Department of Education secretary Mark Scott said increasing support for principals and reducing their administrative burden were identified as issues facing school leaders across NSW and the forum, which was one of 12, was an opportunity to open discussions.

"We are trying to get in front of 2000 principals in NSW in May," Mr Scott said.

Mr Scott said the forum was important in addressing the issues to prevent burn-out among principals and to ensure regional schools such as those in Orange could attract and keep the best staff they could find.

He said results from the NAPLAN and HSC as well as class attendance and staff surveys were looked at when assessing schools.

Among the examples of improvement discussed at the forum was Bletchington Public School.

The school's principal Craig Booth said student literacy and numeracy has improved with year three and five students achieving above the state average in NAPLAN.

He said there were several factors for the positive transformation but one of key reasons was increased teacher training.