Year's Top Blog Posts Signal Interest in SEL, School Leadership (Dec. 4, 2019)

Read the most popular stories The Wallace Foundation published this year and the research that inspired them. 

Harnessing Data Effectively: A Guide for Organizations (October 2019)  

A step-by-step plan for collecting, analyzing, and managing data to improve decision making. 

(October 01, 2019)

Story Series and companion discussion guides offer examples of audience building as a learning tool for arts organization.

A four-part video series shares early lessons from seven district-university partnerships that are rethinking principal preparation.

What if Districts Focused Not Just on Preparing and Hiring Principals But Also Retaining Them (July 9, 2019)  

A New York City coaching Program helps keep principals - both new and veteran - on the job.

Research suggests principal pipelines could reduce school leader turnover.

Could Federal Funding Help Pay for Arts Education in Your School? (January 23, 2019)

Authors of a new report discuss ways in which schools could get federal support for arts education and the results they could expect from it.

This in-depth guide to 25 evidence-based programs - aimed at elementary schools and out-of-school-time setting providers - offers information about curricular content and programmatic feautures that practitioners can use to make informed choices about their Social and Emotional Learning programs.

What does it mean to be an effective principal? An updated set of standards for the job spells out 10 essentials, including the ability to support rigorous instruction.

AASA, The School Superintendents Association, was engaged by the Wallace Foundation to conduct a mixed method study of succession planning in 700 of the nation’s large student enrollment urban school districts in an effort to identify exemplar districts with records of successfully sustaining such programs.

While approximately 10 percent of the districts were identified with elements of succession planning, approximately half were identified as having promising practices worthy of further study. Four districts were identified as exemplars.

Learn about the promising practices uncovered and the work of the four exemplar districts.

• Download Summary Report
• Watch Video  

Six large school districts have been participating since 2011 in The Wallace Foundation's Principal Pipeline Initiative, a six-year effort to train, hire and support talented principals.

Reports: Building a Stronger Principalship, Vol. 4: Evaluating and Supporting Principals (January 2016)

This report is the fourth in a series examining the six districts' experience in the initiative designed to help them build larger pools of strong principals and then study the results. It explores the districts' work to change their approach to principal performance evaluation so that it focuses on working with principals, especially novices, to grow into their jobs and concentrate on improving teaching and learning in their classrooms.

Videos: In this series of eight videos, the superintendents of these districts discuss the details of their effort, lessons they have learned and advice they can offer to other districts.

Even though school principals have a powerful impact on teaching and student achievement, in general they remain relatively low priorities on crowded state education policy agendas. A new Wallace-commissioned report, written by Paul Manna, professor of government and public policy at the College of William & Mary, suggests a number of possible actions that state policymakers can consider to raise the profile of principals on policy agendas and ensure they are well trained and well supported on the job. 

Districts Matter: Cultivating the Principals Urban Schools Need (Feb. 2013)  

A Wallace -commissioned report that focuses on the critical role that school districts play in shaping how their principals are trained, hired, mentored, evaluated and developed on the job. It outlines nine concrete tasks for districts that want to ensure that highly-qualified principals can effectively lead every school across the district

is a 60-minute documentary (commissioned by The Wallace Foundation) about public school leadership and learning seen through the eyes of two very dynamic and passionate principals. Following these two principals and schools in depth for one year, the film takes the viewer along for a compelling, passion-filled ride that reveals what effective educational leadership looks like in the 21st century. The film was aired on Public Broadcasting Stations (PBS) stations across America in fall 2009. The full film, outtakes and an interview with the filmakers is available on DVD from

Research has identified five practices that can help school leaders succeed. The Principal Story Learning Guidewebsite uses the acclaimed PBS documentary to illustrate these practices. It also offers discussion prompts and other activities to guide those who train or develop school leaders.

North GrandDocumentary

This 25-minute special mini-documentary on North Grand High School in Chicago’s west side documents the dramatic effort of new principal Asuncion “Sunny” Ayala to transform her vision for high expectations into reality. Part of THE PRINCIPAL STORY documentary and media project, NORTH GRAND reveals the struggles and victories she faces during a one-year period as she works toward her goal of graduating 98 percent of her students. This story inspires greater understanding and raises questions about effective leadership at the high school level.

The North Grand Conversation Guide

Educators, policymakers and others interested in improving our nation’s high schools can use NORTH GRANDand its conversation guide to discuss what’s necessary to train and support high school leaders so they can close achievement gaps, enhance graduation rates and boost outcomes for all students.