Standards for School Leaders: Definitions and Links for Instructors

CAEP – Council for the Accreditation of Educator Programs is the single organization for university-based preparation programs for teachers and educational leaders.  CAEP has standards, and a process for national recognition of the institutions and individual programs. Click here http://caepnet.org/ to learn more about how CAEP affects states and institutions of higher education.

CCSSO – Council of Chief State School Officers, along with the National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA), gathered multiple professional organizations and school leaders (principals, district office personnel, superintendents, and school board members) in the mid-1990s to form the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC). This group developed the six standards now known as ISLLC standards.  In the 1996 first iteration, the ISLLC standards also included 96 indicators.  While designed as examples, many jurisdictions used them as specific requirements to prepare and evaluate school leaders.  The next iteration of ISLLC in 2008 included only 31 functions. Unlike the non-exhaustive, yet extensive and ultimately limiting, listing of indicators, the functions provide a research-based conceptual map for policy discussions about leadership preparation and evaluation. Click here http://www.ccsso.org/Documents/ for a copy of the 2008 ISLLC policy standards. Click here http://www.ccsso.org/ to find out more about the work of CCSSO and how its work affects national and state policy for school leadership.

ELCC – Education Leadership Constituent Council is a sub-group in CAEP known as a Specialized Program Area (SPA). ELCC provides specific guidance to the accreditation of programs that prepare building-level leaders (assistant or vice principals, principals, and in some states, teacher leaders and supervisions of instruction) and district-level leaders (central or district office administrators and superintendents). Click here http://www.ncate.org/ for the ELCC standards for building-level leaders. Click here http://www.ncate.org/ for the ELCC standards for district-level leaders. Click here http://ucea.org/storage for the research-based on ELCC/ISLLC.

ISLLC - Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium is the name of the group formed by CCSSO and NPBEA to create Standards for School Leaders in the mid-1990s.  Although these standards have been updated and addressed by other groups, ISLLC is still the acronym that many use as a reference to the Standards.

NCATE – National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education no longer exists, but for many years was the primary organization for the accreditation of programs preparing teachers and other education professionals in U.S. colleges and universities.  Some legacy information associated with NCATE can be found at the CAEP website.

NPBEA – National Policy Board for Educational Administration has been a sponsoring organization, which spawned the development of other groups, such as ISLLC and ELCC, to improve the preparation and professional learning of educational leaders at all levels.  Click here http://npbea.org/ to learn more about NPBEA.

TEAC – Teacher Education Accreditation Council was the most recent competitor to NCATE in accrediting educator preparation programs at colleges and universities. Like NCATE, TEAC has information on the CAEP website.

UCEA – University Council for Educational Administration is a consortium of higher education institutions committed to advancing the preparation and practice of educational leaders for the benefit of schools and children.  UCEA is a sponsor of NPBEA and for nearly 6 decades has provided a number of research-based instructional materials, assessments, and resources for the preparation of school leaders.  Click here http://ucea.org/ to visit UCEA’s websites and find these resources.