Mamdani Wants to Empower Educators. Preparing Great Principals Is How It Happens

This is an opinion essay by Maryann Li, CEO of Ascend Charter Schools in Brooklyn. She argues that New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's early priorities, which she describes as involving educators in decisions and investing in recruiting and keeping them, should be paired with better preparation of school principals. In her view, many strong teachers move into leadership without enough practice in leading adults, which she says contributes to frustration, turnover and instability.

Li describes how Ascend trains its leaders. She says new educators receive more than 200 hours of instruction this year built around a shared approach to teaching. Aspiring principals join a principal-in-residence program with weekly coaching from former principals, and promotion decisions weigh readiness rather than only years of experience. She reports that 81% of Ascend's school leaders were promoted from within. She also cites an external staff survey in which the network's leadership score rose from the 28th percentile in spring 2025 to the 77th a year later, and state data showing student math proficiency rising from 59.3% in 2023-24 to 80.3% in 2025-26. She acknowledges that the data do not prove leadership training caused these gains.

Li proposes that the city consider a two-year principal residency with structured practice, coaching and a common curriculum. She says the current route from assistant principal to principal is mainly a credentialing step. The essay does not report any city decision on the idea.