California Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (CPSEL)

Produced by: California School Leadership Academy at WestEd, Association of California School Administrators

We know that quality leadership matters in improving schools, districts, and student achievement. But what is quality leadership?

The California Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (CPSEL), also known as the Comprehensive Professional Standards for Educational Leaders, (2001) lay out quality standards for site and district leaders. With the six standards, the CPSEL provide indicators of leadership action that contribute to meeting the standards. These leadership standards provide an overview of what successful leaders do and are useful for setting a general course for leadership preparation, professional development activities, and administrator certification and district assessments.

Further definition of leadership behaviors and performance standards can be found in Moving Leadership Standards Into Everyday Work: Descriptions of Practice (WestEd, 2003). The Descriptions of Practice explain the intention of each standard and depict what its various elements look like across a continuum of practice.

The CPSEL were adapted from the Interstate School leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC) Standards for School Leaders (1996) by representatives from the California School Leadership Academy at WestEd, the Association of California School Administrators, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing, the California Department of Education, and California public and private universities. Over nine hundred educators reviewed them before they were finalized. In 2004, the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing adopted the CPSEL into their program standards for administrator licensure. WestEd and the Association of California School Administrators copyright the CPSEL.