Fifteen States Awarded Grants to Improve
Educational Leadership
DENVER -- Fifteen states have received grants of a quarter million dollars to help America's students learn.
Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia were awarded the funds by the National Conference of State Legislatures and four other organizations. The funds are to be used to implement state policies to help school leaders improve student learning. Each state will work directly with targeted school districts within their states to implement the policies they develop.
"When discussing school reform, focus has turned to improving educational leadership," says Senior NCSL Education Policy Specialist Frances Groff. "Research shows that superintendents and principals play a far reaching role in student academic achievement. SAELP grants will help states to implement policies to increase student achievement for all students by focusing on school leaders."
The focus of this initiative is to help states develop policies strengthening relationships between state policymakers, school districts, and schools by concentrating on six key areas of improvement:
- Strengthening school leadership
by redefining the perception of the role of school leaders and ways of doing business that positively impact how superintendents and principals provide educational leadership;
- Increasing and diversifying candidates
for school and district leadership;
- Modifying state policies
to improve education and professional development for school leaders;
- Improving state licensing and certification processes
for leaders;
- Redesigning and implementing recruitment strategies
, including collective bargaining, salary and compensation, performance review processes, and incentive programs;
- Assessing the current governance structures of schools
so that the balance of power between all levels of government promotes student learning.
SAELP is part of a 5-year, $150 million commitment by Wallace-Readers Digest 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. Joining NCSL in the SAELP project are the Council of Chief State School Officers, the National Governor's Association, the National Association of State Boards of Education, and the Education Commission of the States.
NCSL's Education Web Pages
NCSL's Press Room
For more information contact:
|
Gene Rose
NCSL Public Affairs Director
(303) 856-1525
fax (303) 364-7800
gene.rose@ncsl.org
|
Bill Wyatt
Public Affairs Manager
NCSL Washington, DC Office
(202) 624-8667
fax: (202) 737-1069
william.wyatt@ncsl.org |
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