The Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) and New Leaders for New Schools will partner to address the multiple challenges faced by Oakland schools. These challenges include a high-poverty population, diversity of racial and ethnic groups (94% are students of color), and a large population of English language learners. The key strategy of the program is to develop a new generation of aspiring principals who serve as agents of change and instructional leaders. This project will select and train 40 outstanding individuals to be principals in high need schools, support new principals to ensure schools are improved, make sure significant gains are made in student achievement, and change policies and practices within OUSD to transform the principalship from an administrator of the status quo to a CEO and innovative instructional leader. Led by New Leaders' administrators, schools across the country have been viewed as the most improved, including Monarch Academy in Oakland, which serves low-income children, is close to receiving an "excellent" grade by the state of California.

The University of California Berkeley, Oakland Unified School District, San Francisco Unified School District, and West Contra Costa Unified School District seek to implement and enhance a leadership pathway that builds capacity for highly qualified leaders for high-need schools. The plan of action is clear: urban school improvement is increasingly complex work, and leaders must be systematically identified, prepared, and supported so they can learn how to engage in and continue to do the work of urban school reform. The University collaboration will assist school districts in identifying their leadership needs. The project components include: implementation of Aspiring Administrators Program, customization of Principal Leadership Institute curriculum, full implementation of the Leadership Support Program and Coaching Program, and supporting developing leaders through sharing best practices in the Leadership Studio and Research into Practice Institute. By implementing and establishing a pathway of leadership, development, and support through the Center for Urban School Leadership, UC Berkeley will achieve a key mission of service and collaboration with our urban district partners.

Since 2005, the California State University, Northridge (CSUN) College of Education and College of Business and Economics have partnered with the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce to develop instructional leaders in order to address the leadership challenges of Los Angeles schools. The partnership has aimed to: create a recruiting model that builds a diverse pool of secondary school candidates; prepare 50 new secondary school candidates as change agents available for placement in urban schools; train mentors to support and develop current and future administrators; build capacity of current and future administrators to lead organizational, instructional and operational school reform through web site support; provide graduates with on-going support in the transition to administrative placement; and train CSUN faculty to sustain the new education-business-community model of school leadership training. Students have developed knowledge of change strategies by participating in regular weekend seminars presented by nationally recognized professionals.

The Superintendent's Urban Principal Initiative (SUPI) will partner with the Education Fund, the Council for Educational Change, and the Miami Museum of Science. SUPI will recruit three cohorts of 13 teacher leaders, 13 assistant principals, and 13 principals every year for three years to participate in the program. SUPI will also allow approximately 1,000 school-site administrators access to professional development courses developed for a new "Urban Leadership Strand." Innovative components of this professional development effort are designed to inspire highly qualified educational leaders to remain in high-need schools. These components consist of the use of the Educational Leadership Assessment, creation of individualized plans that blend an online Accelerated Administrator Preparation Program and face-to-face offerings, expansion of a successful assistant principal internship pilot, support from Professional Partners (on-site support from retired principals), and creation of an "Urban Executive Leader" scholarship. This scholarship will be given to a principal who completed the program and agrees to remain at a high-need secondary school while mentoring and/or training practicing principals.

The Broward County Public Schools will establish, test, and implement a comprehensive leadership model for attracting and placing a broader pool of candidates into the role of principal. The program will also focus on strengthening the abilities of current principals to improve student learning and on creating conditions that support leadership for successful schools. The program will support candidates through (1) ongoing assessment and monitoring, (2) individualized, competency-based professional development that is standards-focused and job-embedded, (3) real-life field experiences for prospective principals and (4) structured mentoring and support for current and prospective principals. The program expects to: improve job embedded training practices for current and prospective school administrators; improve competencies of skills and knowledge for program participants; increase numbers of principal certification; increase numbers of highly qualified principal mentors; and increase numbers of highly qualified principals to lead high need schools.

The SREB Learning-centered Leadership Program (SLCLP) is working in partnership with local school districts, universities, state policy-makers and state agencies in Tennessee to align preparation, licensure, professional development and evaluation to the state school leadership standards and to build school leadership capacity at the state level in Tennessee. The program will create an oversight commission of key educational and policy leaders who will refine selection, preparation and support procedures for new leaders and current principals/assistant principals; redesign training programs around criteria drawn from research; and introduce university, district and current school leaders to effective study findings and teaching practices that meet needs for improved student performance. One of the significant outcomes of this project is the modeling of two leadership preparation programs that are aligned to a framework of key conditions for comprehensive school reform. East Tennessee State University and the University of Memphis are partnering with three local school districts - Kingsport, Greeneville City and Memphis City- to prepare 26 aspiring principals who are committed to serving in high-need schools. Projected results include continuing partnerships between local districts and universities, as well as allowing experienced mentor principals and district staff to coach and train current principals.

The Rising Stars program, leverages an existing pre-school-to-college initiative by the University System, to decrease the time to competency for aspiring leaders by providing teacher candidates the opportunity to practice leadership tasks. In order to increase and improve the leadership pipeline through expanded district capacity to support teachers during their transition to leadership positions. Successfully piloted in 2004-5, this replication will produce 180 newly licensed school leaders to serve high-need school districts in five geographically dispersed areas.

The University of Hawaii is partnering with the Hawaii Department of Education (DOE) to address a crisis in school leadership resulting from existing and projected principal vacancies in high-need schools. The partnership will review and revise screening criteria, core curricula, performance assessments, develop an early leadership training program for teacher leaders, and redesign a training program for entry level school administrators that emphasizes practical, technical knowledge and skills. This professional leadership program will prepare and support a continuum of administrators from teacher leaders to superintendents in an infrastructure that includes recruitment, induction, and accomplished senior leadership and mentoring.

In today's high-stakes, accountability-driven educational environment, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) principals must be ready to undertake the enormous challenge of transforming high-need, poor-performing schools into high-performing centers of learning in which all children thrive. To meet this challenge, the Chicago Public Schools Office of Principal and Preparation Development (OPPD) has partnered with two renowned programs to develop a pipeline of prospective principals for the district. The University of Illinois at Chicago Ed.D. Program in Urban Education Leadership and New Leaders for New Schools are working with the Office of Principal Preparation and Development to address coherence and quality issues across preparation and development programs, strengthen the effectiveness of professional development and on-site support, and provide a set of intensive experiences to foster leadership for school improvement.

The Office of Principal Preparation and Development saw an opportunity to re-culture the entire district when faced with the enormous challenge of integrating approximately 170 new principals into the system following a peak period of declared retirements. As part of the new principal system of support, OPPD employed 20 Leadership Coaches each of who was assigned and accepted responsibility for the success of between 6-8 principals. New principals receive one-to-one, on-site differentiated coaching support, as well as being members of a small-group learning cohort comprised of 6-8 colleagues convened and facilitated by their Leadership Coach. Additionally, new principals participate in professional development sessions five times annually. For more information, go to http://www.oppdcps.com/.

The Star School Leadership Project joins Northeastern Illinois University and DePaul University, as partners to prepare school leaders to serve in Illinois high need school districts. The project develops future high need school leaders prepared to manage change and able to foster an inclusive school community where all stakeholders are effectively mobilized to develop and implement a vision of learning in a school culture driven by data collection and analysis. Extensive attention is given to deepening the participant's awareness of the pervasiveness of how race, class, gender, religion, language, and other demographic variables influence decision-making and responses from students, families, and colleagues.

Participants include 30 teachers (Fellows) pursuing a Masters Degree leading to certification at one of the two partner universities and 39 current certification holders (Residents) participating in a 9 month weekend residency program which meets from Friday morning through Sunday afternoon, monthly. Residents develop and implement an administrative project for one semester and receive coaching support from a trainer mentor. Dr. William Gray's research-based protocols are applied to match residents and mentors. Current practicing principals are supported through a variety of roundtables and other professional development opportunities developed in collaboration with school district leaders and non-profit organizations.

To learn more visit http://www.starschoolleaders.org

The University of Western Kentucky (WKU), in partnership with The Green River Educational Cooperative and 10 school districts, will build on its successful ongoing collaboration to combat teacher shortages by using the same partnerships, methodologies and research to alleviate a chronic shortage of instructional leaders. Working with WKU's Department of Educational Administration, Leadership & Research, Green River is supporting a new kind of principal preparation program built on a triad of concepts including traditional content delivery, online coursework, and field-based tasks guided by a seated principal mentor. Unique features include eliminating candidate self-selection and relying on a highly competitive screening process to ensure that more than 200 candidates with leadership experience and high interest are selected. The outcome will improve the candidate pool, increase the number of instructional leaders in principalships, and, in the long run, boost student achievement. All participants are required to sign a commitment to serve in high-needs schools.

The Louisiana State University's College of Education and three high-need districts in Baton Rouge are partnering to offer a full paid five-semester master's degree program and $2500 honoraria to 15 participating aspiring principals. During the internship phase of the program, participants will be paid at the assistant principal level, and the districts are committed to placing successful graduates in leadership positions within a year of graduation. Teacher candidates who have demonstrated capacity for leadership will be given priority in the selection process, which involves a nomination, interviews, at least three recommendation letters, and submission of GRE scores. The project seeks to develop, and then improve a "proof of concept" model that is transferable to other high-need districts where new partnerships will be proposed.

The Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) is partnering with New Leaders for New Schools to recruit and train 40 school leaders from within and outside the school system. The Baltimore School Leadership Program initiative will aim to increase the pool of highly-qualified instructional leaders for high-need schools by providing extensive professional development; evaluate, support and retain new principals and assistant principals who drive results; and transform the principalship and the assistant principalship in the BCPSS. The BCPSS will target two cohorts of individuals for this program: first, current assistant principals and second, leaders within the school system and community. Participants will be provided with intensive grounding through a summer foundation institute and then receive paid, full-time residencies at BCPSS schools along with carefully matched mentor principals. Simultaneously, BCPSS has partnered with the Institute for Learning to provide leadership training for all current assistant principals who aspire to be principals.

The University of Massachusetts-Boston is partnering with the Boston Public Schools' School Leadership Institute (SLI) to expand the work of SLI by supporting the preparation of school principals and assistant principals to serve in high-need, racially and ethnically diverse urban schools. Focusing on their critical needs within the district, the project will train and support over 200 assistant principals to become instructional leaders while meeting managerial and operations requirements. The project will also begin to redefine administrative roles in schools through the creation of high-functioning administrative teams that maximize instructional improvement. Unique features include the creation of a school administrator-training model for large urban school systems and strategies for supporting principals and assistant principals in becoming instructional leaders that will result in improved student performance.

The Foundation for Educational Administration, in partnership with the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association and the New Jersey Department of Education, will assist four partner LEAs to address common and unique needs related to projected high turnover of principals and assistant principals due to retirements, critical shortages of qualified candidates for high-needs districts, and inadequate professional development leading to continuing school failure. The project focuses on a seamless approach to improving recruitment of highly qualified aspiring school leaders, induction of new school leaders, and continuing professional development of new and veteran school leaders. Building on a previous SLP grant piloting research-based strategies proven effective in high-need school districts, the project will continue development and implementation of non-traditional programs to recruit and prepare at least 50 candidates for principal certification of whom at least 50% are minorities, at least 50% female, and at least 10% from professional backgrounds other than education. The non-traditional NJ EXCEL Program (designed by the Foundation) provides a research-based, standards-driven curriculum and performance-based candidate assessment system, modules designed for leaders of high-need schools, a continuous cohort instructional delivery model, intensive field-based internships, technology skills training, online learning, and graduate credit options through the American Council on Education and Thomas Edison State College. The New Jersey Leaders to Leaders (NJ-L2L) Program, the project's mentoring and induction program for new school leaders, was selected by the New Jersey Department of Education for delivery of the mentor training and two year mentor-directed residency program required by the State for standard principal certification. Both the NJ EXCEL and NJ-L2L Programs continue to serve the project's four partner LEAs and have been scaled-up to serve the entire State of New Jersey. For further information, visit www.njexcel.org and www.NJL2L.org.

The College of St. Rose is partnering with seven public school districts and the Schools of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany in order to establish the Institute for New Era Educational Leadership. The Institute will work with 120 aspiring school building leaders and 30 early career professionals to provide professional development, mentoring, job shadowing, online discussions, and other support designed to cultivate the leadership capacity necessary to serve as skilled assistant principals and principals. The Institute will work to effect systemic change in district policies, procedures and budgets that sustain effective leadership, and will develop non-traditional building leaders outside the teaching field.

The Mercy College of New York in partnership with three urban school districts in the Bronx, will train 44 aspiring principals and assistant principals, at least half of whom will be from groups underrepresented in educational leadership, including ethnic minorities and women. The program is designed to address the serious shortage of educational leaders at a time when public schools are beset by violence, crumbling facilities, technological pressures, and economic changes. A federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution, Mercy College will provide training that leads to a Master of Science degree in Administration and Supervision and NY State certification as a School Building Leader. The program is designed to build key competencies in research skills, data interpretation and implementation of findings, problem solving and decision-making, understanding of group dynamics, oral and written communication skills, instructional technology, financial planning, and managing school legal issues. Graduates will serve in high-need districts in Bronx Region 2. The program is not only committed to the improvement of school leadership but also sharing the experiences gained by the participants in the program through Showcasing Leadership Conferences.

The New York City Department of Education in partnership with the NYC Leadership Academy, New Leaders for New Schools, and New Visions for Public Schools proposes to recruit, develop, and support highly motivated individuals from outside and within the system to become principals or assistant principles. The project aims to prepare 108 outstanding new school leaders by defining and adhering to clear competency-based selection criteria with high standards, and select people who can be leaders and managers and have prior teaching experience. The New Visions Scaffolded Apprenticeship Model (SAM) will include a rigorous admissions process that includes application from all team members, a working session observed by the New Visions team, and a walk through at site. Selection criteria for participants includes classroom teaching experience, active participation in professional development, emerging leadership based on ISLLC standards, and other promising indicators as identified by the principal. The program will last 3 years and will support participants with intensive curriculum training, 4 weeks of intensive summer training, mentorship, and support for participating administrators.

The New York City Department of Education (NYDOE), in partnership with the New York City Leadership Academy worked with New Leaders for New Schools, and New Visions for Public Schools to recruit, develop, and support highly motivated individuals from outside and within the system to become principals or assistant principals. The project aimed to prepare 108 outstanding new school leaders by defining and adhering to clear competency-based selection criteria with high standards, and select people who can be leaders and managers and have prior teaching experience.

In the third year of the grant, due to the district reorganization, the grant was transferred to NYCDOE Office of School Leadership. In the first two years of the grant, New Leaders for New Schools, nineteen participants went on to become school leaders. More information about New Leaders results are available online.

The New Visions Scaffolded Apprenticeship Model (SAM) includes a rigorous admissions process that includes application from all team members, a working session observed by the New Visions team, and a walk through at site. Selection criteria for participants includes classroom teaching experience, active participation in professional development, emerging leadership based on New York City DOE Leadership Competencies and other promising indicators as identified by the principal. The program lasts 3 years and supports participants with intensive curriculum training, 4 weeks of intensive summer training, mentorship, and support for participating administrators.

The Bank Street College of Education and the New York Department of Education have partnered to serve an economically distressed area (formerly known as Region One) in which 60% of students' families live in poverty. Like many of New York City schools, those located in Districts 9 and 10 (which, combined, made up Region One) face a severe shortage of experienced and committed instructional leaders for their schools. While schools are no longer organized into or supported by Regional structures, to continue to address the needs of these particular schools the Office of School Leadership offers them significant programs and supports for aspiring and assistant principals. Components include: the Non-Traditional Leaders Program in collaboration with Bank Street College of Education, an 18-month graduate coursework program, including supervised internships and advisement and leading to certification; Tomorrow's Principals, a year-long program preparing experienced assistant principals to make successful transitions to the principalship; the Professional Development Leadership Center, which offers assistant principals and principals leadership programs and workshops independently and in collaboration with Harvard University's Principals Center, Fordham University's National Principal Leadership Institute, and the Center for Creative Leadership. Participants include annual cohorts of aspiring principals for Tomorrow's Principals, Harvard Principals Center, National Principals Leadership Institute and the Center for Creative Leadership, two cohorts of 5 highly qualified candidates for Non-Traditional Leaders program, and open enrollment programs for assistant principals and principals in the Professional Development Leadership Center.

The Tulsa Leadership Challenge (TLC) initiative will increase student achievement and learning through the creation of a leadership learning community designed to: (1) identify, recruit and mentor promising leadership candidates currently in the schools; (2) recruit 20-25 candidates per year to improve leadership skills and prepare them for internship; (3) recruit up to 12 candidates per year for salaried leadership internships in the schools to provide a critical transition step to leadership development, which have been shown to increase student achievement by nearly 400% more than average; (4) continue to provide yearly professional development for all current assistant principals to improve their leadership skills and prepare them for the principalship. Following training models based on Adult Learning Theory, participants receive intensive instruction on key concepts and opportunities, and how to apply these points to their own school sites. The TLC grant opportunity has currently placed 86% of the intern participants into assistant principal or principal positions. Tulsa Public Schools will continue to attract, train, and place a broader pool of applicants to address the loss of bulk, well-trained school leaders, primarily through retirement and to prepare leaders for work in high-need schools that are having problems drawing leaders to their schools.

The University of Widener is partnering with the School District of Lancaster to establish a fast-track leadership program that provides the hands-on experience and practical guidance needed to succeed in leadership roles. The School District of Lancaster will aim to attract 25-35 highly qualified teachers and aspiring leaders, and the district will publicize its intention to promote 75% of its school leaders from within. Incentives for teacher/teacher leader candidates include: intensive professional and leadership development activities, a distributive leadership model offering teachers and teacher leaders opportunities to take leadership roles and participate in school leadership teams, and an onsite fully-paid graduate program for principal certification. The program addresses a critical lack of high-quality, stable, and consistent leadership in Lancaster schools, which has contributed to low student performance and staff turnover. It also addresses needs revealed in research findings on previous leadership and teacher retention efforts, and is designed to build capacity for sustained success.

In the two years since the program began, 32 teachers have enrolled. Of that number the district has chosen six as principals or assistant principals. Three additional staff member were accepted in other administrative positions within the district. These participants have been provided with mentors who have gone through extensive, on-going training provided by The New Teacher Center of University of California, Santa Cruz. All new administrators also have been provided professional development geared for new administrators. This program is allowing the district to build capacity and promote from within, thus retaining the most valued employees. The district is able to retain and promote those who know the district, but more importantly who know the students, allowing them to have a greater affect on students' academic success.

The University of Texas at Austin will partner with three school districts to expand a model for school leadership development and increase the model's use with high-need districts by forming an alliance for effective leadership preparation. The project aims to: prepare 60 high-quality school principals who can effectively serve high-need campuses and promote a K-16 perspective; provide leadership development for 300 school administrators and teacher leaders who aspire to be school leaders, especially those serving high-need schools; provide mentoring to aspiring, novice and current school leaders to increase retention and performance; create a network among Central Texas school districts and university faculty that enhances collaboration; and disseminate qualitative and quantitative findings about the model approach as a vehicle for school reform. The model will be available for use nationwide.

Project Lead plans to improve the quantity and quality of educational leaders for ten extremely high need school districts in the Rio Grande Valley by increasing enrollment of principal candidates between 2006 and 2009. By providing approximately 100 newly trained and certified administrative leaders, Project Lead aims to improve the quality of education in these districts, which are experiencing unprecedented enrollment growth, particularly of children from poor, undereducated families. In an effort to bridge distances and accelerate the enrollment and graduation process of future instructional leaders, the project offers collaboratively designed coursework delivered onsite in the schools as well as the newly created Electronic Learning Community. An applied research program additionally benchmarks local innovations, assesses progress in academic achievement, and informs the continuously improving curricular content. The impact of Project Lead will not only be felt by the trained education leaders produced by the program, but the new training methods and practices themselves.

The University of Texas of the Permian Basin, in collaboration with school districts in the Region 18 Education Service Center, has enrolled 95 new principal candidates in the grant and has offered enhanced training opportunities for over 200 area principals. New candidates in the West Texas Principal Center grant participate in self-assessments and an individual training plan. Besides their graduate coursework, they are involved in a principal coaching program, cultural proficiency, conflict resolution and on-going leadership institutes. This year, the Superintendent Advisory Council felt that an emphasis should be placed on successful data analysis skills to impact student achievement. Many of the schools in our area are significantly below the state average in student performance, therefore principals must be well prepared to analyze student achievement and lead their Campus Improvement Teams to meet the needs of all students and also close the achievement gap. A yearlong focus on standards and data-driven decisions for aspiring principals, as well as practicing principals, is the focus for our monthly leadership institutes. Another unique aspect for the WTPC grant has been its three-year partnership with UTPB to sponsor the Bilingual Conference, which focuses on the needs of our ever-expanding Hispanic population. For more information visit http://www.utpb.edu/educ/wtpc/index.htm

The Stephen F. Austin State University is partnering with 21 high-need school districts to develop strategies to address the growing need for well-prepared and fully certified principals and assistant principals in rural East Texas. Two populations are targeted through this professional development program: aspiring principals who will be state-certified, as a result of the program, to fill 70 anticipated vacancies in partner schools, and 100 practicing principals and assistant principals, 20 of whom will participate in 9-month mentorships. The program aims to make high-quality, non-traditional principal preparation accessible in rural communities, to build school district capacity to identify persons from diverse backgrounds for leadership positions, to provide school leaders with Spanish language and multicultural tools, and to help integrate leader preparation into student achievement plans. Visit Project DEVELOP for more information.

The University of Washington will partner with six high-need school districts and the Institute for Educational Inquiry to substantially improve principal leadership nationally for teacher preparing schools (TPSs) serving high-need communities. The project was developed in response to the need to improve teaching and learning in high-need schools, and recognition that current leadership preparation is inadequate for today's challenges. The six districts serve very diverse urban and rural communities faced with linguistic multiplicity, poverty, high mobility, and racial/ethnic inequities. The project aims to: develop a stream of highly qualified new principals through intensive forums and participation in a national cohort; help current TPS principals deepen their leadership abilities and document their knowledge through roundtables; and develop and disseminate curricular materials and programs supporting professional learning. Outcomes include preparation of 45 prospective TPS principals, intensive orientation for 45 new principals, enhanced skills for 36 experienced TPS principals, a compilation of annual cases of TPS leadership, materials supporting local principal preparation programs, and continuing national training for TPS leadership development in small and rural districts.