FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sept. 25, 2012
Contact: Julie White, jwhite@acsa.org, (329) 3832
Gov. Jerry Brown has signed an ACSA-sponsored bill that would provide a comprehensive evaluation process for California school principals.
Senate Bill 1292 (Liu) provides a sound template to guide districts through an evaluation process based on professional state standards for educational leaders. These standards delineate all of the traits that are necessary for quality principals to ensure the highest-quality education is provided to public school students.
The bill was written based on a report of ACSA’s Elementary and Secondary Education Task Force, as well as input from representatives of ACSA’s councils and committees. It takes into consideration all the complex job responsibilities of today’s school principal. In today’s budget climate, there is little to no money for professional development or ongoing training, making comprehensive principal evaluations all the more necessary.
“Over the years, the role of the school principal has expanded,” said ACSA Legislative Advocate Laura Preston. “Principals must be instructional leaders, chief budget officers, community liaisons, counselors and much more. Effective evaluations help improve leadership, and quality leadership is essential to student learning.”
Research has shown that principals are second only to classroom teachers in determining student academic achievement. Leadership matters, and principal evaluations will ensure school leaders have the skills needed to lead their schools and students to success.
“ACSA recognizes one of the best ways to assist principals is to provide a sound and fair evaluation process to provide feedback to guide principal professional growth and help to improve principal performance while raising student achievement,” Preston said. “SB 1292 reflects the work that ACSA has undertaken to provide a ‘best practices’ principal evaluation template based on professional standards for educational leaders. Every student deserves an effective principal who ensures high levels of learning, and principals should be provided with the resources needed to be truly effective.”
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