School Principal Recruitment and Training Act

School Principal Recruitment and Training Act

Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to establish a principal recruitment and training grant program awarding renewable, matching grants to states, local educational agencies (LEAs), educational service agencies, nonprofit organizations, institutions of higher education, and partnerships of those entities to recruit, prepare, place, and support principals in eligible schools.

Defines "eligible schools" as high-need schools, persistently low-achieving schools, achievement gap schools, schools with middle grades that feed students to high schools with low graduation rates, and rural schools served by high-need LEAs.

Requires grantees to work with experts and stakeholders to develop, during the first year of a grant, a leadership training program for principals, mentors, and other school leaders that prepares and supports them in leading effective school reform efforts in persistently low-achieving schools.

Requires grantees to use the grants, after that first year, to:

• implement their leadership training program;
• ensure that their training program is informed, on an ongoing basis, by consultations with experts and stakeholders and by tracking the performance of program graduates;
• select cohorts of trained or experienced principals to lead school reform efforts in persistently low-achieving schools;
• support and encourage interaction among principals who have completed the training program; and
• disseminate information to principals, mentors, and other school leaders engaging in reform efforts in persistently low-achieving schools.

Makes grant renewal decisions dependent on the Secretary of Education's evaluation of the extent to which the principals recruited, prepared, placed, or supported by the grantee have improved school-level student outcomes.

Directs the Secretary to: (1) establish performance metrics to evaluate the effectiveness of the activities funded by the grant program; and (2) identify, and disseminate research on, best practices to improve school leadership.