School Leadership Matters: Changing Principal Preparation to Drive Student Achievement and Teacher Effectiveness at Scale

National Release of the Rainwater Leadership Alliance’s A New Approach to Principal Preparation: Innovative Programs Share Their Practices and Lessons Learned

Hosted by:
Rainwater Charitable Foundation
Thomas B. Fordham Institute
Center for American Progress

 

Please join this important discussion about why school leadership matters and how we can better prepare our principals.

The traditional processes and standards of most preparation programs do not equip principals for today’s challenging and multi-faceted role. Nor do these programs hold themselves accountable for improving student achievement results via their graduates. 

 

It’s no secret that exemplary principals are key to dramatically improving teacher effectiveness and student achievement. It is the combination of both highly effective teaching and highly capable school leadership that will change outcomes for children in our schools—not one or the other.  Yet principal effectiveness is not receiving the attention it should command in the national conversation about education reform.

 

The Rainwater Leadership Alliance (RLA) encompasses principal preparation programs at the forefront of innovation. These programs are organized for the express purpose of preparing leaders who can dramatically improve student learning, increase teacher effectiveness, and close the achievement gap.

 

RLA’s new report, A New Approach to Principal Preparation: Innovative Programs Share Their Practices and Lessons Learned, will be released at this event, at which program leaders will highlight key elements of their programs, the impact their work is having, and the policy implications involved in instituting aligned and effective human capital strategies.  

Chester E. Finn, Jr., President, Thomas B. Fordham Institute

Cynthia G. Brown, Vice President for Education Policy, Center for American Progress

 

Ben Fenton, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy and Knowledge Officer, New Leaders for New Schools

Sandra Stein, CEO, New York City Leadership Academy

Steve Tozer, Coordinator of the Ed.D. Program in Urban Education Leadership, University of Illinois at Chicago

Kelly Wright, Senior Learning Officer of the KIPP Foundation