Assessing the Effectiveness of School Leaders

Administrators have a tremendous impact on the teaching and learning that occurs in their schools. Last month, the Wallace Foundation released a document that highlighted the need for instructional leaders to receive feedback that could be used to promote their effectiveness. The document was based on work the foundation had funded related to assessing school leader effectiveness. Central to the work was the need for feedback to be a part of a process as opposed to a point in time measure. Often administrators receive summative feedback (e.g., evaluation), but not much formative feedback which could be used to promote growth and expand expertise. A combination of the two forms of feedback is desirable.


The key question asked was, “How can we expect school leaders to improve their performance throughout their careers and meet the mounting challenges of their jobs if we aren’t gathering, and acting on, the right information about the effectiveness of their behaviors and actions as leaders of learning?” (p.2-3). Consideration of the question is especially relevant given a study cited in the article that nearly half of assessment instruments did not offer clear feedback on areas which teaching and learning could be better supported by leadership. Further links between evaluation, professional development, and mentoring are tenuous. In short the response offered in article to the question that began this paragraph is to:

1. Connect standards (e.g., state, ISLLC) to the evaluation


2. Align professional development opportunities and mentoring to identified needs for instructional leader growth


3. Identify and focus on behaviors that improve teaching and learning


4. Recognize that effective leaders build capacity and share authority to promote professional learning communities


5. Use valid (i.e., appropriate) and reliable (i.e., consistent) tools


6. Have the assessment be flexible so it is useful for leaders in various contexts and stages of their careers


7. Provide training to evaluators


8. Examine strong models of assessment tools such as the Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education (VAL-ED) tool which uses norm-referenced scores to support the evaluator in identifying areas for administrators (based on comparison to a logical group – new to the position leader) to improve (formative focus) as well as criterion-referenced scores to enable comparisons with peer colleagues (summative focus)

Number 3 above references identifying leadership behaviors that support teaching and learning. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of leadership studies. For a well-organized "primer" on qualities of effective principals, check out James Stronge, Holly Richard, and Nancy Catano's book on the topic. A sample chapter entitled Instructional Leadership: Supporting Best Practice is available free as a preview online from ASCD.