Evaluating school leaders

A recent article in Time takes a look at how school leadership should hold teachers accountable for student outcomes. A recent report by New Leaders for New Schools, concluded that "most principal evaluation systems tend to focus too much on the wrong things, lack clear performance standards, and lack rigor in both their design and attention to implementation." The report offers four principles to create the conditions for principles to lead in the first place. They are:

1. Base principal evaluations largely on student outcomes
2. Ensure that the central office staff, i.e., the district employees who support and oversee schools, are likewise held accountable for principal effectiveness
3. Create demanding performance expectations and real accountability and allow for professional growth and improvement
4. Ensure that the evaluation system itself can be modified and improved over time