New Leaders

New Leaders
Name	New Leaders
Type	Nonprofit
Founded	2000
Founder	Melissa D. Lan
Headquarters	New York City, New York, United States
Area served	United States
Focus	Educational leadership, school turnaround, principal development

New Leaders

New Leaders is a U.S.-based nonprofit organization focused on recruiting, training, and supporting school principals and education leaders to improve student outcomes in K–12 schools. The organization operates across multiple urban districts, partners with charter networks and state agencies, and is active in policy discussions in Washington, D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other metropolitan areas. New Leaders works with district superintendents, school boards, and philanthropic funders to implement leadership pipelines intended to affect classroom instruction, school culture, and performance on standardized assessments.

Overview

New Leaders develops aspiring and current principals through residency programs, executive coaching, and performance management systems designed to increase proficiency in instructional leadership, talent management, and school improvement strategies. The organization partners with local education agencies such as the New York City Department of Education, the Los Angeles Unified School District, the Chicago Public Schools, the Dallas Independent School District, and the Philadelphia School District. It has collaborated with charter management organizations including KIPP, Success Academy Charter Schools, and Harlem Children's Zone-affiliated projects, and has received funding from philanthropic institutions such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Walton Family Foundation, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

History and Formation

Founded in 2000 by education leaders and philanthropists in response to calls for stronger principalship models after debates following the No Child Left Behind Act and research from the National Academy of Education and the National Center on Education Statistics, New Leaders emerged amid policy conversations in Washington, D.C. and state capitals. Early pilots took place in collaboration with districts influenced by initiatives from the Teach For America movement and by reform efforts associated with figures like Michelle Rhee in District of Columbia Public Schools. Over the 2000s and 2010s, New Leaders expanded through grants, contracts with state education departments and partnerships with university-based programs such as those at Teachers College, Columbia University and Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Mission, Programs, and Activities

The stated mission emphasizes placing effective principals in high-need schools to raise student achievement and narrow achievement gaps measured by assessments like the SAT, ACT, and state-level exams aligned to the Common Core State Standards Initiative. Core programs include principal residencies, leadership academies, principal pipelines, and executive coaching. New Leaders implements data systems to monitor school performance, uses frameworks influenced by research from organizations such as the RAND Corporation and the Brookings Institution, and trains leaders in practices drawn from case studies like Turnaround Schools in Cincinnati and reform examples from New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina. The organization also conducts program evaluations and collaborates on randomized controlled trials and quasi-experimental studies with research partners including Columbia University and University of Chicago researchers.

Organizational Structure and Leadership

New Leaders is governed by a board of directors drawn from education, philanthropy, and corporate sectors; past board and advisory members have included leaders associated with The Gates Foundation, The Broad Foundation, and major urban district superintendents. Operational leadership typically comprises a Chief Executive Officer, regional directors for metropolitan areas such as Miami, Boston, San Francisco, and Detroit, and program leads for recruitment, training, and evaluation. The organization coordinates with municipal officials, mayors' offices exemplified by collaborations similar to those in New York City and Chicago, and affiliates with state education agencies in states like Texas and Pennsylvania.

Impact and Evaluation

Independent evaluations by university partners and research organizations have examined New Leaders' effects on principal retention, school climate, teacher effectiveness, and student achievement, producing mixed but often positive findings in urban, high-poverty contexts. Studies using methodologies endorsed by the Institute of Education Sciences and reviewers at the What Works Clearinghouse have at times attributed gains on standardized measures and school graduation rates to principals trained through New Leaders, while other analyses emphasize heterogeneity across districts such as Los Angeles and Philadelphia. The organization publishes outcome briefs and annual reports and engages with federal programs like ESSA-related initiatives to scale evidence-based leadership supports.

Criticisms and Controversies

Critiques have centered on questions about scalability, fidelity, and the measurement of impact. Some education scholars affiliated with institutions such as Teachers College, Columbia University and the University of Michigan have debated methodological choices in evaluations, while community advocates in districts like Newark and Oakland have raised concerns about external actors influencing local school leadership and union relationships with National Education Association and American Federation of Teachers locals. Philanthropic ties to foundations such as The Broad Foundation and Gates Foundation have prompted discussion about private influence on public schools and the role of charter networks like KIPP in shaping leadership models. Legal and policy debates over principal hiring authority, collective bargaining, and school turnaround strategies have involved municipal offices, school boards, and state legislatures.

Category:Educational leadership organizations