This research report from the RAND Corporation and the Wallace Foundation identifies levers that states can pull to try to improve the principalship: standards for the job, recruitment, oversight of principal preparation programs, principal licensure, evaluation of principals, professional development, and tracking of longitudinal data about the characteristics and experiences of aspiring and current school leaders. Based on research of seven states and their district partners, the authors also found that states vary greatly in the pathways they have to take a candidate from aspiring school leader to principal and note that these state variations determine which levers to pull and how.