The conceptual framework that CBU adopted in 2001 for the Educational Leadership Program is "the leader as servant." The values, beliefs, and understandings associated with servant-leadership include the following:

1. Preparation for the challenges of an administrative career must be inward as well as outward and involve the development of a spirit of responsible service toward the mission, the school, colleagues, teachers, students, the community, and the public at large.

2. An educational leader should be a servant first, a leader second. Service to the mission of the school and society and to others, especially those for whom one has moral responsibility, has primacy over ego needs.

3. An educational servant-leader values the human dignity of all children and young people and ensures that their needs for a good education and self-development in a safe, secure, and caring school environment are met.

4. An educational servant-leader values and enhances the dignity of all adults in the school community and ensures that the developmental needs of the adults in the school environment are also met and advanced.

5. An educational servant-leader guides and influences the school with care and wisdom toward becoming a moral community that is both just and compassionate.

6. An educational servant-leader develops the school as a learning community and collaborates with colleagues to create shared leadership and to enhance leadership capacity in the school as a whole.

7. An educational servant-leader understands and implements best practice in both leadership and management, including technology, while honoring the ideal of administration as a moral and ethical craft.

8. An educational servant-leader is an advocate: for the potential role of education in achieving social justice in human society, for better schools, for student learning and achievement, for children and young people, for communities, and for morally responsible action on the part of all educators.

All of these elements are summarized in servant-leadership.