How States Addressed School Leadership in 2025

How States Addressed School Leadership in 2025

Over half the states considered bills to enhance the school principal pipeline.

To address needs in school leader preparation, states are considering creating additional pathways into the principal profession. (SolStock/Getty Images)

Attentive to the broad needs of the educator workforce, over half of states introduced legislation to enhance the school leader pipeline during 2025 legislative sessions. Most of these efforts focused on avenues to support principal development through preparation, professional learning and mentoring. Several states also considered changes to performance evaluation policies, particularly the inclusion of measures of student learning. Preparation

To address needs in school leader preparation, states are considering creating additional pathways into the principal profession to expand the pool of candidates by removing financial or other barriers to entry as well as promoting high-retention or innovative preparation programs. Legislators also are expanding existing teacher recruitment and retention programs to include school leaders, a recognition of what the Wallace Foundation has described as the looming principal shortage.

Rhode Island and Tennessee proposed legislation to create multiple or alternative pathways to school leadership, and pending legislation in North Carolina would amend an existing program to provide for grants to school leader preparation programs to develop innovative ways of training principals. In Oklahoma, pending legislation would expand a service scholarship incentive program to include school administrators.

Recognizing the connection between preparation and licensure, New Mexico enacted legislation creating a new license structure and a new site-based preparation pathway for principals. The pathway lets individuals serve as building leaders while completing the preparation program under a provisional site administrator license. In addition to the provisional license, the bill also created initial and professional site administrator licenses to provide for career advancement for building leaders.

Professional Learning and Mentoring

Often in conjunction with teacher-related provisions, at least 10 states considered legislation to create or expand professional learning opportunities for principals regarding literacy and numeracy instruction. Inclusion of building leaders in such professional learning requirements acknowledges the instructional leadership role of school principals, which includes that leaders must know how to evaluate and support their teachers in implementing new instructional requirements, according to Wallace.

For example, legislation enacted in Idaho and Nevada requires teachers and administrators serving students in kindergarten through third grade to receive professional development based on the science of reading. Alternatively, California provided funding for mathematics training for teachers, coaches and administrators, while North Dakota required completion of professional development on best practices in mathematics instruction for teachers and school leaders as a part of licensure renewal requirements.

Beyond attending to content-specific professional learning needs, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri and Nevada enacted provisions related to school leadership academies or institutes. These leadership academies provide intensive professional learning opportunities specific to school leaders, which are essential for developing effective principals, according to the Wallace Foundation.

Maryland modified existing provisions to require its education department to establish a separate training program for building leaders, including principals and assistant principals. The legislation specifies requirements for both program design and content, including provisions around cohort-based, job-embedded learning focusing on best practices and strategies used by highly effective school leaders. Missouri also amended existing principal-administrator academy provisions, requiring them to be in conjunction with statewide entities specifically established to support the development of principals and superintendents. Further, the legislation requires that programming include a mentoring program for principals in their first four years of employment.

While provisions in Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri and Nevada allocated funding for the support of school leadership academies, Minnesota additionally specified that a portion of funds be used to cover attendance costs for principals and school leaders from schools identified for intervention under the state's accountability system.

To support new school leaders, three additional states considered legislation on principal mentoring programs. Pending legislation in Alaska and Illinois would provide administrative support for mentoring programs for early-career principals. Recently enacted legislation in New Jersey established a school supervisor mentorship pilot program to strengthen the school leadership pipeline by supporting and developing novice supervisors. Evaluation

Nine states also considered legislation addressing the principal evaluation process, which generally focused on altering provisions for including student achievement or growth in evaluations. Five states enacted such measures, with Delaware and Louisiana both altering provisions regarding consideration of student absences in determining which scores are included in a school leader's evaluation. Illinois removed a requirement for measures of student learning to comprise a significant portion of a school leader's evaluation, while New Jersey established temporary flexibility in completing new student growth objectives and administrator goals for educators' summative evaluations. More broadly, Tennessee provided for the study of innovations in evaluation systems for teachers and principals.

For more information regarding proposed and enacted legislation pertaining to school leaders, see NCSL's Pre-K-12 Education Legislation Database.