Few dispute that school principals should take an active role in the hiring, evaluation and development of the teachers at their schools. The question is how. Drawing upon lessons learned in the private sector, a new paper from the SMHC (Strategic Management of Human Capital) project provides some tips. Some we thought were particularly compelling:

• Develop consistency across schools in how principals evaluate teachers by having principals meet once a year to compare their teacher ratings. Capital One Bank and Intel use "cross calibration" meetings during which managers discuss their ratings and the reasons behind them.

• Hold principals accountable for positive treatment of teachers and solving working condition problems by means of teacher surveys and two-way evaluations. At GE's financial services operation, for example, employees formally raise concerns about working conditions and managers are expected to address them.

Other ideas are more familiar but the private sector twist is interesting:

• Use teachers at a school to interview prospective teachers. Companies like Amazon and Whole Foods find lots of benefits in this practice, one of them being that it helps current employees have a stake in the success of new employees.