Wisconsin is using the “Wisconsin Quality Educator Initiative,” to create eligibility requirements for a new licensure title – master principal – using a research-based set of criteria for hiring, developing and evaluating such leaders. The master principal role provides an opportunity to differentiate roles in education leadership and provide training and incentives for exceptional principals to have the greatest impact on the students with the greatest needs.
The state’s five largest urban school districts are participating in the development of these standards and in training and hiring people to be licensed. Three of Wisconsin’s leading universities are collaborating with those districts to develop training programs for prospective candidates for this position, based on the standards developed. As a result of this effort, participants in the training who achieve the level of master principal will become principals of the state’s highest needs/lowest achieving schools.