News
at The Chicago Public Education Fund
Mike Sanders, Development/Communications Director
(312) 558-4520

March 27 , 2001

Schools face matter of principals-Shortage has city looking to pilot program for help
By Mark J. Konkol, Staff Writer, Daily Southtown

CHICAGO—The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday is expected to approve funding for a pilot program that will look outside academia to find principals.

Chicago is the first school system to sign on to the program, created by the New York-based non-profit group New Leaders for New Schools. The program conducts a nationwide search for candidates ranging from talented teachers to private business leaders.

Starting this summer, 10 candidates would undergo intensive coursework and a year-long residency program in exchange for a $45,000 salary and a three-year commitment to the Chicago school system.

During the residency, each candidate would be paired with a principal mentor to gain a better perspective of the job.

Once candidates complete the training program, they would receive the central office’s recommendation to be placed as principals at city schools. During their first two years, and once they are appointed to run their own schools, the New Leaders program will provide them with two years of support to adjust to their new roles, Schnur said.

Local school councils would make the final decision on hiring the candidates in most cases, though school system administrators could appoint candidates to interim positions.

The idea behind the “cutting-edge” idea is simple – good leaders will make good principals.

“The job of principal is both the job for an instructional leader to improve teaching and learning and it is also a management job,” said Jonathan Schnur, chief executive officer of New Leaders for New Schools. “The best schools at educating kids of all backgrounds at high levels tend to have highly effective leaders.”

The program is geared toward helping non-educators who are interested in working at urban public schools to meet requirements to become principals.

The board is slated to approve a one-year commitment to the program, which requires the system to pay a $45,000 salary to as many as 10 principal candidates. The contract includes an option for the program to continue for a second year, when 20 principal candidates would participate.

Board President Gery Chico said the few principals created by the program would have a huge impact on students.

“It is amazing what a small number of people can accomplish,” he said. “If you don’t believe that a principal sets the tone for both instructional quality and the quality of management (you are wrong). I’m here to tell you I make a lot of school visits and that’s what I look for.”

New Leaders and the Chicago Public Education Fund have agreed to spend more than $1.2 million to implement the first two years of the training program, while the school system pays candidate salaries. If the school system signs on for both years, salaries for the participants would cost Chicago more than $1.3 million.

The school system, like school districts nationwide, is facing a looming principal shortage, with nearly 60 percent of its principals already at retirement age and few qualified replacements in the pipeline. About 330 of the 580 principals in the city are eligible for retirement, system leaders said.

The New Leaders program, Schnur said, will expand the candidate pool and find principals “with a relentless drive to help every child succeed.”

The deadline to apply for the program is April 28. More information is available on the New Leaders for New Schools Web site, www.nlns.org.

New Leaders is funded by private foundations, including the Chicago Public Education Fund, the Los Angeles-based Eli Broad Foundation, the New Schools Venture Fund and Boston New Profit, Inc. The Chicago Public Education Fund has pledged $600,000 for the first two years of the Chicago program.

For more information about the Fund go to www.cpef.org

Top >