The NAESP Foundation and WestEd Launch Principal Evaluation Research and Policy Initiative 

April 21, 2026

Two projects focused on “Principal Evaluation: Guidance for a Growing Profession” are being generously funded by grants from The Wallace Foundation.  

School principals are crucial to ensuring that every student achieves in a safe learning environment. Performance evaluations help ensure principals are able to meet those expectations for their profession and are effective and grow throughout their careers. Now the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) Foundation is partnering with WestEd to produce national principal and assistant principal evaluation guidance.  

This is part of a yearlong national initiative made possible with generous funding from The Wallace Foundation. The initiative will develop state-level and school system guidelines on quality principal and assistant principal evaluation, which articulates school administrators’ expectations for performance evaluation rigor, validity, practicality, and fairness. Also included will be national landscape research on school administrator performance evaluation that describes the state of state policies and school administrators’ experiences with performance evaluation.   

“Because research shows that principals are second only to teachers in school-related factors influencing student learning, it’s crucial that we set principals up for success as leaders of thriving learning communities, and that includes understanding the landscape of principal evaluation and the elements that help principals excel,” said NAESP Foundation President L. Earl Franks, EdD, CAE. “We are honored to partner with WestEd and extremely grateful to The Wallace Foundation, a leading voice in advancing school-level leadership, for their generous support.” 

“Performance evaluation coupled with professional learning ensures leaders remain effective, as schools change and learning science improves. As a professional association for school leaders, NAESP gives voice to principals’ expectations for their own evaluation and professional learning,” said Dr. Matthew Clifford, WestEd’s Director of School Leadership. “We are grateful to partner with the NAESP Foundation in this research initiative.” 

The Principal Evaluation Standards and Best Practices Project

Project 1: The Principal Evaluation Standards and Best Practices project will provide practical guidance to states and school systems about how best to evaluate and cultivate principal leadership. The project engages researchers and practitioners from across the United States in recommending current and future best practices, and it draws upon multidisciplinary research on performance evaluation. The NAESP Foundation and WestEd will produce a publication that offers guidance on and documents best practices for principal evaluation that will be released at the 2027 National School Leaders Conference, powered by NAESP.

The National Principal Evaluation Landscape Policy and Practice Review Project 

Project 2: The National Principal Evaluation Landscape Policy and Practice Review project will systematically review state-level policies and administrative rules, as well as survey principals about their experience with performance evaluation. The project team will produce an interactive, online map that shows current policy and administrative rule information for every state; Washington, DC; and the U.S. territories. The team will also produce a user-friendly policy report to be released at the 2027 National School Leaders Conference, powered by NAESP.