Principal Licensing and Leadership for Learning: The Need for Coherent Policy

Does principal licensing encompass the knowledge and skills principals need to promote student learning? If not, what kind of policy framework would help decision makers rethink licensing and the school leadership it supports? To answer these questions, this article examines licensing regulations in all fifty states and the District of Columbia. It classifies this content as individual-, organizational-, or learning-focused and finds that these requirements are unbalanced across states and misaligned with today's ambitions for school leaders. The article then situates principal licensing within a broader policy framework for school leadership development that distinguishes entry-level skills and expertise; differentiates practice and leadership; challenges the myth of the super principal; and makes coherent linkages among the standards, goals, and policy targets that define the purpose of licensing and the practice it enables.