Report: SREB States Need to Make More Progress in Improving School Leadership

ATLANTA — Southern Regional Education Board states are making progress in developing school leadership systems to ensure that every public school has a principal who can improve student performance — but states need to accelerate their efforts in order to meet their own achievement goals, a new SREB report shows.

The cutting-edge principal needed in today’s school "is not your father’s principal," asserts Schools Need Good Leaders Now: State Progress in Creating a Learning-Centered School Leadership System. The SREB report calls for a new generation of school leaders who put curriculum and instruction first. It examines the progress of each SREB state in developing school leaders who look beyond traditional administrative tasks and focus on improving schools and student learning — the key to preparing students to succeed in the competitive, 21st century global economy.

Read the report, embargoed until Wednesday morning, at http://www.sreb.org/main/Goals/Publications/LearningCenteredSchoolLeadership.asp.

Although all SREB states are making some progress in developing learning-centered leadership systems, individual states’ rates of improvement and their areas of focus vary greatly. Three states — Alabama, Louisiana and Maryland — show particularly promising progress in several areas, which means they have reached higher levels of progress than other states in several categories.

The report identifies key steps that can help policy-makers in every state build leadership development systems that produce more effective school principals.

"Step one is for state leaders to make improving school leadership a major priority," said SREB Senior Vice President Gene Bottoms, who leads SREB’s nationally recognized school improvement and school leadership programs.

Only one state — Louisiana — improved its SREB school leadership rating from 2002 to 2006 in all six major categories measured in the report. Alabama improved in five categories, and four states improved in four categories: Delaware, Georgia, Maryland and Virginia.

Three states showed progress in half of the six categories: Florida, Oklahoma and Tennessee. The remaining states showed less progress: Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia.

None of the 16 states across the region showed "substantial progress" in any category — signaling the need for state leaders to place even more importance on the need to improve school leadership and to take action.

SREB’s indicators of progress in developing a learning-centered school leadership system include:

Learning-focused leadership standards. The standards should emphasize the principal’s role in curriculum, instruction and student achievement and should describe explicitly the practices of effective principals and how to measure them. Many states currently rely on national school leadership standards that do not emphasize instructional leadership and school improvement adequately.

Recruitment. Universities and school districts should work together to recruit and select the best candidates to lead schools effectively. SREB recommends that states develop essential criteria for recruiting and selecting principal candidates who have the capacity to improve student learning. Universities need to be more selective about admitting applicants to master’s degree programs designed for aspiring school principals. Currently, most graduates of these programs do not become principals.

The overhaul of university-based, graduate-level principal preparation programs. These programs generally need tremendous improvement to better develop aspiring principals’ abilities to solve problems and lead school improvement, including effective ways to support and assist teachers. States also need to work to improve field experiences and mentoring for aspiring principals. Currently, many aspiring principals are allowed to intern in the schools where they currently work, use current supervisors as mentors and are not required to practice leadership of school improvement strategies.

Tiered licensing for principals. This licensing structure can ensure that both entry-level and experienced principals continually demonstrate the abilities to improve classroom practices and student learning. Currently, many states’ licenses for principals are based solely on the completion of required — and often outdated — training programs and have little to do with demonstrated excellence in raising student achievement and school improvement.

Alternative licensure. Alternative paths to licensure also should be available so that high-performing teachers — and other professionals with master’s degrees in fields other than education administration — can access entry-level licensure and job-embedded training in school leadership.

Professional development. Training and support should continually strengthen principals’ capacities to improve curriculum and instruction and create a highly effective organization. States should give special attention to building strong leadership teams, including teachers, in low-performing schools.

SREB has a long-standing commitment to strengthening leadership development. SREB’s Challenge to Lead Goals for Education, approved by the region’s leaders in 2002, call for states to ensure that all schools have effective leaders who can help improve student achievement — and leadership begins with a high-quality school principal.

SREB’s Learning-Centered Leadership Program supports states in this effort through a wide variety of activities, ranging from research and benchmark reports to on-the-ground leadership training and technical assistance. The SREB leadership program and the new report were funded by the Wallace Foundation.

For more information about improving school leadership in your state, contact SREB Communications. The report will be available to the public on Wednesday morning at www.sreb.org.

SREB, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization based in Atlanta, Georgia, advises state education leaders on ways to improve education. SREB was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to help leaders in education and government work cooperatively to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region. SREB has 16 member states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Each is represented by its governor and four gubernatorial appointees