ISLLC Standards and Assessment in the Context of School Leadership Reform

The Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) has accomplished much to elevate the status of school leadership, particularly the principalship. Standards have been developed for school leaders that have broadly impacted the performance expectations most states are setting for the licensure of their beginning principals. The School Leaders Licensure Assessment has been developed to screen candidates with respect to the ISLLC standards. My intent in this piece is to extend our discussion of the work of ISLLC by focusing on four issues. The most important of these is, What do we need to do to advance the reform of school leadership with respect to the ISLLC Standards? I contend that, unless a concerted effort is made to change the public's image of the principal, it will be difficult to obtain the resources necessary for the meaningful reform of school leadership.