The Wallace Foundation has released seven short videos featuring six school district superintendents talking about key innovations to emerge from a major national initiative to develop larger numbers of highly effective principals – and one video that offers advice to other superintendents who might want to build their own strong principal pipelines.
The two-minute videos of each superintendent highlight new practices to develop leaders and manage career paths more intentionally, including crafting clear standards for principals, developing strong partnerships with local university preparation programs, grooming assistant principals, revamping hiring processes and stepping up support for new principals.
These are among the innovations that were outlined in an independent report called Building a Stronger Principalship: Districts Taking Charge of the Principal Pipeline, which was released in January and is the third in a six-part series in a multi-year evaluation of The Wallace Foundation’s $75-million Principal Pipeline Initiative. Policy Studies Associates and the RAND Corporation are conducting the evaluation.
In one six-minute video, the superintendents offered advice to other districts who are just embarking on building a principal pipeline. One bit of advice: Be patient. “It’s not a one-year effort. It’s not a two-year effort. This is a 10, 12, 15-year effort to take someone from where they wish to be a school leader to where they truly are a very effective leader of an organization as large and complex, as challenging, as rewarding as a school,” says Tom Boasberg, superintendent of Denver Public Schools.
Besides Boasberg, the other superintendents are Ann Clark of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Alvin Wilbanks of Gwinnett County (Ga.) Public Schools, Carmen Fariña of New York City Schools, Jeff Eakins of Hillsborough County (Fla.) Public Schools; and Kevin Maxwell of Prince George’s County (Md.) Public Schools.
The interviews were captured on video at a recent Wallace convening of the districts participating in the pipeline initiative.
To view the videos:
