The National Association of Elementary School Principals’s (NAESP) long-held position to protect principals from automatic dismissal as part of federal school improvement models has been incorporated into the Obama administration’s package to ease some sanctions of No Child Left Behind.

Instead of the ill-advised  “ready, fire, aim” approach — which NAESP has been fighting for more than a year — the administration has agreed that the first step in implementing one of the models should be a mandatory but fair review of the current principal, not the drastic step of his or her automatic dismissal.

NAESP applauds the administration’s policy shift and welcomes this important change to support sustainable school improvement and acknowledge the vital instructional leadership of principals. Read NAESP’ss entire statement at www.naesp.org.