Founded in 2008, the Rainwater Leadership Alliance (RLA) is an action tank. Participating programs include school districts, universities, foundations, and nonprofits dedicated to amplifying the importance of quality school leadership as the critical enabler of academic growth and performance for children. They lead, manage, and support high-impact principal preparation and development programs (urban, rural, and suburban) operating in many regions of the country.

The RLA exists to share data, provide exemplars, and promote and scale effective methods to develop and support PK–12 school leaders. The RLA members represent not just one model, but several different approaches to high-quality principal preparation and development. They have various configurations and contexts of work environments, which influence how they structure their programs. What makes these school leader preparation programs unique is that they are committed to tracking data on their graduates and continually improving their models to ensure that every graduate is driving dramatic student achievement in schools, especially in low-income communities. The selected RLA members that are highlighted in some detail throughout A New Approach are listed in the chart below. Short summaries on their program models can be found in the full report.