Jon Minton had been the principal of Elizabethton High School in eastern Tennessee for five years when, in 2024, the state department of education chose him to lead a regional 鈥減rincipal study council.鈥� The group of principals from his area met monthly to discuss common challenges they faced in their schools, learn from each other, and workshop solutions.
After the group lost its funding, Minton searched for a cost-effective way to continue, knowing that he and his principal colleagues could benefit from continuing to learn on the job鈥攁nd from each other.
A DIY podcast called 鈥溾�� was born from the pivot. It features conversations between school leaders reflecting on common challenges, like how to limit their own screen time when all the apps required to run a school live on their smartphones and schools are cracking down on students鈥� cellphone use.
鈥淚t鈥檚 easy to assume that someone with more experience may need less professional development, when, in reality, it may be much more, because the job has evolved and changed over time,鈥� Minton said.
Principals are expected to lead major shifts in instruction, manage school finances, support teachers and facilitate their professional growth, and guide the fight against chronic absenteeism. They are middle managers, disciplinarians, and visionaries, and need a complex mix of skills to do their jobs well鈥攑ointing to a need for continued professional development.
Typically, though, school districts have put less of an emphasis on professional development for principals than for teachers. It鈥檚 often been infrequent or bunched together at the beginning of a school leader鈥檚 career rather than continuous. More experienced principals often have to piece together their own learning opportunities鈥攁ttend conferences, log in to online trainings, watch TED talks, or even create their own PD, as Minton did.
鈥淧rincipals are hungry for continued learning opportunities,鈥� said Marjorie Wechsler, the principal research manager at the Learning Policy Institute, a research organization, who has examined the landscape of professional development for principals and the kinds of training most principals seek.
When principals can access professional development, it鈥檚 most helpful when it incorporates the same principles as effective professional learning for teachers鈥攊t鈥檚 ongoing rather than one-and-done; it鈥檚 collaborative, with principals working out problems together; it鈥檚 addressing real, on-the-job challenges; and it involves continuous feedback from mentors and coaches.
鈥淏eing a principal can be very lonely. Having people to share ideas with, to bring up their successes and challenges with others, is important,鈥� Wechsler said. 鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 mean you have to gain everything that way, but how are they going to work through some of the harder, stickier things, like chronic absenteeism or teacher morale?鈥�
Researchers identify the elements of high-quality PD for principals
An effective principal can lift up a school, and whether they receive high-quality professional development matters, Wechsler found in a 2022 report she co-authored called 鈥溾�� that synthesized two decades of studies on principal PD and preparation.
Students at schools led by principals who received high-quality professional development were projected to gain 29 days鈥� more learning in English/language arts and 55 days鈥� more learning in math than peers at schools where principals had little access to professional development, according to one of those studies. The likelihood of teachers staying at a school from one year to the next when it was led by a principal who received high-quality preparation was 89% compared with 79% at other schools, according to another.
But what exactly makes principal professional development high-quality?
The takeaway from Wechsler and her coauthors鈥� review of the research was that these high-quality opportunities featured individualized support for school leaders, often through mentoring or coaching; communities where principals could collaborate with and learn from peers and tackle problems; and on-the-job learning.
The research on the topic is still nascent, but it should propel school districts and states to invest in more 鈥渁uthentic learning experiences鈥� for principals, Wechsler said.
Principals over time have gained access to professional development in topics for which they need support, Wechsler and her co-authors found, but access to the elements of high-quality principal PD is uneven鈥攐ften more available to principals of schools with higher-income student populations.
Access to high-quality PD for principals requires a budget鈥攆or coaches or mentors, coverage for principals when they鈥檙e out for training, and other costs.
Yearlong academies give principals coaching, a chance to work on solutions
The infrequent or theoretical, sit-and-get type of PD that has been dominant for so long can feel disconnected from the practical aspects of running a school, said Joe Schroeder, the associate executive director of the Wisconsin Association of School Administrators.
As a school leader in Milwaukee almost two decades ago, Schroeder said, the PD opportunities he had were few and far between鈥攗sually a mix of one-day workshops or conferences. 鈥漈hose things have historically been helpful for networking and for initial learning. [But] they don鈥檛 really help transform practices that benefit kids,鈥� he said.
Over the last 14 years, Schroeder and his colleagues have tried to change that by launching multi-day academies aimed at new, mid-career, and veteran principals.
They鈥檙e structured around a 鈥減lan, do, study, act鈥� cycle that鈥檚 grounded in tackling on-the-job challenges and lasts through the school year.
Participating principals bring a problem related to student learning or school climate that they want to tackle, and receive coaching from more experienced principals, usually over two to three days at the outset, to come up with ideas to solve it.
Principals then go back to their schools, apply the ideas, and return to a group of peers after 90 days to share data on how they worked. At a final meeting in the spring, either virtual or in person, the peer group digs deeper into the problem and helps principals sharpen their solutions. Between the meetings, coaches and mentors monitor participants鈥� progress and offer feedback and support.
This cycle mirrors the characteristics of high-quality PD outlined by Wechsler, and they鈥檙e the same hallmarks of effective professional learning for teachers.
Learning opportunities for principals need to be frequent but interspersed, so leaders have time to work on their challenges, collect data, and reflect on the effects on students and staff, Schroeder said. Principals also need feedback and accountability mechanisms to help them finish their year with the academy.
Schroeder acknowledges the time commitment is challenging for principals.
鈥淭he job is designed to pay attention to the urgent,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have to turn their attention from the urgent to the impactful. That鈥檚 what moves the needle for students.鈥�
A district converts principal supervision into ongoing PD
Training principals can鈥檛 be an afterthought for school districts鈥攊t requires more than a 20-minute session tacked on to a central office visit to learn about a new policy, said Jasmine Kullar, the chief school leadership officer at the 106,000-student Cobb County school district in Georgia.
That鈥檚 why Kullar adapted the professional learning community, or PLC, model鈥攗sually used for teacher PD鈥攆or Cobb County鈥檚 116 principals.
A handful of principals in the same area and at similar schools meet once a month to discuss challenges and learn from each other. Kullar鈥檚 office sends the groups agenda items to discuss at each meeting, but also lets principals suggest topics. Principals in these PLCs also visit their colleagues鈥� schools to observe each other.
Principals enjoy learning from their peers, Kullar said, and the model also ensures they鈥檙e receiving advice from other practitioners, not just experts or central office staff who haven鈥檛 recently led schools.
Kullar has also restructured Cobb County鈥檚 principal supervision model into an opportunity for principals to keep learning.
Traditionally, the principal supervisor鈥檚 role was to visit as many schools as possible and observe classrooms. But without feedback for principals built into the process, nothing really changed, Kullar said.
Now, these supervisors are effectively instructional coaches for the principals. Principals use student achievement data to home in on teachers who need help. Supervisors visit these teachers鈥� classrooms three times a year with the principal to determine if the feedback has helped these teachers.
鈥淭he hope is that there鈥檚 going to be improvement in the areas that the principal had identified that the teacher was going to work on. So, now there鈥檚 a little bit more accountability,鈥� Kullar said.
While more collaborative, the model has limits. Cobb County has seven principal supervisors for 116 schools. Each supervisor can only work in-depth with three principals at a time, choosing schools they think need the most help.
Next year, each supervisor will pick different schools.
鈥淥f course, we would love to have more people,鈥� Kullar said, 鈥渂ut not having people doesn鈥檛 mean you don鈥檛 do the work. We just start small.鈥�
