Wallace Foundation Research on Leadership Development and Learning

2025

How Districts Plan for Successful Summer Programs (September 2025) “Snapshot” from the District Summer Learning Network study details evidence-based practices for planning engaging summer programs.

Implementing for Sustainability: Principal Pipelines in Four Districts (March 2025) How to make principal pipelines that last? This Wallace Foundation-commissioned report from Vanderbilt University and Policy Studies Associates shares insights from four districts on their methods for implementing and maintaining principal pipelines for years to come.

• Plus, read "Developing School Leaders—for the Long Haul" where leaders from three districts break down the components of a lasting principal pipeline.

How States Are Expanding Quality Summer Learning Opportunities (January 2025) This report identifies successful policies and practices from nine states to help expand and improve summer learning experiences for young people.

2024

How Community Partnerships Strengthen Summer Learning in Rural Districts (November 2024) One-fifth of all students in the United States go to schools in rural areas. And yet, as districts across the country make the shift from traditional summer school to enriching, academically rigorous summer learning, rural communities are often left out of the conversation. This summer snapshot focuses on how four of the 100-plus districts rely on partnerships with community members, local businesses, and tribal nations to fill gaps in access to summer programs and cultural resources. 

Responding, Reimagining, Realizing (June 2024) During the pandemic, out-of-school-time intermediaries helped support OST programs to address the heightened needs of children and their families. This work suggests an expanded role these organizations could play going forward.

Central Office Transformation for Equitable Teaching & Learning (April 2024) This self-study guide aims to deepen your understanding of how your school district central office can become a powerful force for equitable teaching and learning.

2023

Skills for Success: Developing Social and Emotional Competencies in Out-of-School-Time Programs (February 2023)
This report provides tips and recommendations to help OST providers and OST intermediaries—organizations that provide support services to individual providers in a community— incorporate high-quality SEL instruction and practices into their programs.

2022

National Call to Action for Summer Learning: How Did School Districts Respond? (December 2022)
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Seeking to counter the pandemic’s harmful impact on students, the vast majority of school districts nationwide mobilized in 2021 to deliver summer learning programming. This report draws on a survey of districts that yielded nationally representative results and revealed patterns and common characteristics of summer 2021 programming efforts.

Navigating SEL From the Inside Out: Looking Inside & Across 18 Leading SEL Programs: A Practical Resource for Schools and OST Providers—Middle & High School Focus (December 2022)
One of the most popular resources in The Wallace Foundation's Knowledge Center in recent years has been a guide to social and emotional learning (SEL) programs for preschool and elementary-age students. Now the research team behind that guide has taken an in-depth look at SEL programs for the middle and high school years. The publication is intended to help schools and out-of-school-time (OST) providers interested in SEL select programs that match their goals and resources.

States as Leaders, Followers, and Partners: Lessons from the ESSA Leadership Learning Community and the University Principal Preparation Initiative (November 2022)
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Two different efforts by The Wallace Foundation in recent years sought to encourage states to take a more active role in shaping high-quality school principals. In this set of reflections on research about those endeavors, political scientist Paul Manna asks “what does recent evidence show about how states can foster conditions that identify new principals and enable them and their veteran colleagues to thrive in ways that support teaching and learning?”

The Long Game: How One Afterschool Intermediary Organization and Its Partners Shaped Policy, Practice, and Perception in California (September 2022)
The Partnership for Children & Youth has earned a national reputation for its effectiveness in promoting efforts to improve, and expand access to, afterschool, summer and other beyond-the-school-day programs in California. This Wallace Story From the Field was spurred in part by a milestone for the Partnership, the decision by its founding executive director, Jennifer Peck, to step down from the post. The piece documents key moments in the group’s history and provides lessons for intermediary and other organizations that seek to advance out-of-school-time programming in their states.

All the Voices: Statewide Collaborations for School Leadership under ESSA (September 2022)
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​What happens when teams from 11 states join a novel effort to promote effective, equity-minded school leadership? Policy ideas and innovative programs.

District-Partner Problem-Solving in Social-Emotional Learning Efforts (September 2022)
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Six studies explore how schools, partners met challenges in ventures to build children’s social-emotional skills ​​​​​​

• Prioritizing Racial Equity Within Social and Emotional Learning in Tacoma
• Learning to Focus on Adult Social and Emotional Learning First in Tulsa
• Engaging Teachers, Staff, and Parents in Social and Emotional Learning in Palm Beach County
• Jointly Prioritizing Time for Social and Emotional Learning in Denver
• Building an Effective Social and Emotional Learning Committee in Dallas
• Expanding Social and Emotional Learning Beyond the School Walls in Boston

Building, Sustaining and Improving: Using Federal Funds for Summer Learning and Afterschool (July 2022)
In the wake of the pandemic, summer learning and afterschool programs are getting increased attention because they can add learning time and promote children's well-being. This guide, developed by Education Counsel, is designed for school districts, summer and afterschool intermediaries, out-of-school time providers, and municipal and state officials. It describes which federal funds can be tapped to make progress in three broad areas to support quality and access: Preparing for program delivery, building ecosystems of support and creating equitable learning environments.

Redesigning University Principal Programs: A Systematic Approach for Change and Sustainability--Report in Brief (June 2022)
This publication summarizes the final report in a three-part series from the RAND Corporation's seven-year study. The researchers found that through collaboration with school districts, state organizations and others, universities can defy expectations about institutional resistance to change and bring about meaningful principal preparation program redesign.

Developing Effective Principals: What Kind of Learning Matters? (May 2022)
High-quality principal development is linked to better outcomes for principals, teachers and students, but access to it varies by state and school poverty levels. Policy change can help.

Social and Emotional Learning in the Spotlight (March 2022)
Researcher Stephanie Jones and her team at Harvard’s EASEL Lab have been studying how to build children’s social and emotional skills since well before the pandemic and have recently published an updated and expanded guide to evidence-based SEL programs. Listen to Jones break down some of the key topics in the updated SEL guide and its new components.

As the Pandemic Shifts So Does People’s Thinking About Arts and Culture (March 2022)
A new survey by LaPlaca Cohen and Slover Linett finds most Americans believe that arts organizations can play a critical role in helping their communities during this time of continuing change and crises. In this resource, Jen Benoit-Bryan, Vice President and Co-Director of Research at Slover Linett breaks down the findings and implications of the survey.

A Place to be Heard; a Space to Feel Held: Black Perspectives on Creativity, Trustworthiness, Welcome and Well-Being (January 2022)
​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​A study of Black Americans suggests that Black communities most value arts experiences that celebrate their creativity, support self-care, earn their trust and foster a sense of belonging. This study seeks to better understand cultural and creative preferences among Black communities.

Rebecca Thessin, assistant professor of educational administration at The George Washington

• Read page-turning edition

• Read HTML edition