Last week, the GO community gathered to dialogue about effective principal leadership in Oakland's public schools. Matt Kelemen, co-author of New Leaders for New Schools Evaluating Principals report, shared highlights from the comprehensive evaluation framework, including measures of student achievement, teacher effectiveness, and principal leadership practices.

Our panelists (3 Oakland principals, 1 teacher, and 1 parent) agreed that principals should be held responsible for student outcomes, and discussed the need for Oakland to develop a broad set of student outcome measures.

Panelists also clearly expressed that principals and school sites must have autonomy over people, time, program, and money to lead schools and students towards strong academic outcomes, and that differentiated support and mentorship are critical components of effective leadership.

A key emphasis on both the panel and within the room of participants was how principals are developed and trained to be community leaders and to include parents and teachers in school decision-making.

Small group discussions yielded concrete feedback and recommendations that will be shared with OUSD's Effective Principals and Leadership task force.

Click here to review discussion notes and recommendations.

We hope you were inspired by the ideas, thoughts, and perspectives of our speakers, panelists and fellow education advocates, and that you will continue these important conversations through participation in OUSD's strategic planning task forces.

Click here to view the calendar of upcoming task force meetings.