One can’t throw a kettle ball these days without hitting upon some discussion about teacher preparation, the need to reform teacher preparation, or the desire to eliminate it all together. But it can be much harder to enter a meaningful discussion on school leader preparation.

Even though all those teachers need good administrators supporting them, even though we know that school leaders are second only to classroom teachers when it comes to impacting success, we seem to shy away from public discussions of leader development.

Fortunately, Education Week recently came out with a series, Who’s Ready to Be a Principal?, that does a deep dive into how we currently prepare school leaders, how we can support the 90,000 or so currently in the profession, and what we can do to improve both.

I’m particularly proud to be working with one of the programs that gets a shout-out from EdWeek. In Niche Training for Principals Aims to Fill Skill Gaps, Arianna Prothero writes of the Woodrow Wilson MBA in Education Leadership, a program developed by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and currently offered in three states (Indiana, New Mexico, and Wisconsin).

The entire series from EdWeek is certainly worth the read. If we are serious about improving our schools, ensuring all teachers have the supports they need, and giving every child a high-quality education, we must include principal preparation in our priorities.