Is Your District Set Up to Develop Great School Leaders?
Most districts want strong principals. Few have the systems to build them.
Why This Matters
Research is clear: principal quality is the second-most powerful in-school factor affecting student achievement. Yet most districts leave principal development to chance — hoping good leaders emerge rather than building the systems that grow them.
The challenge isn't a lack of effort. It's a lack of infrastructure. Without a shared leadership framework, coherent coaching routines, and consistent progress monitoring, even the most dedicated principal supervisors are working in isolation — and so are the principals they support.
This diagnostic helps you see your district's leadership development system clearly: where the foundations are solid, where gaps are limiting your impact, and where a focused investment will create the greatest lift for schools and students.
From aspirational to operational
How Knox County Schools turned principal leadership into a system.
What You'll Learn
- Whether your district has a shared definition of what great school leadership looks like
- How consistently coaching, evaluation, and development are aligned to that definition
- Whether principals and APs receive the kind of support that actually builds their practice
- How strong your leadership routines are — and whether supervisors model and reinforce them
- Where your highest-leverage opportunity for improvement is, and what to do about it
Who This Is For
This diagnostic is designed for K–12 district leaders who are responsible for developing school leaders — whether your district serves 500 students or 500,000.
- Superintendents
- Chief Schools Officers
- Chief Academic Officers
- Principal Supervisors
- Talent & Leadership Development Directors
- Other district leaders responsible for principal development
What You Get
Your results include a score and targeted recommendation across each of the four foundational domains of a high-functioning district leadership system.
Vision & Role Expectations
Do you have a shared districtwide definition of great leadership — and is it consistently used in coaching, evaluation, and development?
Leadership Development Systems
Are principals and APs receiving coherent, practice-based development that builds real instructional leadership capacity?
Leadership Routines & High-Leverage Moves
Are the routines that make great leadership visible — one-on-ones, ILTs, observation and feedback cycles — consistent across schools?
Progress Monitoring & Accountability
Does your district track leadership practice, not just outcomes, so you can see where the system is working and where it isn't?
You'll also receive a personalized synthesis memo and a recommended 90-day focus area — the single highest-leverage place to invest your energy first.
Ready to see where your district stands?
Complete the diagnostic in 5 minutes and walk away with a clear picture of your leadership development system.