Letter From the Executive Director

By L. Earl Franks, Ed.D., CAE
Principal Supplement: Principal Practices
May/June 2018

The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) believes that principals have the vision, courage, wisdom, and professional knowledge to lead learning communities that create opportunities for all children to thrive. To achieve these goals, however, they need continuous, job-embedded professional learning opportunities to adapt to the context of today’s schools, including shifting demographics and new standards and competencies. For example, principals are increasingly concerned with addressing student-related issues such as student behav­ior, student mental health issues, absenteeism, lack of effective adult supervision at home, and student poverty. This is according to NAESP’s recently released report, The Pre-K–8 School Leader in 2018: A 10-Year Study.

NAESP stands committed to developing and providing quality, research-based pro­fessional resources for principals and other school leaders to drive school and student achievement. This special supplement to Principal magazine, developed in partnership with The Wallace Foundation, shines a light on school leaders deeply engaged in key practices of principal leadership.

While we see this resource as a useful tool for all principals and other school leaders, this supplement is especially valuable to early career principals and those entering the principal pipeline. We hope that you will use this tool to deepen your knowledge about research-based strategies that lead schools to success. Share it with your teachers and leadership team, and use it to reflect on your own practice.

L. Earl Franks, Ed.D., CAE NAESP Executive Director.

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