How can state policy improve the effectiveness of school principals? Educators, including New York State’s commissioner of education gathered in Washington, D.C., on November 3, 2015, to discuss a major Wallace Foundation report that seeks to answer that question. Keynote speaker Paul Manna, professor of government and public policy at the College of William & Mary and the author of the report, Developing Excellent School Principals to Advance Teaching and Learning: Considerations for State Policy, summarized key findings from his research. He described three matters policymakers must understand before taking action: principals’ place on their state’s policy agenda; six possible levers that could trigger change; and their state’s unique context, including the ways in which key education-related institutions interact.