The report identifies actions for policymakers and district leaders to consider as they make decisions on staffing and leadership development, with particular attention to ensuring opportunities for leaders of color and women.

Fund assistant principal positions as a core element of leadership capacity in schools.

• Instead of basing funding and staffing on student enrollment numbers alone, consider the leadership capacity in schools that have greater student needs or operational complexity. 
• Combine available funding streams—such as local funds, federal Title I aid, and other targeted resources—to support assistant principal positions. Also, develop plans to protect assistant principal capacity in high-need schools during times of budget cuts.

Balance standardized leadership pathways with school-level discretion.

• Provide more transparent and uniform opportunities to develop leaders. This could include clear information on preparation routes, easily accessible application portals, and clear eligibility and advancement criteria. Also, set baseline mentoring and evaluation expectations. 
• Monitor variation within the school system so access to information, developmental experiences, and advancement do not depend primarily on an individual principal or school placement.

Support principals in building effective assistant principal teams. 

• Provide leeway for principals on how to best assemble and deploy their teams of assistant principals with complementary expertise in areas such as instruction, special education, school climate, operations, and student support. 
• Help create communities where principals share approaches to staffing and role assignments, and consider how leadership teams can better reflect and serve students, families, and communities.

Consider the design of roles for assistant principals and rotation of tasks as part of leader development. 

• Guide principals to distribute and rotate responsibilities so assistant principals gain experience across instructional leadership, supervision, budgeting, operations, school improvement planning, and family and community engagement. 

Address factors beyond recruitment that support leaders of color and women. 

• Review recruitment, hiring, placement, retention, and promotion practices to identify where informal navigation, principal discretion, or assumptions about fit may limit opportunities for leaders of color and women. 
• Monitor placement and assignment patterns, ensuring equitable access to instructional leadership and other advancement-oriented work across school contexts. 
• Strengthen sponsorship, mentoring, coaching, professional networks, and affinity groups so that timely information and advocacy are available across schools. 
• Efforts should seek to build diverse leadership teams while avoiding tokenism and steering leaders toward roles or schools that may constrain advancement.

Differentiate development for varied career goals and strengthen retention. 

• Offer role-specific professional learning, coaching, and recognition for both aspiring principals and experienced assistant principals who want to deepen their impact in that role without necessarily leading a school. Clear options for advancement and sustained development can reduce pressure to move prematurely, preserve effective assistant principals, and support leadership stability.