Research from the Harvard Business School and RAND corporation has found that principals from the New Leaders program have "outperform[ed] their peers".

New Leaders (formerly "New Leaders for New Schools") was founded in 2000 by a group including Jonathan Schnur, former education policy analyst for President Bill Clinton;[3] Ben Fenton, former management consultant at McKinsey & Co.;[4] Mike Johnston, a former Teach for America corps member; Allison Gaines, a former New York City public school teacher; and Monique Burns, an education-reform advocate specializing in charter schools.

That year the program launched in New York City, Chicago and the Aspire Public Schools charter network in Northern California.

[4] The program later expanded into other areas, including Washington, D.C. late in 2001, Memphis in 2004, and Baltimore in 2005, with continued growth thereafter.

According to the RAND Corporation, the program has measurably raised student achievement and high school graduation rates.

[7] According to its mission statement, New Leaders is a non-profit organization that aims to ensure high academic achievement for students in poverty and students of color by training school leaders to drive improvement in schools with low test scores and high poverty rates.

The organization relies on nominations to help identify potential candidates, who must then complete a multi-step application process, with emphasis on selecting experienced professionals who demonstrate a variety of strengths, including leadership and communication skills and a deep belief that all children are capable of high academic achievement.

[2][19] A report published by New Leaders identified five key factors that it stated appear to be essential in the task of quickly turning around poorly performing public schools.