Project Summary

The Education Alliance and the Bridgeport (CT) public schools worked together to develop a blueprint for planning and implementing school leadership teams that would work to improve student performance at the school level. The initiative reflected a shift from a rigid, top-down bureaucratic structure to a strong, school-based governance model. School leadership teams (SLTs) made up of the principal, teachers, families, community representatives, and students (where appropriate) were empowered to develop, implement and monitor school improvement plans to drive education reform in each school.

As a project of the Principal's Leadership Network, the project demonstrated Bridgeport’s reasons for the initiative and created sample guidelines and by-laws for the team, tips for communicating change to staff and the community, two checklists of team tasks, a self-assessment tool, and some lessons learned by the staff in Bridgeport.

See also:

• Prinicpals' Leadership Network

Publications related to this project:

• The Bridgeport Story: What Urban School Districts Need to Know About School Leadership Teams