According to recommendations from the Illinois School Leaders Task Force (February 2008) state policies must set high standards for school leader certification that align principal preparation, early career mentoring, ongoing professional development, and master principal recognition with those standards. By 2013, all principal preparation programs will be required to resubmit for approval under new program approval criteria aligned to new outcomes based school leader standards.
In an effort to accomplish this goal, the Illinois State Board of Education and the Illinois Board of Higher Education are collaboratively working to produce a single set of outcomes-based program approval criteria for all principal preparation programs. Reaching out to the stakeholders who this will affect, ISBE and IBHE seek the assistance of statewide redesign teams charged with developing the draft content around specific areas in the revised outcomes based program approval criteria. Five redesign teams have been set up around the following areas:
Redesign team members represent both public and private higher education and representatives from the field, including parent and early childhood representatives.
Results from a New Principal Survey identify areas in which new principals feel they need the most assistance in preparing for their new role and may serve as a resource for redesign teams.