Examines the ongoing efforts of an urban public school district to strengthen and support as well as manage and evaluate principal instructional leadership. Highlights the challenges posed by an influx of new first-year principals, partnership with two different principal development programs, and the looming retirement of more than half the district principals.

To support a strategy that puts decisions about instruction and resources in the hands of school communities, the superintendent of the San Francisco Unified School district implemented a weighted formula to allocate resources to school sites based on the learning characteristics of the students attending each school. Considers full in-district choice for parents regarding which school their child will attend, academic planning and resource allocation by local school site councils, and an accountability system with performance consequences for schools unable to meet academic targets or attract enough students to remain financially viable.