless by paying the employer’s contribution for the PF’s health benefits, retirement benefits, any additional salary/supplements, and other benefits and bonuses as determined by the district. We will also support our PF with time to attend on-the-job training opportunities through ECU MSA online classes and ECU PFP enhancements during the day on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am-4pm. We understand the PLA grant will cover tuition, fees, textbooks, and registration fees for PLA leadership conferences throughout the year.
  • Year Two: Our district will continue to support our Principal Fellow and maintain the PF as an employee and hold the PF’s salary package harmless by paying the employer’s contribution for the PF’s health benefits, retirement benefits, any additional salary/supplements, and other benefits and bonuses as determined by the district. We also understand that the NCDPI MSA Internship Stipend will provide funds to our LEA to cover the PF’s internship salary and FICA. If the PF’s salary is more than the internship stipend, our district will address this issue with NCDPI. We will also provide time for the PF to attend on-the-job training opportunities through ECU MSA online classes and ECU PFP enhancements on Thursdays from 9am-4pm, and statewide NCPFP enhancements throughout the year.
Distinction of ECU’s NC Principal Fellows Grants at-a-Glance
Grant 1Grant 2
  • ECU Principal Fellows remain employees of the district they are serving under all grants.

  • There is no Leave of Absence option for ECU Principal Fellows.

  • All grants pay for the PFs tuition, fees, instructional materials, & PLA conference fees.

  • During the 2nd year of the program, the grant reimburses semi-annually the LEA/district to cover the PFs local supplement.
    • During the 1st year of the program, the grant provides the LEA/district a leadership residency reimbursement of $46,000 .... ($23,000 Nov/Dec and $23,000 May/June) to subsidize the PFs salary packageNo leadership residency reimbursement is provided during the first year of the program