The Improving School Leadership: The Promise of Cohesive Leadership Systems report identifying Iowa as one of three states in which progress toward a cohesive leadership system is “exemplary” is available on The Wallace Foundation's Web site.

   Five key dimensions of a cohesive leadership system are identified in the report:

• Comprehensiveness in the scope of state and district initiatives—for example, in addressing standards, licensure, training, evaluation and improving conditions;
• Alignment of policies and practices within and between different levels of the system;
• Engagement of relevant stakeholders in planning and implementing policy changes;
• Agreement on the importance of leadership, what it should consist of and how to improve it; and
• Coordination that promotes alignment, engagement and agreement around leadership improvement initiatives among the key players at all levels of the system.

Deepening, spreading and sustaining a cohesive leadership system in Iowa will require additional, ongoing efforts. Business, government and education organizations continue to work together to make the emerging leadership system a reality.