As the federal role in education continuously evolves, accountability pressures for performance extend from classrooms to principals' offices. This newer form of accountability is changing the landscape of how school leaders are prepared, and ultimately, how they are evaluated. For some time, the onus of student achievement has been placed on teachers and students. A new era of accountability has ushered in an increased federal role in public education that stretches to the principals' office and even farther into the way in which principals are prepared. To that end, the articles presented in this issue reflected nuances in how state policy adoption responds to federal policies involving principal preparation and principal evaluation. The principal, coming in only second to the teacher, influences student learning (e.g., Anderson & Reynolds, 2015; Leithwood, Day, Sammons, Harris, & Hopkins, 2006; Leithwood & Jantzi, 1999). Moreover, the principal's impact on student learning comes indirectly from establishing a culture in which teaching and learning takes place. Therefore, recent federal education policy debates, specifically Race to the Top (RT3) and Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization, have focused on principal preparation as well as principal evaluation. Articles presented in this issue provide comprehensive research on the current state of policy development in principal preparation and principal evaluation. This special closing article touches upon some of the themes that resonated in this issue such as principal preparation standards, practices, and policy development and repurposing principal evaluation.