Principal Preparation and Performance

Principals impact student achievement through their influence on classroom instruction, organizational conditions, community support, and setting the teaching and learning conditions in schools.
 

Our Work

AIR researchers are learning about leading schools and how they apply best practices to improve state policy, district programs, and school practices aimed at developing and retaining effective leaders.

View our work in Teacher Preparation and Performance.

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Eleanor Fulbeck Headshot

Eleanor Fulbeck

Senior Director
Related Topics
Education
Related Work

A Framework for Principal Talent Management

19 Oct 2016
Research shows that principals are a significant school-level factor affecting student achievement, second only to classroom teachers. This Principal Talent Management (PTM) Framework is a guide to help school district leaders and policymakers by supporting efforts to strengthen the policies and practices districts use to attract, support, and retain the ...

Principal Talent Management According to the Evidence: A Review of the Literature

19 Oct 2016
To be successful, state and district efforts to attract and retain great principals require a comprehensive, systematic approach to principal talent management (PTM) that encompasses the entire continuum of a principal’s career: preparation, recruitment and selection, professional learning, performance evaluation, and compensation and incentives. This literature review aims to provide ...

Developing Leaders: The Importance—and the Challenges—of Evaluating Principal Preparation Programs

19 Oct 2016
The role of today’s principal is changing, as is the principal workforce. Understanding how to better prepare new leaders for the role of principal is an urgent policy concern. The George W. Bush Institute and AIR have partnered to evaluate the impact of five principal preparation programs in the United ...

Following the Leaders: An Analysis of Graduate Effectiveness from Five Principal Preparation Programs

19 Oct 2016
Principals play a critical role in establishing a school’s climate and culture and in selecting and developing teachers, among other roles. Taken together, the findings in this report suggest that focusing on how to reduce variation in the performance of graduates through training, selection, or other means or how to ...

Evaluating Principal Preparation Programs

Principals are second only to classroom teachers when it comes to impact on student learning. The George W. Bush Institute and AIR collaborated on a two-year study that looks at effective ways to evaluate principal preparation and describe policies to get, support, and keep great principals.

A Framework for Principal Talent Management

Despite clear research showing the impact that principals can have, more rigorous research and information to guide schools and districts is needed. The George W. Bush Institute partnered with AIR to develop a practitioner's guide that provides districts and policymakers guidance on policies for attracting, supporting, and retaining effective principals—and ...
Students with iPads

Connected Leadership Academy

AIR is working with the Powerful Learning Practice to help district leaders navigate the multifaceted challenges behind designing, planning, and implementing a reimagined vision of the role of technology in education. The Connected Leadership Academy was co-created and is led by AIR and PLP. The curriculum will be closely aligned ...

Ready to Lead: Designing Residencies for Better Principal Preparation

26 May 2016
With so much attention focused on the importance of teachers, the significant role that principals play advancing instructional improvement, educational equity, and success for all students is frequently overlooked. Principal residency is one innovative approach to improving principal preparation that has shown promise for ensuring new principals are ready to ...
photo of Matt Clifford

States Can Drive Change to Make Principals Prepared on Day One

16 Mar 2016
Too many new principals say they are underprepared for critical leadership tasks which—combined with high job demands, poor support, and increased accountability—raises principal stress to a boiling point. In this blog post, Matthew Clifford describes 18 “high leverage” state-level policies that hold promise for increasing innovation and improving principal preparation. ...
report cover

Want to Improve Low-Performing Schools? Focus on the Adults

09 Mar 2016
School improvement policy for the past few decades has been characterized by mandated lists of activities designed to stimulate a dramatic turnaround in student achievement. In the long run, this policy approach did not engender the necessary school-level changes. This brief demonstrates why new policies must aim to get the ...