Welcome to the Education Leadership Policy Toolkit – a unique online resource for state policymakers, school district officials, principals and classroom teachers.

The Toolkit is the product of a two-year effort by ECS, underwritten by the MetLife Foundation, to enlarge awareness and understanding of the policies, practices and processes that serve to strengthen leadership for reform and improvement in schools and districts.

Policymakers and educators across the nation can tap the lessons learned in eight critical areas – ranging from decisionmaking processes to resource allocation to instruction, professional development and accountability – in three outstanding school systems: Boston Public Schools, Memphis City School District and National City (California) School District.

The Toolkit is organized around what the ECS study team found to be the defining features of the improvement efforts under way in Boston, National City and Memphis. Foremost among them is a clearly expressed, widely shared acceptance of responsibility for the educational success of all children.

This commitment is reflected in – and reinforced by – purposeful efforts to enhance collaboration, communication and leadership capacity within and across schools, and to forge stronger connections with families, community organizations, higher education institutions and other partners; a versatile infrastructure of support for teachers and principals; consistent, continuous evaluation of student performance, instructional practices and program implementation; and creative, strategic use of resources – not just money but also time, space and talent.

Inside the Toolkit, you'll find:

• Models. Drawing on what has been learned and accomplished in Boston, Memphis and National City, the Toolkit pinpoints the interrelated state-, district- and school-level policies and practices – in eight key areas – that are critical to sustained reform and improvement. These areas are: vision, governance, relationships, culture, human development, instruction, evaluation and resource allocation.
• Audio Clips. Excerpts of ECS' interviews with teachers, principals, district officials and community leaders in the three districts provide varying perspectives on the scope, dynamics and progress of their improvement efforts.
• Links. Each of the Toolkit's eight sections features brief descriptions of and links to useful documents, reports, Web sites and other resources.

The Toolkit also offers a profile of each of the three study districts:

• Boston Public Schools, honored in 2006 with the prestigious Broad Foundation Prize for Urban Education for steady gains in reading and math achievement, particularly among poor and minority students; innovative approaches to recruiting, training and supporting teachers and principals; and sustained improvements in curriculum, instruction and assessment.
• National City (California) School District, a tiny K-6 district just north of the United States-Mexico border that has earned state and national recognition for its Parents as Teachers and school-readiness programs, its use of data to enhance instruction and decisionmaking, and its progress in strengthening math and science education.
• Memphis City School District, which has significantly reduced the number of its schools falling short of state and federal standards (from 140 in 2003-04 to 36 this year), developed state-of-the art facilities for learning and professional development, and created innovative new services for parents and students.