In Pilot Schools, principals play a critical and complex role in helping their schools to best utilize autonomy over resources to strengthen teaching and learning. The vignette in this section offers an in-depth focus on one principal’s practice and illustrates the challenges and opportunities of leadership in a Pilot School. It underscores the collaborative nature of leadership in a Pilot School, where a principal must draw upon the voices and skills of staff, parents, community members, and students.
   Pilot Schools define leadership roles differently than they are typically defined in other schools, as illustrated in the vignette focused on Fenway High School. Autonomy creates both possibilities and questions as Pilot Schools have the power to choose how to allocate their resources in the service of teaching and learning. Small size requires teachers to engage in a variety of leadership roles. School-based governance, including governing boards and election-to-work agreements, creates opportunities for students, families, and community members to participate much more actively in the leadership of the school. Les Edinson, principal of the conversion school Fitchburg Arts Academy, explained, “It [Pilot status] gives us a great deal of autonomy. The people who are closest to kids can make decisions that affect the kids.”