Leading a school has always been immensely challenging but also critically important. Fortunately, we know definitively that a great principal actually makes learning possible for the students and teachers in the building, according to Paul Fleming, Learning Forward’s Chief Learning Officer. “Moreover, thanks to sustained research efforts from The Wallace Foundation and Vanderbilt University, we know what makes a principal effective and how investing in that leader’s skills and knowledge not only positively lifts up the entire school but also improves principal retention.”

To further enhance Learning Forward’s continuum of standards-based and research-informed leadership development programs and services, Fleming co-developed a new two-day symposium designed for principal supervisors, superintendents, and other district leaders to gain hands-on strategies for supporting school leaders’ skills, knowledge, growth, and development. Fleming, a former high school principal and assistant commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Education, will facilitate the June symposium in Nashville with presenters Jim McIntyre, Dean of the College of Education at Belmont University, and Jackie Owens Wilson, a leadership and instructional coaching expert who heads the National Policy Board for Educational Administration. They will focus on essential strategies of supporting principals to:

  • Lead their own learning and contribute to a culture of collaboration in their schools. To put every educator’s continuous improvement at the fore, principals value their own learning and lead by example.
  • Become stronger instructional leaders by developing one-on-one and team coaching skills. This includes high-impact forms of engagement with teachers that center on instructional practice, including instructional coaching.
  • Effectively manage school resources strategically. This includes strategic staffing and thoughtful allocation of other resources.
  • Improve school culture and productive teacher collaboration through empowered leadership. Strategies that promote structured collaboration have teachers working together authentically, along with systems of support, to improve practice and enhance student learning.

These competencies are aligned with and adapted from leadership practices identified in an influential study commissioned by The Wallace Foundation, How Principals Affect Students and Schools: A Systematic Synthesis of Two Decades of Research (Grissom et. al., 2021).

In addition to Wallace Foundation-supported research, the Learning Forward symposium will reinforce leadership tenets from Learning Forward’s Standards for Professional Learning and from the National Policy Board for Educational Administration’s Professional Standards for Educational Leaders, which “provide an evidence-based framework for ensuring that educators’ learning leads to improved student learning,” Fleming said.

Increasing principal retention through enhanced support systems

During the symposium, Fleming wants to make clear what a strong, structured system of principal support looks like and how it connects to other key improvement strategies for districts, including creating and improving principal pipelines. Several Wallace Foundation resources will be referenced to help shape robust discussion, including Changing the Principal Supervisor Role to Better Support Principals (Goldring et. al, 2020) and Implementing for Sustainability: Principal Pipelines in Four Districts (Goldring, 2025).

Pipelines are a resource-wise approach to developing and supporting principals. “With the average cost of replacing a principal at $75,000, districts that develop a comprehensive principal pipeline system to support sitting principals will see a strong return on investment,” Fleming said.

“With so much riding on school leader performance, we’re excited to add a new symposium aimed at meeting their learning needs,” Fleming said. “Our messages to the leaders who hire and support principals and to the broader community are yes, there is a better way to do professional learning to help school leaders excel in a demanding role; that all school leaders do in fact need it, not just new principals; and it’s a K-12 investment with a really big upside for success for all students.”

Learn best practices of supporting school leaders

Learning Forward’s Transforming School Leaders Symposium is June 23-24 at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. The symposium is designed for principal supervisors, superintendents, and other district leaders, who will come away with actionable strategies to enhance the leadership support models within their own schools and systems. Register here.