Series 2558: Constituent Correspondence, 2000-2003
36465
From: "Education Commission of the States" <ecs@ecs.org>
To: RM.GOV_PO.GOV_MAIL
Created: 1/8/2002 10:35 AM
Subject: 15 States Awarded Leadership Grants
Message:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 8, 2002
CONTACTS
For ECS: Kim Sharpe, 303.299.3680, ksharpe@ecs.org
For SAELP: Scott Montgomery, 202.312.6427;
scottm@ccsso.org
For the Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds: Jessica Schwartz,
212.251.9711; jschwartz@wallacefunds.org
15 STATES AWARDED $250,000 GRANTS TO STRENGTHEN
EDUCATION LEADERSHIP
Washington, D.C., January 8, 2002 -- The Education
Commission of the States and four other organizations
have awarded $250,000 grants to 15 states to help
them strengthen the ability of superintendents and
principals to be strong instructional leaders.
The 15 state recipients are Connecticut, Delaware,
Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky,
Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey,
Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.
The three-year grants are being awarded by the
State Action for Education Leadership Project (SAELP)
National Consortium. Funded by the Wallace-Reader's
Digest Funds, SAELP focuses on developing state-level
policies and practices that strengthen local school
officials' leadership skills.
Other consortium members are the Council of Chief
State School Officers, National Governors Association,
National Conference of State Legislatures and National
Association of State Boards of Education.
"ECS is honored to be a part of this consortium and
is looking forward to helping the 15 selected states
develop and implement new policies that will improve
the practice of principals and superintendents," said
Ted Sanders, ECS president. "This is an unusual
opportunity to leverage the resources and expertise
of national organizations, as well as a select group
of states, to focus on developing the next generation
of policy related to education leadership."
The selected states will develop policies to help
principals and superintendents to focus on quality
instruction that will improve student learning.
Specifically, they will address the following six
strategies:
-- Business priorities and practices - giving high
priority to providing school- and district-level
leaders with the tools they need to be strong
instructional leaders
-- Candidate pool - increasing and diversifying
school and district leadership applicants
-- Education and professional learning - improving
preservice and professional development programs
-- Licensure, certification and program accreditation -
promoting better licensing and certification processes
for school leaders, and improving the accreditation
process for higher education-based leadership training
programs
-- Professional practice conditions - improving
contracting and bargaining practices, salary and
compensation programs, performance review processes
and incentive programs for strong leaders
-- Governance structures - improving the political
and governance settings that affect the climate for
education leaders.
SAELP is the centerpiece of the Wallace Funds'
national LEADERS Count initiative, a five-year,
$150 million commitment to place quality leadership
at the core of school reform and to build a new
field of knowledge that helps improvements spread
on a broader scale. The objectives of LEADERS Count
are to attract and place a broader pool of able
candidates for school leadership, to strengthen
principals' and superintendents' ability to improve
learning, and to create conditions that allow
principals and superintendents to perform as
effective leaders.
###
The Education Commission of the States (ECS) is a
national, nonprofit organization that helps governors,
legislators, state education officials and others
identify, develop and implement public policies to
improve student learning at all levels. A nonpartisan
organization, ECS was formed in 1965 and is located
in Denver, Colorado.
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