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Federal & Foundational Support

Effective leadership is at the core of improving and sustaining the quality of education for all Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students. This improvement is guided by the CPS theory of change which identifies the school as the unit of change and the principal as the leader of that change. The mission of the Office of Principal Preparation and Development is to develop and ensure high-quality principal leadership in every school. The scope of work involves four responsibilities:

1. Identify and develop aspiring principals to meet the challenges of a CPS principalship
2. Develop and support new principals
3. Provide continual development opportunities for experienced principals
4. Recruit principals in and out of Chicago.

Funding for the professional development provided by OPPD is made possible through the U.S. Department of Education Office of Innovations School Leadership Program. OPPD's leadership project is called Effective Leaders Improve Schools (ELIS).

Additional support is provided by the Wallace Foundation, which seeks to support ideas and practices which will encourage eduacational leadership.

  • Coaching
  • Kellogg
  • ILCP
  • PTLI

Through a School Leadership Grant and the support of the Wallace Foundation, OPPD has restructured and improved the support provided to aspiring, new and experienced principals. This support includes the hiring of 21 Leadership Coaches who work in one-on-one relationships with new principals, and through partnerships with New Leaders for New Schools, the Chicago New Teacher Center and the UIC College of Education.

Coaching for New Principals: Utilizing the model provided in Gary S. Bloom's Blended Coaching, experienced principals establish a learning relationship with six to eight new principals. Through this approach, which was developed at the New Teacher Center at the University of California at Santa Cruz, coaches and principals approach the coaching relationship through the use of contextualized support, including real-life examples to enforce key concepts and self-reflection to enhance assimilation into the principalship.

In 2006-2007, OPPD oversaw mentoring for approximately 90 new principals. In 2007-2008, OPPD will be involved in overseeing coaching for approximately 170 new principals.

Leading for Change: The Kellogg School Center for Nonprofit Management at Northwestern University, in cooperation with OPPD, has created an executive education program designed to support the continued professional development of CPS principals. This two and one-half day program addresses key issues that will enhance the instructional leadership abilities of principals:

• Team building
• Change management
• Decision making
• Resource management

Approximately 35 principals will attend this program in fall 2008. More information on this program will be posted soon.

The second annual Instructional Leadership Change Project Results Exhibit and Showcase is made possible by the federally funded ELIS Grant (Effective Leaders Improve Schools). This conference highlighted change projects lead by principal preparation program interns who applied for mini-grants of up to $2,500.00 to fund specific change initiatives important to their schools.

Who should attend? Area Instruction Officers, Principals, and Local School Council Representatives, Prospective Principal Preparation Program Candidates and Prospective Internship Mentors will be provided opportunities to interact with prospective school leaders about their principal internships and Instructional Leadership Change Projects. Find out how their leadership during the internship period has made a significant difference in the lives of Chicago’s Children ! For additional information please contact Linda Shay at 773.553.1515 or lashay@cps.k12.il.us

What will the format of the day look like? An exhibit fair will feature PowerPoint slideshows, web-site tours, poster presentations, video streams, picture essays, representations of data, data summaries, student produced artifacts, and more. Interns will be available for one-to-one conversations highlighting their ability to execute a change initiative that produces positive results in student achievement. This conference will demonstrate innovate approaches that may be possible to replicate in other schools. Come and see what is possible when leader bring teachers together to improve outcomes for children. Funding for these professional development offerings is made possible throught the U.S. Department of Education Office of Innovations School Leadership Program. OPPD’s leadership projects is called Effective Leaders Improve Schools. Additional funding is provided by the Wallace Foundation

Here you can download 2005-2006 Summary and Results of the initial year of the ILCP, which documents the intiation of the ELIS grant, and here you can find the 2007 ILCP Results Exhibit and Showcase program book.

Principal Technology Leadership Institute (PTLI): The goals are to increase participants’ understanding of how the International Society for Technology in Education’s Standards and campus-wide technology integration relate to the No Child Left Behind initiative for systemic improvement and to increase their capacity to engage in and lead effective, systematic analysis of relevant data to guide instructional and administrative decisions. New principals participate in online training and face-to-face sessions with their mentors. In 2005-2006, fifty new principals and mentors attended PTLI.