2014-15 State of Education in Tennessee | Page 38

IMPROVING SCHOOL LEADERSHIP IN TENNESSEE OVERVIEW: UPDATE ON THE WORK: Research demonstrates that principals matter greatly to student achievement. In fact, research has shown that of all inschool factors, principals’ impact on student achievement is second only to that of teachers, accounting for approximately 25 percent of a school’s impact on student learning.99 Principals are instrumental in efforts to improve student learning, as they are responsible for the effective staffing, management, and continued development of schools. Recent research finds that principals play a key role in retaining top performing teachers, creating productive school cultures, and fostering working conditions that encourage effective teachers to stay in classrooms.100 In order to ensure all schools have access to highly effective school leaders, it is important that all components of the principal pipeline provide school leaders with the skills they need to support teachers and students in classrooms across Tennessee. This includes not only principal preparation programs, but also principal support practices and principal evaluation systems. The following sections will provide an overview of recent changes in policy, legislation, and programs related to school leaders in Tennessee. Over the past decade, principals’ jobs have shifted away from that of a building manager to that of an instructional leader.101 This shift has resulted in a growing need for additional support and professional learning for current principals as well as a redesigning of principal preparation programs to more effectively prepare beginning principals for their role as instructional leaders.102 Tennessee laid the foundation for a commitment to the improved development and support of school leaders across the state with the passage of the Learning Centered Leadership Policy in 2008.103 The Tennessee Instructional Leadership Standards (TILS), an integral component of the Learning Centered Leadership Policy, were revised in 2013 to reflect current research and best practices in instructional leadership.104 These policies were a catalyst for shifts in policy related to principal preparation and evaluation that signify the state’s continued commitment to school leadership. Even so, it is difficult to determine how effectively these policies are implemented or the impact they have in districts across the state. For this reason, it is imperative to continue work in the area of school leadership to ensure all schools have access to principals who can transform instruction and sustain improved student learning. 38 Principal Preparation: The Learning Centered Leadership Policy created a framework for higher quality principal preparation programs in Tennessee. This policy required partnerships to be formed between preparation programs and local school districts, the implementation of research-based curriculum, the establishment of new and more rigorous admissions standards, and the provision of high-quality clinical experiences to all principal candidates.105 This policy did not require any follow-up data, surveys of partners, or other forms of monitoring and evaluation to ensure accountability and measure the quality of these partnerships. For this reason, while partnership agreements were written as a result of the Learning Centered Leadership Policy, it is unclear whether these partnerships have been successfully implemented across the state. There are several examples throughout Tennessee of best practices in principal preparation and of successful partnerships formed between local school districts and preparation programs. Some of these programs include the Leadership Academy at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, the Memphis Leadership Fellows Program at the University of Memphis, the Ayers Leadership Fellows program at Lipscomb University, and the Public Education Foundation’s Principal Leadership Academy in Chattanooga. All of these programs include intensive clinical experiences in partnering school districts and have developed curricula from evidence-based best practices in principal preparation.106