. >> suarez: to answer that question, the university turned to individuals like cynthia barron.a career in education spanning 40 years, barron began as a teacher and eventually became a principal the traditional way: by rising through the ranks. at the time there were no special programs to create the outstanding principal she became. >> it was really ad hoc, people like me really reached out and found our own mentors kind of in an ad hoc relationship. some people i realized did not think that that was important. i certainly did. i kind of built my own cadre of mentorships. >> reporter: mentorships are at the core of the program at the center for urban education leadership, and cynthia barron is now one of those mentors. she is a leadership coach who guides principals-in-training such as 33-year-old rita raichoudhuri. for the last year raichoudhuri, has been a resident principal at wells community academy. >> i have my mentor principal who is a principal here at wells and then i have my leadership coach. so i have two people who is taking me beyond that theoretical knowledge tha