As the chief authorities in the supervision and administration of elementary and middle-level schools, principals' voices and perspectives are critical to the ongoing discussion about education policy that is taking place at the federal level. NAESP's Advocacy and Government Relations team provides NAESP members with a collective voice on Capitol Hill and strives to ensure that members of Congress and the Department of Education consider the needs and perspectives of all principals.

Recent News

What's Your Story
Over the past year, NAESP’s advocacy efforts on your behalf have intensified, keeping pace with the current high-stakes pressure cooker in which elementary and middle-level principals find themselves in this “reform” era characterized by measures that often seem draconian.

NAESP’s voice—your voice—is being heard all around Washington, D.C., in meetings with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, in the halls of Congress, in coalitions of national associations, and on the pages of national publications. Our goal is very simple: We insist that the voices of elementary and middle-level principals are heard loud and clear in school-improvement debates.

As the talks for reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) heat up, we’d like to take a step back from the bully pulpit we’ve been occupying on your behalf and hand the megaphone over to you. We invite you to tell your own story.

Just visit “What’s Your Story?” and tell us how you’ve been affected by the overall school-improvement debate, the four turnaround models that result in the dismissal of principals, the movement to adopt common-core standards, the proposal to connect Title I funds to the adoption of common-core standards, and so on.

Read stories submitted by your peers.

Virginia Principal Testifies About Transformational Leadership and ESEA Reauthorization

Susan E. Bridges, principal of A.G. Richardson Elementary School in Culpeper, Virginia, testified on May 19 before the House Committee on Education & Labor about the tools principals need to successfully turn schools around. Bridges recounted her personal experience in using data and developing a sense of community to overcome the challenges of redistricting.

“I firmly believe that I have been successful in leading change in my school because of my hard-working and dedicated staff and because of the support and flexibility in decision-making that I have been given by the school district’s administration,” Bridges said. “To be effective, all principals require the authority and autonomy to make necessary changes in their school buildings. This means principals must be able to arrange building staff and resources to address the needs of students, and to work collaboratively with colleagues both inside and outside of the school to identify the tools needed to sustain change and growth.”

K-8 principals play a tremendous role in shaping the long-term impact of school improvement efforts. Developing an effective method and delivery system for training and supporting principals is necessary to transform schools. (Links: Susan Bridges Testimony (PDF) / Susan Bridges Biography /Committee Hearing's Page)

Testimony Video (Sue Starts at 42:42)

• 1:04:15 - 1:06:50: Q&A: Turnaround Impact
• 1:14:15 - 1:19:00: Principal's authority.
• 2:19:58 - 2:20:56: Assessment is essential, but you have to teach how to use the tools.
• 2:23:50 - 2:24:30: Assistant principals: mentoring is key.