Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools on Wednesday announced the expansion of the city’s vanguard principal leadership programs, the Independent Schools Principals (ISP) and the Chicago Principals Fellowship, which together help develop professional capacity and allow the city’s top education leaders to drive success at the school level. The ISP program, which has expanded by more than 60 percent with the 2017 class, rewards high-performing principals with more autonomy, less red tape and more opportunities to innovate. CPS also announced the latest class for the Chicago Principals Fellowship program, an executive leadership program for top principals. “The success of our schools directly reflects the strong leadership that guides them. I want to congratulate each one of our principals for the unprecedented academic gains, record-high test scores and growing graduation rates that our students and schools are achieving today,” said Mayor Rahm Emanuel. “By empowering our leading principals with greater flexibility, we allow them to innovate in ways that ensure our students receive a high-quality education tailored to meet their needs, while putting them on a path to a brighter future.”

These principals embody the best of CPS: leadership, commitment and innovation and we couldn’t be happier to welcome them to our latest class of independent principals,” said CPS CEO Forrest Claypool. “We look forward to seeing all they can continue to do to build on their students’ remarkable success.” The ISP program was developed to provide high performing principals with the flexibility to innovate and the autonomy to operate their schools with reduced oversight from Central Office. In addition to providing proven principals with the flexibility to lead and innovate, ISPs have the opportunity to engage in a unique, peer-to-peer professional learning community to discuss and share effective practices among their peers. Principal effectiveness rises as principals gain more experience, and through this innovative program the district is creating incentives to retain top principals and provide them with the professional flexibility to push their schools in a positive direction.