Conversation highlights Bush Institute release of comprehensive research on principal preparation
Fort Worth, Texas – President and Mrs. George W. Bush today participated in a roundtable conversation with community and school leaders to discuss education leadership and the importance of attracting and supporting great principals, part of the Bush Institute’s focus on education reform.
“The principal can make a significant difference in a school. And so the question is are school districts properly recruiting, training, and retaining effective principals?” said President Bush. “Our goal is to find out what works and spread it nationally.”
President and Mrs. Bush were joined by Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price, Fort Worth ISD Superintendent Dr. Kent Paredes Scribner, and other education leaders for the conversation at Edward J. Briscoe Elementary in Fort Worth.
The roundtable coincides with the Bush Institute’s release this week of two related major studies on education leadership: a principal preparation evaluation study and the Principal Talent Management Framework, developed through the Bush Institute’s Alliance to Reform Education Leadership.
Of in-school factors, principals are second only to classroom teachers when it comes to impact on student learning. Despite the influence that principals can have, more rigorous research and information to guide schools and districts on how to prepare, recruit, support, and retain the most effective school leaders is needed.
The Bush Institute’s new studies look at effective ways to evaluate principal preparation and describe how districts can implement and update policies to get, support, and keep great principals.
The research on principal preparation, the result of a two-year study with the American Institutes for Research (AIR), highlights the link between principal preparation programs and student outcomes in five large districts across the United States.
The second study, specifically designed for school districts, includes a detailed literature review and guidebook. The guidebook, called the Principal Talent Management Framework, looks at how districts can evaluate policies and practices and ensure they align with elements of principal effectiveness.
The Bush Institute will also co-host an event Thursday with Texas Christian University focused on the complexities of evaluating principal preparation and how evaluation efforts can be improved in the future. The event includes a panel discussion with faculty who prepare educational leaders and conduct research related to this field from TCU, the University Council for Educational Administration (UCEA), the University of Denver, and the University of Illinois-Chicago.
For more information about the study, framework, and the Bush Institute’s Alliance to Reform Education Leadership, please visit bushcenter.org.
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About the Bush Institute:
Housed within the George W. Bush Presidential Center, the George W. Bush Institute is an action-oriented, nonpartisan policy organization with the mission of cultivating leaders, advancing policy, and taking action to solve today’s most pressing challenges. The work is achieved through three Impact Centers – Domestic Excellence, Global Leadership, and our Engagement Agenda – by which the Bush Institute engages the greater community with its important work.
About the Alliance to Reform Education Leadership:
Rooted in President and Mrs. Bush’s belief that “excellent schools must first have excellent leaders,” the Bush Institute developed the Alliance to Reform Education Leadership (AREL) to dramatically improve the way our nation’s principals are prepared and supported. AREL is one of the Bush Institute’s flagship programs which signifies that school leaders are critical in raising achievement for students across the country. AREL is transforming districts’ talent management of school principals and helping to ensure that school districts have the knowledge and tools to attract and retain effective principals.
