The Middle Level Leadership Center (MLLC), under the director of Dr. Jerry Valentine, is housed within the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the College of Education. It develops and disseminates current knowledge about best practices in school leadership and supports school improvement initiatives at the middle school, junior high school and intermediate school levels.
The centerpiece of MLLC’s school improvement work is Project ASSIST (Achieving Success through School Improvement Site Teams). An array of school improvement instruments, including surveys of school culture, school climate, principal leadership, team leadership, empowerment, instructional practices and student perceptions of school programs, are available through the center. Training in the use of the Instructional Practices Inventory, a process for establishing a schoolwide profile of instruction, is also available.