Assessment and Evidence-Based Leadership Practice

I have been thinking a lot lately about evidence-based practice. We have been doing research for the Annie E. Casey Foundation on how to apply evidence-based methodologies to our assessment of leadership efforts to more clearly focus on bringing about a change in results (e.g., high student achievement in schools that serve low-income communities and communities of color).

Assessment has a very mixed reputation in the leadership development field, in part because most assessments are not based on evidence of behavior change. Most leadership assessments measure things like knowledge, skills (e.g., know-how), and personal characteristics of the leader, and generally find increases that have been positively associated with the program. While these types of assessments can yield valuable information, they do not produce evidence about which leadership behaviors lead to changes in results.

The Wallace Foundation recently invested in the creation of an evidence-based performance assessment tool for school leaders to be used by states and districts to assess learning-centered leadership behaviors that are related to increases in student achievement. The Foundation partnered with Vanderbilt University to develop an evidence-based leadership assessment system. The assessment uses 360-degree feedback from teachers, principals, and supervisors.

The assessment focuses on assessing core components like setting high standards, ensuring a rigorous curriculum, monitoring the quality of instructional practices, creating a culture of learning and professional practice, linking to families and other institutions in the community, and holding leaders accountable for realizing high standards of performance.

In addition to assessing core components, the assessment also looks at key processes for creating those core components. These include planning, implementing, supporting, advocating, communicating and monitoring.

When these behaviors are regularly measured, they begin to improve. The research shows that if these behaviors improve for each of the core components then teaching will improve and students will perform better. Having a state of the art assessment system is a big asset for any field that seeks system level transformation.

The VAL-ED is part of an on-going research program to test the reliability of the assessment to measure what it claims to measure and the validity of the assessment to predictably correlate behavior with improved teacher and student learning. Investing in research to create an evidence base for high quality leadership practice in a field is a critical foundation for setting standards, and creating a culture of accountability.

Care should be taken not to mis-use assessment by holding individual leaders responsible for systems change when the conditions for success are not aligned. Assessments are not context-neutral, nor are they value-free. There will, and should, always be interpretation on what results mean and how upstream conditions influence results. Furthermore, any research program should ensure that reliability and validity exist across diverse contexts if the tool is to be adopted across a field.

Both the field of educational leadership and the field of healthcare leadership are investing in evidence-based leadership assessment linked to results. Other fields are exploring this direction. If you are interested in evidence-based assessment and leadership development, join our discussion at Leadership for a New Era. You’ll also find more resources on VAL-ED.