Transforming School Leadership: An Examination of the Impetus and Evolution of an Internal District Principal Preparation Program

School districts, faced with increasing shortages in the education profession, are leveraging internal district strategies to recruit and grow their educators. In addition to preparing and credentialing new educators, districts are turning inward to cultivate their leadership pipeline. This case study explores a post-credential inner-district principal preparation program in a large school district in the Mid-Atlantic region. Participants were central office leaders involved in creating and developing the program. This study's findings reveal insights into the creation and development of an inner-district principal preparation program and how initiatives are shaped and influenced during the development phase. Central office leaders were motivated to create the inner-district principal preparation program to strengthen the principal pipeline. Additionally, leaders sought to continually mold the program to shape it to address the organization's current and anticipated leadership pipeline needs. This resulted in a constant state of program improvement, guided by district leaders. The results of this study can help guide school districts when creating and implementing principal preparation and support programs. This study's findings can also help guide higher education organizations as they design and deliver leadership preparation programs and help inform state policy and procedures around leadership preparation and licensure.