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Principals who are strong, effective, responsive leaders help to inspire and enhance the abilities of their teachers and other school staff to do excellent work. Such principals also tend to retain great teachers and create opportunities for them to take on new leadership roles. This leads to the following key question: What can state policymakers do to help ensure that schools have excellent principals who advance teaching and learning for all students? The answer: Quite a bit, actually. The research informing this report identifies three crucial areas leaders across all states can usefully consider as they seek answers to this key question: (1) State policy agendas that address school principals along with other priorities; (2) State policy levers available to state leaders as they attempt to identify and train aspiring principals and support those already on the job; and (3) the contextual factors within states and local communities that affect how state policies or initiatives for principals are likely to unfold in practice. The report emphasizes that every state faces a unique blend of educational, political and financial circumstances and that, therefore, each state's approach should fit its needs and particularities.

This executive summary describes a Wallace-commissioned report that identifies the emergence of a new kind of education advocacy organization in the United States. The report also assesses how these groups influence education policy, provides an overview of their work across the country, and offers a case study of one, Advance Illinois. The report argues that these groups, and their potential foundation supporters, should carefully consider numerous issues as they craft their strategies to influence discussions about schools and state education policy. A commentary from the executive director of Advance Illinois reflects on the findings.? This document summarizes the research questions and approach that framed the study, key findings on and overall observations about Advance Illinois two sets of implications that emerged from the study, and recommendations put forth for new education advocacy organizations. [For the full report, see ED559963.]

Research has demonstrated that principals have a powerful impact on school improvement and student learning. Principals play a vital role in recruiting, developing, and retaining effective teachers; creating a school-wide culture of learning; and implementing a continuous improvement plan aimed at increasing student achievement. Leithwood, Louis, Anderson & Wahlstrom (2004) established that school leadership is second only to classroom instruction in terms of school-level influences on student outcomes. However, that sequential description overlooks the role of the principal to scale effective practices school wide. Manna (2015) argues that it is the principal that acts as a "powerful multiplier of effective teaching and leadership practices in schools." Recognizing the importance of school leadership and the growing complexity of the principalship, Illinois has worked at the forefront of innovation with improvements to principal preparation, and has been recognized as a national leader in this area. For over a decade, stakeholders throughout Illinois have engaged in efforts to improve principal preparation and development that began with the Illinois Commission on School Leader Preparation (2006), which led to recommendations made by the Illinois School Leader Taskforce (2008), and culminated into Illinois Public Act 096-0903. IL P.A. 096-0903 was enacted in 2010 and reformed the way principals were recruited, prepared and credentialed throughout the state. The new Act mandated that all programs seeking to prepare principals apply for state approval under the new requirements. It also eliminated Type 75 General Administrative programs that had largely been shown to be ineffective in preparing principals for today's schools. That change was crucial in setting the stage for programs to redesign their new programs with a targeted focus on the specific knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for candidates to become effective principals and assistant principals. This report presents: (1) Challenges to Determining the Impact of IL P.A. 096-0903; (2) Emerging Data Indicating Impact of New Regulations on Principal Supply and Demand; (3) FY15 Supply and Demand Data; (4) Principal Preparation Programs Approved under New Regulations; (5) Current Enrollment in Illinois Principal Preparation Programs; (6) Developing a Leadership Pipeline for Succession Planning; (7) Major Challenges to Understanding the Impact Policy Changes on the Supply and Demand of Principals in Illinois; (8) Illinois School Leadership Advisory Council (ISLAC) Recommendations on Improvements to Data Collection; (9) Recommendations Regarding Teacher Leadership as it Relates to the Principal Pipeline; and (10) Recommendation for Funding a New Longitudinal Data System for Improvement and Accountability Purposes.