About the Toolkit

The Education Leadership Policy Toolkit is the centerpiece of a two-year effort by the Education Commission of the States (ECS), funded by the MetLife Foundation, to identify, learn more about and heighten awareness of effective approaches to strengthening leadership for change and improvement in schools and districts.

In addition to the Toolkit, MetLife has also supported ECS' publication of a set of policy briefs designed to provide state policymakers, superintendents, principals and teachers with information and ideas about developing and sustaining leadership capacity. The policy briefs are:

• What's Happening in School and District Leadership? (March 2005) http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/59/36/5936.pdf
• The First Ring Leadership Academy: A Multidistrict Model for Developing, Sharing and Supporting Leadership Talent (October 2005) http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/65/66/6566.pdf
• Creating a School-Community Culture of Learning: Exemplary Leadership Practices in Four School Districts. (June 2006) http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/69/41/6941.pdf

ECS is grateful for the MetLife Foundation's generous and steadfast support of this project over the past two years, and for the invaluable assistance of the staff of Boston Public Schools, Memphis City School District, National City (California) School District and the First Ring Leadership Academy in Cleveland, Ohio.

Katy Anthes, who left ECS in mid-2006 to establish the Denver-based Third Mile Group, led the team of current and former ECS staffers involved in the research, writing and design of the Education Leadership Policy Toolkit. They include Arika Long, John Hancock, Kym Bloom, Allison Looney, Catherine Walker and Suzanne Weiss.

If you have questions or comments about the Toolkit, please contact Tricia Coulter, director of ECS' Teaching Quality and Leadership Institute at tcoulter@ecs.org.

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