This report, based on an extensive review of existing research, provides concrete and actionable guidance for school districts, states, and the federal government to improve school quality and achieve greater educational equity through effective school leadership. Among the findings:  

• Ensure high-quality principal preparation, with special attention to strategic use of state licensure and approval standards
• Create strategies to underwrite the cost of strong preparation for school leaders, especially by supporting yearlong internships linked to supportive coursework under the wing of a veteran principal.
• Invest strategically in principals’ professional learning, with particular attention to coaching and mentoring, developing networks of principals that work on shared problems, and providing opportunities for self-directed learning that is tightly connected to their work.
• Build robust pipelines for recruiting and preparing equity-focused school principals along with coherent systems of development and succession.
• Attend to principals’ working and learning conditions. This may require more information gathered from principals and getting their impact on district decisions that impact their schools.
• Support adequate and equitable principal compensation. District and state leaders may consider reviewing the competitiveness of salaries and considering other forms of compensation such as student loan repayment or housing support to attract and retain talent.
• Establish principal stability as a goal, and create productive mechanisms for principal feedback, evaluation, and mentoring to reduce the likelihood of attrition.