The New Leaders Aspiring Principals Program

An experienced educator and educational administrator, Suzana Ustabecir has served for more than 15 years with Chicago Public Schools (CPS), first as a middle school math and science teacher and then as a principal. For the past year, she has served CPS as an instructional effectiveness specialist. In addition to her work with CPS, Suzana Ustabecir remains actively affiliated with the New Leaders organization.

Formerly known as New Leaders for New Schools, New Leaders is dedicated to training transformational principals and other educational leaders. It launched its flagship program, Aspiring Principals, in 2001. 

Seeing that principal training and preparation was often disconnected from the real world of schools and classrooms, New Leaders designed Aspiring Principals to help school principals lead with an approach that enables teachers to grow and students to learn. The program takes place in three basic stages. The training stage consists of a three-week Summer Foundation, one to two in-person group training sessions per month, various online tutorials, and one to two years of induction support. 

The practice stage consists of a yearlong residency that includes both team participation and leadership. Finally, the feedback stage consists of multiple one-on-one critical sessions with an expert coach.

New Leaders Principal Program Shows a Positive Impact

Suzana Ustabecir completed the principal leadership preparation program at National Louis.

Suzana Ustabecir has been involved in the Chicago Public Schools system as a teacher, principal, and administrator since 2001, and she now serves as an instruction effectiveness specialist. Suzana Ustabecir is also involved in New Leaders for New Schools, through which she completed a program in principal leadership preparation in 2008. 

New Leaders for New Schools serves children in the public school system by supporting the principals and teachers who work with them. The nonprofit organization especially focuses on children of color and under-resourced children who may need extra help and attention at school. Seventy-eight percent of the students with whom the graduates go on to work are in poverty, and 87 percent are children of color. 

The organization offers programs for every level of school leadership, and its programs show strong evidence of effectiveness. Within the first year or so, 85 percent of participants in the program see improvement in their students' classroom achievement. Moreover, on average, only about 50 percent of principals tend to stay in their district for longer than three years, while 74 percent of New Leaders graduates tend to stay in their districts that long. These achievements and others have led to the RAND Corporation recognizing the New Leaders principal program as showing strong evidence of positive impact.