An innovative look, a recalcitrant reality: The politics of principal preparation reform

Concerns about the effectiveness of traditional preparation programs have yielded a wide-ranging debate about new approaches to recruiting and preparing leaders. The resulting policy debate features two general camps: those who wish to refine and bolster the existing system of preparation and licensure and those who advocate a move away from licensure and the attendant notions of leadership that hold sway today. The proponents of conventional preparation have shown a remarkable willingness to compromise, giving rise to modified training programs and blunting the political appetite for rethinking the gatekeeping arrangements that regulate who can become, approve, or train future school leaders. Ultimately, both innovative programs andfor-profit providers will acclimate themselves to the institutional arrangements in place, so the degree of real change depends more on statutory and regulatory change than the emergence of particular new programs.