Georgia is included in this study of seven states and how they are using state-level policy levers to improve the quality of school principals. Effective school principals are associated with better outcomes for students and schools, and states play a role in fostering an environment that develops and supports effective principals.

The Governor’s School Leadership Academy(GSLA) (part of the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement [GOSA]), is included in the report as a key player in the state of Georgia.

Download this pdf file. Rand Principal Preparation Series - Appendix B-State Profiles Overview

The full report examines the role of state policy efforts to improve the principalship. In that report, researchers focus on cross-site themes distilled from an in-depth look at how each state partner uses state policy levers described by Manna (2015). This appendix contains state-specific profiles about the use of policy levers for each of the seven UPPI states. 

BACKGROUND

The Wallace Foundation launched the University Principal Preparation Initiative (UPPI) in July 2016. The four-year, $48.5 million initiative supports seven universities, their district and state partners, and mentor programs to redesign the universities’ principal preparation programs according to evidence-based practices. State partners to the seven universities committed to reviewing their policies that affect university-based principal preparation and work with stakeholders to consider policy change. RAND Corporation researchers are analyzing the implementation of UPPI and changes to the design and delivery of preparation programs. RAND’s first report on UPPI (Wang et al., 2018) documented findings from the first year of UPPI implementation. The final report for the project, on UPPI implementation and program change, is scheduled for publication in 2022.

Effective school principals are associated with better outcomes for students and schools, and states play a role in fostering an environment that develops and supports effective principals. The authors of this report examine how seven states are using state-level policy levers to improve the quality of school principals. Each of the states is part of The Wallace Foundation's University Principal Preparation Initiative (UPPI), which launched in 2016 and brings together a university-based principal preparation program with school districts and state partners in each state to support the development of effective principals.

In examining state efforts, the authors focus on seven policy levers that states can use to improve school leadership—standards, recruiting, approval and oversight of principal preparation programs, licensing, professional development, evaluation, and leader tracking systems—and identify cross-state themes and generalizable lessons.

Full Report 
(Gates, Susan M., Ashley Woo, Lea Xenakis, Elaine Lin Wang, Rebecca Herman, Megan Andrew, and Ivy Todd, Using State-Level Policy Levers to Promote Principal Quality: Lessons from Seven States Partnering with Principal Preparation Programs and Districts, Santa Monica, Calif.: RAND Corporation, RR-A413-1, 2020. As of November 17, 2020: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA413-1.html)