Principals are the second-largest school-based contributor to student achievement. Interventions focused early in the "pipeline" for identifying and developing effective principals might be a promising strategy for promoting principal effectiveness, yet no prior research has examined measures of principal performance during preservice…

Monitoring student assistants' tasks effectively is a significant part of management. The BACC Squad at Dahlgren Memorial Library are student assistants who help maintain the printers, copiers and computers within the library. Since technology is a large part of their job, it is important that they use innovative tools for performing their tasks.…

Principals have a difficult job. It requires them to be instructional leaders, managers and mentors, all with the goal of helping every student succeed. How can school districts provide principals the support they need to excel in this challenging position? This Stories from the Field report explores how some school districts are responding to…

The Integrated Leadership Development Initiative (ILDI) is a cross-agency partnership that focuses on collaboratively guiding and supporting leader development and improving conditions of leadership so that there are highly accomplished leaders in every district and school in California. In this brief, ILDI focuses on Principal Evaluations and…

The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

The 2012-2013 school year represents a pivotal juncture for DC Public Schools. Last spring, Mayor Gray and Chancellor Kaya Henderson introduced "A Capital Commitment," their ambitious plan to dramatically accelerate student achievement in the district over the next five years by providing all of their students with a safe, academically…

The purpose of the study was to examine the business environment of charter schools in Washington, D.C. and determine whether or not there is a relationship between leadership training and the practices of executive leaders. Leadership training and executive practice is a long-standing inquiry in business research (Combs, 2007; Finkelstein,…

Making robust and reliable information about schools accessible is one of the most powerful ways to foster engagement and promote informed decisions that will shape our communities. Though education data is frequently collected and aggregated at the state level, data is rarely synthesized across cities. This report provides comparable information…

Teachers have the greatest school-based effect on the achievement of any child in their classrooms, but highly effective principals can positively affect the achievement of every student in their schools. The difference between a highly effective principal and an average one is equal to two-to-seven months of extra learning per year for each child…

A key focus of the Obama administration's Race to the Top initiative in public education is to support states that implement plans for "recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals, especially where they are needed most." Race to the Top asked states to adopt more vigorous teacher-education…

A diverse school district hugging the eastern border of Washington, D.C., Prince George's County, has introduced rigorous hiring methods and other practices to boost the quality of leadership in its 198 schools. In so doing, the district has also earned a spot among the pioneers in efforts nationally to ensure that public schools are led by the…

Recently, two separate studies--one by Alan Ginsburg, a former director of Policy and Program Studies in the U.S. Department of Education, the other by a committee constituted by the National Research Council (NRC)--have sought to discredit the work of Michelle Rhee, former chancellor of schools for the District of Columbia. According to Ginsburg,…

Over the past year, many national leaders have committed to reform education and reshape America's school system. With this goal in mind, the Obama administration created a competitive grant program entitled Race to the Top (RTTT), which was passed by Congress as a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). RTTT features two grant…

This State-specific summary report serves as an assessment of the District of Columbia's annual Race to the Top implementation. The Year 4 report for Phase 2 grantees highlights successes and accomplishments, identifies challenges, and provides lessons learned from implementation from approximately September 2013 through September 2014. Given that…

Presented herein is a statement of Cornelia M. Ashby, Director Education, Workforce, and Income Security. The early efforts of the District of Columbia Public Schools' (DCPS) to improve student achievement focused on implementing initiatives to improve student performance, including implementing a new staffing model; restructuring underperforming…