Becoming a Leader: Preparing School Principals for Today's Schools

Describes efforts by states and districts to improve training for principals, identifies key elements of success based on new research, and offers lessons for effective preparation, including more focused training and high-quality mentoring.

• Observation: Successful principal training programs are different from common practices in that they are more selective, more focused on improvement of instruction, more closely tied to the needs of districts, and provide more relevant internships with hands-on leadership experience. Tweet
• Observation: Leadership practices point to the need for the principal to know how to share jurisdiction and allow leadership to flourish throughout their school. Tweet
• Observation: The skills that leaders display, or fail to, may be as important in attracting and retaining good teachers to a school or a district as salaries. Tweet
• Observation: Leadership training should include high-quality mentoring for new principals and professional development for all principals to promote career-long growth in line with the evolving needs of schools and districts. Tweet
• Observation: Addressing the leadership challenge also requires remedying the difficult working conditions that can undermine even the best-trained principals. Tweet