Six urban school districts receiving a combined $75 million in philanthropic funding are seizing opportunities to improve school leadership by better training principals, and supporting and evaluating them on the job, a new report finds.
That conclusion comes from the third-year evaluation of the Principal Pipeline Initiative, the multimillion dollar investment by the New York City-based Wallace Foundation in large districts across the country. The six districts are: Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C.; Denver; Gwinnett County, Ga.; Hillsborough County, Fla.; New York City; and Prince George’s County, Md. As part of the initiative, Wallace commissioned two outside research organizations—Policy Studies Associates, Inc., and the RAND Corp.—to conduct the annual evaluations.
Researchers found that the participating districts are more effectively using data about principals and aspiring principals to “make better-informed decisions on hiring and placing” school leaders, increasingly focused on grooming their assistant principals for the top jobs in schools, and exercising more control over those aspiring principals and the training they get. They did so by working with partner organizations, such as universities, and expanding their in-house leadership programs.
The Wallace Foundation also supports coverage of leadership, expanded learning time, and arts learning in Education Week.
