History

SLN Incubated as Advisory Board to Brown University’s Educational Lab

SLN originated with a group of school principals who met in 2000 as guests of the U.S. Department of Education and the Rainwater Charitable Foundation to discuss and solve critical national school leadership concerns.

For the next five years these principals served as the Principals’ Leadership Network (PLN), an advisory board to the Educational Laboratory at Brown University. Their work focused on three topics relevant to school leaders: 1. the role of the principal as instructional leader, 2. communicating the principal’s complex role to the community, and 3. mentoring.

SLN was established in 2006 to address the needs of principals and to accelerate transformational change in their schools, resulting in increased student achievement. At SLN, learning communities across the country, guided by SLN-trained Facilitators, coach each other on the technical and adaptive challenges of leadership to improve student learning and the conditions in which they occur.

Today, school leaders in 16 networks across the US are provided with opportunities to identify, reflect, and dialogue on critical leadership issues. Over 240 network members represent a wide range of ethnic/cultural backgrounds and experiences. Nearly 120,000 students across the country currently attend schools led by SLN Principals.