Illinois schools are at a juncture that cannot be ignored and it’s hitting hardest in our rural and underserved communities. The latest IARSS/ISBE Educator Shortage Report - found at https://iarss.org/2024-2025-educator-shortage/ - paints a stark picture for some Illinois school districts, documenting persistent leadership vacancies in districts that have long struggled to recruit and retain qualified principals.

Nowhere is this more urgent than in our rural schools. Geographic isolation, limited access to professional learning, and uncompetitive salaries create steep barriers for aspiring leaders. The result? A cycle of turnover that undermines school stability, drives away talented teachers, and ultimately hurts students. Strong school leadership isn’t a luxury—it’s the foundation for academic success and community vitality.

Enter the Regional Office of Education (ROE) Lead Hubs, which use real-time data from the Shortage Report to guide targeted, local interventions funded by state and federal grants, particularly the Rural Leader Program and the Learning While Leading Program.

In a true Grow Your Own approach, the Lead Hub Rural Leader Program, a state-funded program coordinated by ROE #21 in Southern Illinois, provides tuition support to 25 teachers from hard-to-staff rural districts, enabling them to earn principal licensure and lead the schools they already serve. These educators weren’t just chosen—they were identified by their communities as leaders, but without a principal license, they would otherwise not be qualified to serve.

Through federal funding to ROE #17, located in Central Illinois, the Learning While Leading (LWL) program is identifying and developing educators who already have their principal license but not working in a leadership position to step into leadership roles in under-resourced districts. Using data from the statewide Shortage Report, ROE #17 staff pinpointed ZIP codes associated with districts reporting leadership gaps and focused recruitment efforts accordingly. The goal? To grow and support school leaders who already understand the local context—and are committed to improving outcomes for students in their communities.

But the Learning While Leading program goes beyond recruitment. The program arms aspiring principals with evidence-based strategies to drive continuous school improvement, with a strong emphasis on core skills like reading, writing, and math. Participants in the program don’t just learn theory—they lead real projects to make measurable changes in their schools.

For instance, in one school participating in Learning While Leading, teachers discovered that more than half of their students scored below average in language and writing on the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) test. In response, they developed a targeted writing mechanics rubric and implemented a common assessment. By December 2023, 81% of students showed proficiency in dictation, and 73% improved in written expression.

In another Learning While Leading participating school, the staff identified major deficits among incoming 7th graders in Operations & Algebraic Thinking and Real & Complex Number Systems. Teachers responded with tailored workshops and daily work aligned with students' MAP Math scores. Their goal: to reduce the number of students scoring in the bottom 20th percentile by 10%—a clear, measurable step toward long-term achievement.

These are just snapshots of what happens when we invest in school leadership at the local level.  Lead Hub programs aren’t just about filling vacancies; they’re about building sustainable leadership pipelines and giving educators the tools—and the confidence—to lead meaningful change. When principals are supported, they stay—and so do their teachers. When principals work hand-in-hand with teachers to drive school improvement, the results are powerful as demonstrated in the examples.

The ROE Lead Hubs would not have been able to reach the targeted districts and schools they serve without the Educator Shortage Report data. The Educator Shortage Report doesn’t just stop at analysis—it drives action. It informs state-level policy, guides resource allocation, and ensures the lived experiences of school leaders are heard in Springfield. It’s this kind of alignment—between data, practice, and policy—that will truly move the needle.

Every school, in every zip code, deserves strong, visionary leadership. Every child deserves the chance to thrive. Through the ROE Lead Hubs, the tools are here. What we need now is the will to scale and sustain these solutions. Great school leaders shouldn’t be rare—they should be the rule in every community.

Dr. Erika Hunt of Bloomington is the co-director of Lead Hub at ROE #17. Dr. Lisa Hood of Bloomington is the director of research & evaluation of Lead Hub at ROE #17.