Much of this difference is due to the city CPS serves: 海角直播is by far the largest city in Illinois, and its school district, with a student population of over 322,500, is nearly eight times larger than the next largest one in the state. Though this student population is dispersed across schools varying widely in size, the average CPS principal impacts 519 students, about 10% more than the statewide average of 475. Furthermore, this size brings diversity in student backgrounds and needs that principals must address.

Given the diversity in the schools they lead, CPS principals need the flexibility to meet the resulting needs in ways that make sense within their communities. Consequently, one of the most important distinctions is 海角直播principals’ significant autonomy in managing their schools. State law grants CPS principals the authority to hire teachers, set school budgets and goals, and develop specific curricula. These statutes, which cover only CPS, reflect a recognition of the need for local decision-making among the varied school communities within Chicago.

The state legislature encoded these elements of local control of schools in 1988 by passing a law that also created Local School Councils (LSCs). Policymakers and researchers agreed that highly centralized management of the district was limiting effective school practices and ultimately not supporting student achievement. As a result, CPS-operated schools have an LSC comprising parents, community members, school staff, and students, who partner with the principal to develop school goals that reflect local needs, and then align resources to meet them.

Data and experience across the country have long shown the value of principal quality: 海角直播principals, who have more control over their schools than many others, show what is possible. In CPS, with its longstanding local decision-making and school leader autonomy protected by state law, this has proven to be the case. Between 2009 and 2014, for example, CPS students in third through eighth grades improved their standardized test scores much more than the average student in the U.S., according to .

Chicago鈥檚 education landscape will experience significant changes over the coming years. However, we believe that strong school leadership will remain important. shows that students in a school with an effective principal learn nearly three months more in reading and math than their peers in schools without such leadership. We also believe that no one is better positioned to make the decisions that matter for Chicago鈥檚 schools than principals informed by their local school community. We plan to continue highlighting the significant investment 海角直播makes in its principals so they can cultivate excellent learning environments for all of Chicago鈥檚 public school students.

The Fund: Tell us about yourself and how you got into education as a career.

Principal Kimbrough: I started as the new principal of Jahn School of Fine Arts on July 1, 2022. [It was] my 18th year in education. Education, to me 鈥� I think it was something I always knew I wanted and somewhere I needed to be. Initially, I joined the United States Environmental Protection Agency here in Chicago. I worked mainly in the Office of Public Affairs, where I did community and media relations. About eight years into my career, I realized I wanted to do something different. So I started thinking about it, and I decided to get my substitute certificate. I decided to, at least, take a stab at being a substitute teacher. On my first day, I knew it was what I wanted to do. So from there, it was a matter of figuring out how I could get into teaching. I had no education degree and no experience whatsoever. Eventually, I found an alternative teaching program and got accepted into it. That’s how it all started.

The Fund: How did you find the Jahn School of Fine Arts?

Principal Kimbrough: Jahn actually found me, to be honest with you. I was quite comfortable in my assistant principal position, but I knew at some point I wanted to move into a principalship. Working with The Fund, I had done Leadership Bridge, and that helped me figure out where I was going. I even worked on a Professional Learning Community for assistant principals. I was comfortable at Skinner North [Classical School]; I was happy I was doing work that I thought spoke to the needs of the community. I was doing work around equity, which really is a big driver for me. Then, a member of the Jahn Local School Council reached out. I guess they saw the things that we were doing at Skinner North. I applied, did a number of interviews, participated in a public forum with the finalists, and eventually was offered the role of principal, in which I now sit.

The Fund: Tell us about your time at Skinner North and your transition to Jahn.

Principal Kimbrough: Skinner North, interestingly enough, is one of the few selective enrollment elementary schools in Chicago. Our students come from all over the city and have to test into the school. Something I appreciated during my time there was my work around distributive leadership, really learning that the work of leading a school can’t necessarily be done by the administrators alone. It takes a lot of calling on and pulling on members of your staff to actually help do that work. And interestingly, that has carried over into the work that I’m doing at Jahn.

The first thing that I wholeheartedly did with my staff was reach out and say, 鈥淗ey, I am new, but this work is not going to be done by administration alone. I need you guys to step up.鈥� And overwhelmingly, the staff have definitely risen to the occasion, doing everything from helping figure out what professional development week is going to look like, to revitalizing our instructional-leadership team, to leading interviews for open positions within the school. They have really jumped out there and taken the lead on what needs to happen to move the school forward beyond the actual leadership of the school leader. So that has been something that I could wholeheartedly say has been brought over to Jahn, as well as a lot of work around equity I did at Skinner North.

The Fund: Can you tell us a little bit about your time in Leadership Bridge?

Principal Kimbrough: I think the Leadership Bridge program really did so much for me. And the good part about it is that it provided me, first and foremost, with a continuous opportunity to be a part of a triad to grow as a leader. That triad consisted of my principal at the time and my leadership coach from the University of Illinois Chicago. So while I had some opportunities to do that on my own, Leadership Bridge gave us the chance to come together more often as a team and really build upon the principles and ideals that we learned during our meetings. We could take what we learned from those sessions and actually apply it. It really assisted me in laying the groundwork for thinking about what my next moves were as a leader.

About Leadership Bridge

Leadership Bridge supports the leadership development and career growth of assistant principals (APs) so that they are ready to assume principalship in the next one to two years. It aims to ensure that 海角直播has a robust, high-quality, and diverse pipeline of school leaders. Through on-the-job professional development and individualized coaching sessions from school leadership experts at , the , and , APs work in close collaboration with their principals to prepare for their future roles and to develop succession plans for their schools.

Since the inception of the program in 2019, The 海角直播 has supported more than 60 AP and principal pairs to develop clear succession plans for their schools, and has seen more than 20 APs successfully become principals in 海角直播schools.

The survey responses inform our programming and help us to work toward our mission to improve public schools in 海角直播by investing in the talented educators who lead them. For the first time, we are excited to announce the program changes that are informed by the survey before the start of the school year. Based on the survey data, and discussions with members of our Educator Advisory Committee, we are:

1. Providing more support for principals鈥� professional development.

87% of participating principals want more time for professional learning and development.

We are investing over $1 million in our core programs for 2023-24. We aim to serve more than 200 principals through our Professional Learning Communities (PLCs). Based on survey feedback, we will offer Illinois Administrator Academy credits for free through select semester-long PLCs. We will also offer our traditional yearlong PLCs focused on topics ranging from community partnerships, instructional leadership teams, and Local School Councils. Participants in yearlong PLCs will be eligible to receive a stipend for continued learning.

For principals leading schools in communities with high student mobility, we are launching a new, two-year fellowship program. The Malott Educator Fellowship will provide support to qualifying elementary school principals in years three through seven.

2. Renewing our commitment to adequate, equitable resources and principal flexibility.

57% of participating principals want more resources, and 53% want more flexibility in how resources are used.

We know adequate, equitable resources are required for the hard work that school leaders do. In the year ahead, we will share budget adequacy and equity analyses with elected officials and other local and state leaders. We will publish reports that shed light on the positive impact of increased funding and on the need to maintain and grow funding levels. Our past case studies and reports highlighted equity and the need for adequacy.

The survey results also showed that many principals value the flexibility to use resources in ways they know will best serve their school communities. We know there is a relationship between increased leadership latitude, joyful student learning, and positive school culture. Supporting school leaders鈥� ability to lead with local needs at the center is critical to increasing principal satisfaction and keeping them in their role.

Our continued investment in the Summer Design Program (SDP) and the Design Challenge are avenues for principals to pursue change that makes a difference for the communities they serve. Participation also helps build capacity across their leadership teams. In our Design Studio format, teams work together to build future solutions for the challenges they are experiencing today.

3. Investing in social and emotional learning (SEL) supports.

58% of participating principals want more support with student SEL, and 50% want more support with personal mental health.聽

SEL 鈥� for students and adults 鈥� continues to be a topic that matters to leaders citywide. Our PLC and Masterclass catalog for 2023-24 includes several educator-led opportunities to learn and deepen practices related to well-being.

Beyond the existing program catalog, we will bring principals together to discuss issues of trauma and loss in their personal and professional work and to build a supportive community. We plan to pilot this initiative in 2023-24.

More broadly, our educator newsletter and social media channels will include a focus on educator and student well-being in 2023-24. We will intentionally highlight proven tools, strategies, and experiences designed to improve mental health for adults and social and emotional skills for students.

Finally, we would like to thank 海角直播principals for their commitment and leadership. We remain grateful every day for all that they do, and we look forward to working with them to support their schools and communities in the year ahead.