One of the key lessons that emerged in Education Trust’s podcast, “ExtraOrdinary Districts,” is that improvement requires leadership at the school level.

This, of course, has been well established in the research literature. But that just raises the next question: If principals are key to school and district improvement, then how do we ensure that principals are prepared to improve schools so that all children — no matter their background — learn and succeed?

That is the subject of a fascinating conversation among three leaders of principal preparation programs and the executive director of the University Council of Educational Administration, who discuss how to create more “extraordinary school leaders.”

Introduction by Karin Chenoweth, host, ExtraOrdinary Districts.

Moderator: Michelle Young, Executive Director, University Council of Educational Administration

Panelists:

• Ann O’Doherty, Director, Danforth Educational Leadership Program, University of Washington
• Terrance Green, Assistant Professor, Department of Educational Leadership and Policy, University of Texas-Austin
• Steven Tozer, Director, Center for Urban Education Leadership, University of Illinois-Chicago

The Wallace Foundation has important resources on principal preparation programs and on principal leadership, including A Bold Move to Better Prepare Principals: The Illinois Story, which includes a video about the University of Illinois-Chicago’s leadership preparation program.

The ExtraOrdinary Districts podcast was made possible with a grant from The Wallace Foundation.