Statewide Data on Supply and Demand of Principals after Policy Changes to Principal Preparation in Illinois
Author: Haller, Alicia
Date: 2016-03-00
Type: Reports - Evaluative
Subjects: Supply and Demand,Principals,Educational Policy,Administrator Education,State Legislation,State Regulation,Enrollment,Data Collection,Teacher Leadership,Career Development,Educational Finance,Longitudinal Studies,Educational Improvement,Accountability,State Boards of Education,Statistical Data,Faculty Mobility

Research has demonstrated that principals have a powerful impact on school improvement and student learning. Principals play a vital role in recruiting, developing, and retaining effective teachers; creating a school-wide culture of learning; and implementing a continuous improvement plan aimed at increasing student achievement. Leithwood, Louis, Anderson &amp; Wahlstrom (2004) established that school leadership is second only to classroom instruction in terms of school-level influences on student outcomes. However, that sequential description overlooks the role of the principal to scale effective practices school wide. Manna (2015) argues that it is the principal that acts as a &quot;powerful multiplier of effective teaching and leadership practices in schools.&quot; Recognizing the importance of school leadership and the growing complexity of the principalship, Illinois has worked at the forefront of innovation with improvements to principal preparation, and has been recognized as a national leader in this area. For over a decade, stakeholders throughout Illinois have engaged in efforts to improve principal preparation and development that began with the Illinois Commission on School Leader Preparation (2006), which led to recommendations made by the Illinois School Leader Taskforce (2008), and culminated into Illinois Public Act 096-0903. IL P.A. 096-0903 was enacted in 2010 and reformed the way principals were recruited, prepared and credentialed throughout the state. The new Act mandated that all programs seeking to prepare principals apply for state approval under the new requirements. It also eliminated Type 75 General Administrative programs that had largely been shown to be ineffective in preparing principals for today's schools. That change was crucial in setting the stage for programs to redesign their new programs with a targeted focus on the specific knowledge, skills and abilities necessary for candidates to become effective principals and assistant principals. This report presents: (1) Challenges to Determining the Impact of IL P.A. 096-0903; (2) Emerging Data Indicating Impact of New Regulations on Principal Supply and Demand; (3) FY15 Supply and Demand Data; (4) Principal Preparation Programs Approved under New Regulations; (5) Current Enrollment in Illinois Principal Preparation Programs; (6) Developing a Leadership Pipeline for Succession Planning; (7) Major Challenges to Understanding the Impact Policy Changes on the Supply and Demand of Principals in Illinois; (8) Illinois School Leadership Advisory Council (ISLAC) Recommendations on Improvements to Data Collection; (9) Recommendations Regarding Teacher Leadership as it Relates to the Principal Pipeline; and (10) Recommendation for Funding a New Longitudinal Data System for Improvement and Accountability Purposes.