T he P lan
Ensure there is a pipeline of high-quality superintendents
and principals to lead our districts and schools and
that existing superintendents and principals are well
supported.
Launch a three-year Statewide Leadership Initiative
to make Tennessee’s superintendent and principal training and
support programs the best in the nation. The initiative would
be led by a board of representative stakeholders including
professional associations, higher education institutions, nonprofits, district and school leaders, and the business and
philanthropic community. The initiative would be staffed
by renowned leadership experts recruited from both around
the country and across the state. The initiative would focus
on implementing the recommendations below over the next
three years and then working with other organizations (e.g.,
the Tennessee Organization of School Superintendents, the
Tennessee School Boards Association, the Tennessee Department
of Education, and higher education institutions) to ensure the
recommendations were sustainable after the three-year initiative
was complete.
Create a network of regional high-quality school leadership
programs that recruit, train, and support highly effective school
leaders.
• Assist both higher education and district school leadership programs
in effectively implementing the State Board of Education’s Learning
Centered Leadership Policy by creating a pool of shared resources
(e.g., a common curriculum, online professional development
tools, and a list of top instructors on specific topics who are willing
to teach across the state) and providing opportunities for school
leadership programs from across the state to share best practices
with one another.
• Create a process by which alternative providers can be granted the
authority to certify principals.
• Create a report card for school leadership programs similar to the one
the State Board of Education currently has for teacher preparation
programs. Include metrics such as how many graduates from
each program actually become administrators, the distribution of
TVAAS scores of schools led by graduates from each program, and
superintendents’ and principals’ satisfaction with each program.
Ensure this report card is distributed widely.
• Develop an initiative to recruit, select, and train an adequate
number of expert evaluators to implement the school leadership
program approval process in a way that is consistent with the State
Board of Education’s Learning Centered Leadership policy and
that encourages programs to set high standards and undertake
continuous improvement.
• Ensure that Tennessee Academy for Sc