The Wallace Foundation offered a technical assistance briefing to the House Committee on Education and Labor at the committee's invitation. The briefing included a presentation by Wallace President Will Miller called “Education Leadership: Evidence and Implications," as well as a discussion with four school leadership experts.
Miller reviewed evidence from the foundation's 15-plus years of research and fieldwork in school leadership, including: the impact of principals and other school leaders and the importance of their preparation; new evidence that principal pipelines are a major strategy for school improvement districtwide; and how states are using ESSA to strengthen school leadership. He also discussed the opportunity in the federal Higher Education Act to improve the preparation and support of school leaders, along with specific legislative recommendations.
The experts included Mary Ellen Elia, commissioner, New York State Dept. of Education; Douglas Anthony, associate superintendent, office of talent development, Prince George’s County Public Schools; Douglas Fisher, director, education leadership, San Diego State University; and Sarah Reeves, principal, Shamrock Gardens Elementary, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Schools, North Carolina. They offered perspectives on school leadership from the vantage points, respectively, of a state education agency, a large suburban district, a university-based principal preparation program and a school.