Leading for Learning: Annual Reports

The Education Week series "Leading for Learning," funded by the Wallace Foundation, includes several special reports on leadership in education.

Leading for Learning 2007

Stories featured in the 2007 report include:

Getting Serious About Preparation: The nation’s schools need principals who know instruction, and that focus is helping to shape more coherent professional programs to select and train the next generation of school leaders.

Joining Forces: Greeneville City and Kingsport district officials entered into a collaborative partnership to help East Tennessee State revamp its educational leadership program.

Real-World Lessons: Since 2000, New Leaders for New Schools has recruited and trained more than 300 principals and placed them at the helms of troubled schools in cities across the nation. But the nonprofit organization aspires to much more.

A National View: When Arthur Levine wrote a scathing report on the preparation of American school leaders, the one institution he singled out as a “promising model” wasn’t even in the United States. It was England’s National College for School Leadership.

View a complete PDF version of this year's report.

Leading for Learning 2006

Stories featured in the 2006 report include:

Building Capacity: States face new challenges as they try to help schools and districts improve learning.

Kentucky: The state expands its ‘distinguished educator’ program to districts, including their school boards.

New Mexico: The state requires "priority schools" to use a continuous-improvement program.

Pennsylvania: Distinguished educators are assigned by the state to help low-scoring districts.

View a complete PDF version of the 2006 report.

Leading for Learning 2005

Stories featured in the 2005 report include:

Theory of Action: The idea that schools can improve on their own gives way to a focus on effective district leadership.

Guiding Hand: In a poll, superintendents report more active roles.

Forward Motion: In Gilroy, Calif., educators have learned a common process for improvement planning. The rest is up to schools.

In Sharp Focus: Central office played a leading role in standardizing practice and monitoring data in Clarksville, Tenn.

Read the transcript from the Sept. 21, 2005 Education Week live Web chat on the 2005 report.

Read also the Education Week 2005 national leadership survey: "From the Top: Superintendents on Instructional Leadership."

View all charts, tables, and graphs included in the 2005 report.

Leading for Learning 2004

Stories featured in the 2004 report include:

Putting Out Fires: For one typical elementary school principal, routine duties consume most of the day.

Charts: Instructional Leadership: To see how principals go about their work, the Education Week Research Center analyzed data from the federal 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey.

Read the transcript from the Sept. 17, 2004 Education Week live Web chat on the 2004 report.