For almost 150 years Union Pacific Corporation has been helping to build a strong America. Developing solid partnerships in the communities where it operates — both in the business-to-business and public-private sectors — has been an important factor in growing the company's long-term strength and success.

As part of its mission to continue to be a vibrant enterprise financially and philanthropically well into its next 150 years, Union Pacific sought to create a partnership that would identify and support a critical need in the American school system, while helping to develop the needs of its future workforce. The effort had to be sustainable and make a significant difference. The Principals' Partnership was the result.

This business/education partnership, which is fully underwritten by the Union Pacific Foundation and was launched in 2002, reflects the company's belief that strong leaders can build strong schools. It recognizes that this is a demanding time for America's high schools and that its principals are under intense pressure to educate young people for the fast-changing world of the 21st century. It also acknowledges that it is the high school principal who nurtures and sustains the culture of learning within a school community: when he or she succeeds, every teacher and student in the school benefits.

Therefore, The Principals' Partnership focuses on helping principals lead change. Its mission is to enable principals to see afresh how they can improve their schools and to assist them in doing so. The Partnership's compass is the 1996 seminal report Breaking Ranks: Changing an American Institution, a report of the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) on the high school of the 21st century, along with the recently released Breaking Ranks II: Strategies for Leading High School Reform, NASSP's hands-on guidebook for principals and high school leadership teams.

Because each high school is unique and each principal confronts a particular set of challenges, The Partnership invites its principals to customize the program to fit their particular needs. Working with a personal consulting team, principals set a personalized goal or select an area for study. Supported by The Partnership, they receive the information, training and networking needed to succeed, and the result is a partnership that stays focused on the challenges faced by each individual principal.

Professional development opportunities, including the Summer Leadership Institute, are offered throughout the year. The Partnership maintains an award-winning public Web site (www.principalspartnership.com) featuring research briefs and case studies useful to all educators.

The Partnership's reach is more than 1,000 principals in 21 states west of the Mississippi River in selected Union Pacific communities. Currently, The Partnership is working with 200 principals in each of the five regions in 21 states:

• Region 1 (2002 launch): Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin
• Region 2 (2003 launch): Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming
• Region 3 (2004 launch): Arizona, New Mexico, Texas
• Region 4 (2005 launch): California, Nevada
• Region 5 (2006 launch): Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma

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