This report by the Council of Chief State School Officers discusses the revised school leadership standards created by the Interstate School Leader Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) in 1996. It explains how the six updated standards are grounded in the latest research on instructional leadership, which now finds that setting the school's direction and culture influences how teachers perform and is the area where principals can make the greatest impact. The report describes how the standards were developed and how they can guide education policymakers in designing more specific criteria for principal preparation, licensure, hiring, professional development and evaluation. Compared with the previous standards, these new ones put greater emphasis on the need for a school leader to ensure the success of every child. The publication includes descriptions of a streamlined set of actions a leader should take in pursuing each standard, reflecting what research says about leadership and student learning.