The research for the report included personal interviews with 21 experts in in state policy and school leadership; an email survey of those likely to have expertise in education leadership (351 responses);  an analysis of Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) data regarding principal training, principal influence over different school activities, professional development for principals, and principal evaluation; an examination of  Education Week  coverage of state policy and principals; and an analysis of reports from The Wallace Foundation on the sustainability of various foundation efforts over the years to strengthen school leadership. 

The appendix of this report describes the methods that a research team, led by Paul Manna, used to identify key issues, gather information, and draw conclusions. A first guiding principle for the research strategy was to identify evidence from a range of sources to determine the level of support available for various claims about what states can do to ensure that their schools have excellent principals. A second guiding principle was for the study to be primarily a descriptive analysis of the state policies and practices, and opinions of people working in the field. In that spirit, a primary empirical goal was to synthesize and summarize a broad range of information to describe these policies, practices, and opinions.

Readers should not read this report as a narrow impact study or program evaluation in that it does not systematically test the impact of particular policy interventions to determine their effects on behavior or student outcomes. The state successes and struggles that appear in the report are intended to provide examples that state leaders and others can learn from as they contemplate designing their own initiatives or improving upon current policy and practice. Readers seeking more in-depth evaluations of the specific policy levers discussed in this report should consult the numerous citations provided in the list of works cited. 

The overall research strategy was comprised of these six parts:

1.  Personal interviews;

2.  Expert survey; 

3. Analysis of Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) data; 

4. Coding of Education Week coverage; 

5. Analysis of The Wallace Foundation sustainability reports; and 

6. Selection of state cases for deeper investigation. 

The appendix of the report describes each of these parts in detail.