The Wallace Foundation

AASA and The Wallace Foundation have partnered to work on the Educational Leadership initiative to develop, test and share useful approaches for the training of education leaders. The grant supports programs and activities throughout the grant cycle.

The partnership makes available to all AASA members and their school districts resources to use in furthering the mission of public school education. Please use the following web-based sites and information in your work. 

The Wallace Foundation has just released a new report, Districts Matter.The report is all about the critical role that school districts play in shaping how their principals are trained, hired, mentored, evaluated and developed on the job – a role that until recently was overlooked by many educators and policymakers. As you know, now, a growing number of large districts are seeking to cultivate first-rate principals for all their schools.

Districts Matter recommends that districts recognize they have two chief areas of responsibility:

• Build a large corps of well-qualified candidates, and then
• Support them once they’re on the job.

For those two areas, the report outlines nine concrete tasks for any district that wants to ensure that highly-qualified principals can effectively lead every school across the district. A few things that might be of interest from the report include:

• Districts have a responsibility to support principals – particularly when they are newly hired, but also throughout their careers.
• Under pressure to raise academic performance, many central offices are charging administrators with helping principals do their jobs better. Wallace research of three urban school districts found that the most effective instructional leadership directors “get their hands dirty and work alongside principals.” For example, instead of just asking a principal is she has talked with her staff about school data, the instructional leadership director actually sits in on data meetings, joining in to demonstrate how to conduct the conversation and providing the principal with feedback.
• Many districts have stepped up their emphasis on professional development and principal coaching despite harsh countervailing budget pressures. For example, the Providence school system now considers coaching and professional development a “right” firmly embedded in its culture. The district has sharply reduced its principal turnover as a result.
• Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., has introduced a new hiring procedure to bring in only the best candidates. Under the new system, candidates must submit three years’ worth of performance reviews, a transcript listing the continuing education courses and workshops they’ve completed, and data that show their impact on student achievement at their current school. The next round of screening includes an interview, a case-study discussion and writing exercise. Only about 30% of applicants make it into a “talent pool,” allowing them to seek leadership roles in the district.
• Hillsborough County, Fla., uses the results of performance evaluations to shape the on-the-job training principals receive. New principal evaluations rely on hard data and incorporate measures from many sources, including teachers for a more rounded view of the principal. Prior to the 2011-2012 school year, principals were evaluated by only one supervisor.

The National Conference of State Legislatures has issued a report, Preparing a Pipeline of Effective Principals that looks at the research conducted by The Wallace Foundation on how school districts are implementing new programs to effectively train education leaders to aspire to the principalship. You can access the full report here. 

AASA is pleased to announce that there will be three new short webinars for the spring of 2013. These webinars are graciously supported by The Wallace Foundation for AASA members and non-members leadership development.

Below we have the recorded webinars from the spring of 2012. We hope these are informative and can offer you the knowledge and expertise you need in your work.

 Webinar Recording: Building a Strong Principal Pipeline: Improving Student Achievement through Leadership -  Apr 23, 2012 3-4 p.m.

Without effective principals at the helm, the nation’s failing urban public schools are unlikely to turn around and give children the education they deserve. The Wallace Foundation selected six urban school districts and their partner training providers to develop a “principal pipeline” to identify, train, hire and support sufficient numbers of effective school principals to meet the needs of the district. The six-year Wallace initiative will also test whether creating a strong principal pipeline makes a difference for student achievement. This webinar will feature district officials from Prince George’s County and the National Institute for School Leadership (NISL) the PG County training provider, discussing the importance of selective hiring and training for urban school districts. Based on the Principal Pipeline session at the National Conference on Education, this webinar will dive into key questions centered on the needs of urban superintendents.

Presenters:
William R. Hite, Superintendent, Prince Georges Public School System
Pamela Shetley, Instructional Supervisor, Prince Georges Public Schools
Bob Hughes, President, National Institute for School Leadership

 Webinar Recording: Stopping the Summer Slide and Closing the Achievement Gap -  Apr 27, 2012 1-2 p.m.

The conventional six-hour, 180-day school year may not be enough to adequately educate many low-income students in the nation’s urban schools. This session will focus on summer learning loss and what quality programs can do to remedy it. The Wallace Foundation is engaged in a major, multi-year summer learning initiative to help improve summer learning programs for those who need it most in urban areas. This panel will include discussion of a recent RAND study Making Summer Count: How Summer Programs Can Boost Children’s Learning. Participants will hear from a senior policy researcher at RAND and summer programming providers participating in the Wallace initiative.

Presenters:

Kathryn M. Leroy, Chief Academic Officer, Duval County Public Schools, Fl.
Khalilah Harrington, Summer Learning Specialist , Cincinnati Public Schools
Julie Doppler, Community Learning Center Coordinator , Cincinnati Public Schools
Jennifer Sloan-McCombs, Senior Policy Researcher, RAND

 Webinar Recording: Driving School Improvement through a College Access and Success Agenda -  Apr 30, 2012 2-3 p.m.

Research demonstrates that when school leaders emphasize post-secondary preparation and matriculation over high school graduation as an end goal, drop-out rates decrease and academic performance increases. In a school with a college-going culture, students understand the relevancy of high school to their future. They are able to “connect the dots” between their high school studies and their hopes, dreams and aspirations. High Schools dedicated to launching all of their students to career and college success – what some call “Launchpad High Schools” - measure their success on post-secondary attainment, enjoy structures that provide the kind of meaningful connection all adolescents need to set goals and persevere through obstacles. AASA and College Summit have held regional meetings across the country, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, on building a college-going culture and using college-going data to drive reform. This webinar will share lessons learned from the field and best practices for driving K-12 improvement through a college access and success agenda.

Speakers: Bryan Joffe, AASA Keith Frome, College Summit
Robert McCord, AASA Research Professor in Residence

Webinar Recording:The Principal as Leader - May 9, 2012 1-2 p.m.

Outstanding school leadership doesn't just happen. Based on ten years of research from The Wallace Foundation, effective principals employ five key practices. The School Principal as Leader gleans lessons from Wallace-supported scholarship by leading researchers (at institutions including the RAND Corporation, Stanford, Vanderbilt, the University of Washington, and the Universities of Minnesota and Toronto) as well as Wallace-funded projects in 24 states and numerous districts. It concludes that these five practices are central to effective principal leadership: shaping a vision of academic success for all students, creating a climate hospitable to education, and cultivating leadership in others, improving instruction and managing people, data and processes to foster school improvement.

Speakers:
Wendy Robinson, Superintendent, Fort Wayne Community Schools, IN.
Robert Bender, Principal, P.S. 11, New York, NY
Jody Spiro, Director of Education Leadership, The Wallace Foundation

Also, please take advantage of these other resources:

• Wallace Knowledge Center (www.wallacefoundation.org)

New Wallace Website

We encourage you to visit the Wallace’s new website, which Wallace hopes will make it easier for users to find idea and information, learn about the foundation’s strategies and gain access to multimedia resources. Other key features include:

• Information grouped under specific topics like “principal training,” “coordinating after-school resources,” “summer learning,” and “strategies for expanding audiences” – to simplify browsing;
• At-your-fingertips video and other multimedia;
• New material about foundation strategies, grantee partners and history;
• A rotating “carousel” highlighting important reports and features; and
• An airier, more modern design with more photos.

 New RAND Report on Summer Learning Loss

We thought you and your school district would find interesting a new Wallace-commissioned study from the RAND Corporation, which examines the loss of knowledge and educational skills during the summer months. The study finds that this loss is cumulative over the course of a student’s career and further widens the achievement gap. In addition, it examines the characteristics of effective summer learning programs and the costs associated with such programs. It also gives specific recommendations on how school districts can overcome barriers to establishing successful programs. Click here to read the full report, “Making Summer Count: How Summer Programs Can Boost Children’s Learning.”

 Webinar: Developing Effective District-University Partnerships for Leadership Preparation

On April 26, 2011, AASA hosted a webinar supported by The Wallace Foundation. The presenters provided an overview of current research and share practical strategies on steps to take within one's district and in collaborating productively with local universities to reflect district needs and priorities. Presenters shared program examples on content and internships, reviewed resource contributions, and explored governance models. You can download the webinar powerpoint presentation by clicking here.

 Webinar: Learning From Leadership

A report, commissioned by The Wallace Foundation, has found the strongest evidence yet of principals’ significant effects on student achievement. "Learning from Leadership" is the largest national study ever done, examining the effect of school and district leadership on student learning.

Principals exert the most influence by improving teachers’ motivation and working conditions, note researchers from the Universities of Minnesota and Toronto. Principals improve classroom practice by focusing the school on high expectations for student achievement and by providing teachers with relevant professional development and opportunities to collaborate. But principals can’t do it alone: District administrators, assistant principals, parents, state policymakers and teachers all have important decision-making roles to play. Researchers found that district leaders had the greatest impact on student learning when they focused on developing the capacity of principals and teachers, as well as providing clear direction and supportive policies and conditions for school leaders. On Sept. 28, 2010, AASA hosted a webinar supported by The Wallace Foundation. Researchers Kyla Wahlstrom and Karen Seashore Louis discussed this notable research. Their PowerPoint presentation can be accessed here

Other Wallace Foundation Resources

"The Principal Story" PBS Documentary

The Wallace Foundation released a PBS documentary called "The Principal Story" through Public Broadcasting Stations (PBS) stations across America in fall 2009. The full film (52:30 minutes), outtakes and an interview with the filmakers is available on DVD from Nomadic Pictures. 

A second docmentary, "North Grand" (25 minutes), is the story of a high school principal. Created as part of "The Principal Story" PBS documentary and media project, "North Grand" addresses the changing role of today’s principals and the challenges they face in turning around low-performing schools. This 25-minute documentary special aims to inspire deeper understanding of effective leadership at the high school level. It follows principal Asuncion “Sunny” Ayala through a year at North Grand High School, a four-year-old school on Chicago’s west side. Eighty-nine percent of North Grand students are Latino and most are from low-income families; they deal with poverty, gangs, teen pregnancy and learning in a non-native language. We see Sunny meet these challenges and share her joy at reaching her goal of a 98 percent graduation rate for the school’s first graduating class – a dramatic contrast to the 52 percent overall graduation rate for Chicago Public Schools.

The "North Grand" film is accompanied by the Conversation Guide.

Educators, policymakers and others interested in improving our nation’s high schools can use "North Grand" and its conversation guide to discuss what’s necessary to train and support high school leaders so they can close achievement gaps, enhance graduation rates and boost outcomes for all students.