Clear Administrative Services Credential Program

CPSEL is an acronym for the “California Professional Standards for Educational Leaders.”  It consists of a set of six standards that are intended to guide leaders as they define and develop their practice.  The standards are organized around six interrelated categories of educational leadership practice, including:

• Development and Implementation of a Shared Vision
• Instructional Leadership
• Management and Learning Environment 
• Family and Community Engagement
• Ethics and Integrity
• External Context and Policy

• Improvement Science is explicitly designed to accelerate  learning-by-doing.
• It’s a more user-centered and problem-centered approach to improving teaching and learning (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching).
• Improvement research is a focused learning journey.
• The overall goal is to develop the necessary know-how for a reform idea ultimately to spread faster and more effectively.
• Since improvement research is an iterative process often extending over considerable periods of time, it is also referred to as continuous improvement.

Listen to our podcast on continuous improvement and induction

Participating leaders will attend eight improvement group sessions, led by an improvement group facilitator, each school year (one per month) beginning in October and ending in May. Before the program starts, participants are guided to review their Individual Induction Plan and subsequent Individual Growth Plan (IGP) to inform the group’s focus. 

Leaders will go through three PDSA cycles with the support of their improvement team, coach, and induction facilitator. At the end of the three PDSA cycles, participants will put together a presentation of learning to showcase their work. A PDSA (Plan-Do-Study-Act) cycle is a model for teaching, learning, and leading improvement. Specifically, it provides a framework for developing, testing, and implementing changes that lead to improvement. It is based on a scientific method and moderates the impulse to take immediate action with the wisdom of careful study. Using PDSA cycles enables new leaders to test out changes on a small scale, building on the learning from these test cycles in a structured way before wholesale implementation. This allows leaders to see if the proposed change will succeed and is a powerful tool for learning from ideas that do and don’t work. It gives the new leaders a systematic way of improving and reflecting on their practice.

2026-27 CASC Meeting Dates (4:45 to 6:45)

• 09/30/26 Recorded Orientation 
• 10/07/26  Session #1
• 11/04/26 Session #2
• 12/02/26 Session #3
• 01/13/27Session #4
• 02/10/27 Session #5
• 03/17/27 Session #6
• 04/14/27 Session #7
• 5/12/27 Session #8 (Celebration of Learning)

To be eligible to enroll in the HTH Professional Clear Administrative Services Credential Program, an applicant must meet all the criteria listed below:

• Hold a preliminary administrative services credential 
• Employed or offered employment as a full-time administrator in a K-12 public or private school in California: 
  • Principal, Director, Dean, Program Manager, Program Specialists, etc. 
  • Please note that HTH instructional coaches are unit members and not administration so they do not qualify for this program.
  • Instructional coaches at other institutions may and often do qualify if they function as administration at their school sites.

For questions about your employment eligibility or your credential, please reach out to credentialing@hightechhigh.org

Enrollment for the 2026-27 program year will open May 1st and close on September 1st but you can Preregister now. 

All applicants that are Preregistered will receive a personal email invitation to complete the enrollment application as soon as it opens on May 1st.   

If you need assistance with a credential that will be expiring before you can complete induction, please reach out to credentialing@hightechhigh.org

Next Steps

• Review our information session resources: 
  • Info Session Slides & Info Session Video
• Find a qualified coach. In the CASC program, mentors are referred to as Coaches. A qualified CASC Coach will have all of the following; 
  • A valid Clear Administrative credential 
  • 3-5 years of successful administrative experience  
  • Coaches do not need to be currently working in an administrative role
• Letter to Potential Coach (to send out to potential coaches)
• Coaches Handbook

• One-time Registration Fee: $200 (invoiced in August)
• Annual CASC Program Fee: $3,000/yr
• Flexible payment options are available.

Q: Do I have to work at HTH to do this Program? 

A: No, enrollment is open to anyone employed K-12 teachers within California who meet the eligibility criteria.

Q: What time commitment is required outside of work? 

A: Attend 8 online meetings throughout the school year (September – May) from 4:45 – 6:45 pm. You will also meet weekly with your Coach, participate in observations and complete all required activities.

Q: My credential is about to expire this year. Who can help me with an extension?

A: Reach out to credentialing@hightechhigh.org for assistance with your credential.

Q: Can I join the CASC program if I have an Eligibility Waiver?

A: If you are currently serving in an administrative position, our credential department can help you apply for your preliminary credential in order to join our CASC cohort. Your credential must be active before Nov 1st of your first program year in order to remain in the program.