Principles of Professional Development
This page distills some of the current professional wisdom and research on how to develop and support school leaders into six guiding principles. Click on any principle to view one or more summaries of the issues and challenges related to and processes and resources available for addressing each principle. Each principle also offers a link to related topics in the Resources section. The Research Bibliography (linked below) provides citations grounding the six guiding principles.
Professional development for school leaders has the strongest impact when it is:
- Focused on leadership for student learning—guiding and monitoring instruction.
- Driven by a clear definition of leadership understood and accepted by stakeholders across the district.
- Conducted within the context of a coherent professional development plan aligned with the district’s goals and objectives for long-term improvement.
- Anchored by the ISLLC Standards for School Leaders, which define the roles and competencies of effective school leadership.
- Designed and implemented according to proven professional development practices.
- Evaluated by processes that seek to measure meaningful results, including individual leadership capacities and developmental needs, as well as the impact on student learning.