Learning to Lead School Turnaround: The Mississippi LEADS Professional Development Model

The focus of this paper is on a systematic principal professional development program called “Mississippi LEADS,” which is designed to provide current school principals the technical and practical knowledge that they need to enact comprehensive school turnaround efforts. The Mississippi LEADS professional development program is a year-long training experience that includes executive coaching and establishes a state-wide and district-wide professional support system for principals. The goal of Mississippi LEADS is to turnaround chronically low performing schools by investing in leadership development, rather than replacing the school principal. Although many turnaround efforts begin by replacing principals, Mississippi LEADS administrators view principal replacement as impractical for many rural, impoverished school districts that face educator recruitment challenges. The Mississippi LEADS program theory of action is discussed, which includes formalized classroom work, enactment of ambitious school improvement plans, one-on-one executive coaching, and data monitoring. Early data from the evaluation study indicates that Mississippi LEADS is having expected impacts.