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Education Program

Schools today are constantly changing. There is increased pressure on public schools to provide an adequate education to a student body that is more racially, economically and developmentally diverse than in the past. As schools and school districts are subject to closer scrutiny by legislatures and the general public, the need for effective school leaders is becoming more apparent. State policymakers are looking at ways to enhance the overall education improvement package by increasing the recruitment and retention of school leaders such as principals and superintendents.

NCSL has joined the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Education Commission of the States, the National Association of State Boards of Education, and the National Governors Association to form a national consortium. The organizations have received funding from the Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund to help enact policies and programs to improve the quality of education leaders in the states under the State Action for Education Leadership Project (SAELP).

Fifteen states including Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia have received grants of $250,000 over two years to implement state policies to strengthen school leadership. All 15 states will be working with targeted school districts within their states to demonstrate the effectiveness of the policies implemented under the SAELP project.

This state-district collaboration project will help create effective working relationships between participating principals, school councils, superintendents and district boards and will concentrate on six key areas of improvement:

• Strengthening and empowering educational leadership
• Increasing and diversifying candidates for school and district leadership
• Modifying state policies to improve education and professional development
• Improving state licensing and certification processes for leaders
• Redesigning and implementing recruitment strategies, including contracting and bargaining practices, salary and compensation programs, performance review processes, and incentive programs.
• Creating a more amicable political climate for governance of education leaders

SAELP is part of a five-year, $150 million commitment by Wallace Funds to place quality leadership at the core of school reform, strengthen the ability of superintendents and principals to improve student learning, and build a new field of knowledge for use by schools across the country.

Please contact Jane Best @ 303-364-7700 for more information on school leadership, the State Action for Educational Leadership Project, or the NCSL Task Force on School Leadership.

Education Home Page