State Partnerships With University Principal Preparation Programs

State policymakers can play an important role in improving principal preparation. That’s one of the major takeaways from this brief.

Research has shown that school principals matter greatly to teaching and learning. Yet university principal training has not kept pace with the job’s growing demands. The Wallace Foundation launched an initiative in 2016 to improve principal preparation. Seven universities in seven states participated in the University Principal Preparation Initiative. Universities worked with districts and states to better align their principal preparation programs with evidence-based practices.

This brief summarizes key lessons for state organizations​​ from the RAND Corporation’s full five-year study of the effort. The researchers found that universities collaborating with state organizations and others can meaningfully redesign principal preparation programs. 

The seven participating universities were:

• Albany State University, Ga. 
• University of Connecticut
• Florida Atlantic University
• North Carolina State University
• San Diego State University
• Virginia State University
• Western Kentucky University.

How States Promoted Principal Quality

These are the some of the notable ways that participating states worked to advance principal preparation:

State education agencies used school leadership standards to align and strengthen policies. All participating states had principal or leadership standards. Most revised those standards for some or all school leaders. They then used those standards to create coherent policies to strengthen school leadership. Key areas that states strengthened were:

• Principal licensure requirements
• University principal program accreditation and oversight
• Professional development for licensure renewal.

States mainly aimed to support rather than mandate change. States acted on guidance from districts and preparation programs to provide resources.  When policy changes were needed, states coupled mandates with support.  Districts and programs received mandates more favorably when they were evidence-based. Mandates were also better regarded when they were backed with oversight and accountability. 

States contributed to a culture of collaboration across the principal preparation system. Practices included:

• Hosting stakeholder convenings
• Creating professional learning communities
• Sharing examples of strong practices used in participating programs with others
• Creating state-level task forces or working groups.

State organizations promoted partnerships between districts and university principal preparation programs. States provided practical guidance on how to structure partnerships between programs and districts. They also shared lessons learned during the initiative statewide to help other partnerships.