States and districts should not be bound to traditional principal-preparation programs when developing school leaders, according to a report from the progressive Center for American Progress.
The report released last week looks at eight states that the center believes are leading the country in forging innovative ways to train principals and eight that it says are “lagging” because their principal-development policies are out of step with research.
For example, in Delaware, a “leading” state, the report points to the new Delaware Leadership Project, a 14-month-long intensive program intended to prepare principals for the state’s highest-need schools. It features a “problem-based curriculum, and yearlong, school-based residency under the mentorship of an experienced principal.”
The trouble with more-traditional programs, the report says, is that they are not research-based and they “do not require candidates to demonstrate their ability to do the job well.”
