The goal of this paper is to provide policymakers with recommendations for the design and implementation of strong principal development and evaluation systems. States and local school systems that pursue these ideas can use principal evaluation to drive a powerful vision of principal effectiveness and, by consequence, improve outcomes for all students.
(2010). Evaluating Principals: Balancing Accountability with Professional Growth. New Leaders for New Schools.
Overview New Leaders has recently published a new principal evaluation model. It includes seven modules: (1) Overview of the New Leaders Principal Evaluation Model, (2) The Principal Evaluation Rubric, (3) Setting a Principal Practice Goal + Strategic Planning, (4) Identifying Evidence, (5) Direct Observation of Principal Practice, (6) Collecting and Mapping Evidence to the Principal Practice Rubric, and (7) Providing Actionable Feedback.
(2012). Putting Principal Evaluation into Practice. New Leaders
Overview New Leaders has recently published a new principal evaluation model. It includes seven modules: (1) Overview of the New Leaders Principal Evaluation Model, (2) The Principal Evaluation Rubric, (3) Setting a Principal Practice Goal + Strategic Planning, (4) Identifying Evidence, (5) Direct Observation of Principal Practice, (6) Collecting and Mapping Evidence to the Principal Practice Rubric, and (7) Providing Actionable Feedback.
(2012). Putting Principal Evaluation into Practice. New Leaders
This study investigates factors that influence leaders’ reactions to 360° feedback and the relationship of feedback reactions to subsequent development activities and changes in behavior.
Atwater, L. E., & Brett, J. F. (2005). Antecedents and consequences of reactions to developmental 360 feedback. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 66(3), 532-548.
This study examines 360° feedback ratings and reactions to feedback, perceptions of feedback accuracy, perceived usefulness of the feedback, and recipients' receptivity to development.
Brett, J. F., & Atwater, L. E. (2001). 360° feedback: Accuracy, reactions, and perceptions of usefulness. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(5), 930.
This article examines the effectiveness and related issues of current methods of principal evaluation of teachers.
Burns M. (2011). Do Principals Know Good Teaching When They See It?. Educational policy, 19(1), 155-180.
This paper examines how to measure teacher performance and the practices necessary for increasing teacher trust in systems designed to effectively measure performance.
Cantrell, S., & Scantlebury, J. (2011). Effective Teaching: What Is It and How Is It Measured?. Effective Teaching as a Civil Right, 28.
This report consists of two parts: a survey of 67 public school systems district staff serving as principal supervisors and on-site analysis of six districts pre-service training and support systems for new principals.
Corcoran, A., et al. (2013). Rethinking Leadership: The Changing Role of Principal Supervisors. The Wallace Foundation.
One flashpoint in the incendiary debate over standardized testing in American public
schools is the area of test preparation. The focus of this chapter is test preparation in achievement testing and it's purportedly harmful effects on students and teachers.
Crocker, L. (2005). Teaching for the test: How and why test preparation is appropriate. Defending standardized testing, 159-174.
This report describes how Denver Public Schools hired people to coach and evaluate its principals.
DeVita, M., Colvin, R., Darling-Hammond, L., Haycock, K. (2007). Education Leadership: A Bridge to School Reform. The Wallace Foundation.
A prominent philosophical influence in school consultation research proposes that to effectively serve children, school psychologists must work primarily and paradoxically on changing the behavior of adults. Although the consultation literature base has traditionally conceptualized this role within a dyadic model emphasizing the consultant-consultee relationship, much of school consultation today occurs in the context of teams rather than dyads.
Dowd-Eagle, S., & Eagle, J. (2014). Team-based school consultation. In Handbook of research in school consultation (pp. 464-486). Routledge.
This book shows how principals and other school leaders can develop the skills necessary for teachers to deliver high quality instruction by introducing principals to a five-part model of effective instruction.
Fink, S., & Markholt, A. (2011). Leading for instructional improvement: How successful leaders develop teaching and learning expertise. John Wiley & Sons.
This report describes how Denver Public Schools hired personnel to coach and evaluate its principals.
Gill, J., (2013). Make Room for the Principal Supervisors. The Wallace Foundation.
This study present results of a comprehensive review of principal leadership assessment practices in the United States. Using the learning-centered leadership framework, it focused on identifying the congruence (or lack thereof) between documented assessment practices and the research-based criteria for effective leadership that are associated with improved school performance.
Goldring, E., Cravens, X. C., Murphy, J., Porter, A. C., Elliott, S. N., & Carson, B. (2009). The evaluation of principals: What and how do states and urban districts assess leadership?. The Elementary School Journal, 110(1), 19-39
With support from The Wallace Foundation, a Vanderbilt University team is developing a tool to monitor and assess the performance of school leaders. The Vanderbilt assessment will differ from existing tools by focusing 100 percent on instructional leadership and examining both principals and leadership teams. The paper, with two companion reports, presents the research behind and conceptual framework for the tool.
Goldring, E., Porter, A., Murphy, J., Elliott, S. N., & Cravens, X. (2009). Assessing learning-centered leadership: Connections to research, professional standards, and current practices. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 8(1), 1-36.
In this issue you will find both a brief introduction to the new Empirically Supported Interventions Section and the first of a two-part substantive discussion of vital issues pertaining to this topic. A companion piece further extending this analysis will follow shortly in a subsequent issue.
Gutkin, T. B. (2000). Empirically supported interventions: Initiating a new standing section in School Psychology Quarterly. School Psychology Quarterly, 15(1), 1.
This article discusses the current focus on using teacher observation instruments as part of new teacher evaluation systems being considered and implemented by states and districts.
Hill, H., & Grossman, P. (2013). Learning from teacher observations: Challenges and opportunities posed by new teacher evaluation systems. Harvard Educational Review, 83(2), 371-384.
This meta-analysis synthesizes research on gains in critical thinking skills and attitudinal dispositions over various time frames in college.
Huber, C. R., & Kuncel, N. R. (2016). Does college teach critical thinking? A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 86(2), 431-468.
This paper examines how well principals can distinguish between more and less effective teachers. To put principal evaluations in context, we compare them with the traditional determinants of teacher compensation-education and experience-as well as value-added measures of teacher effectiveness.
Jacob, B. A., & Lefgren, L. (2008). Can principals identify effective teachers? Evidence on subjective performance evaluation in education. Journal of Labor Economics, 26(1), 101-136.
New Leaders has recently published a new principal evaluation model. It includes seven modules: (1) Overview of the New Leaders Principal Evaluation Model, (2) The Principal Evaluation Rubric, (3) Setting a Principal Practice Goal + Strategic Planning, (4) Identifying Evidence, (5) Direct Observation of Principal Practice, (6) Collecting and Mapping Evidence to the Principal Practice Rubric, and (7) Providing Actionable Feedback.
Leaders, N. (2012). New leaders principal evaluation handbook. New York: Author.
This paper focuses on two questions: (a) What patterns in certification currently exist across the states? and (b) What might these current patterns indicate for the future of school principal certification?
LeTendre, B. G., & Roberts, B. (2005). A National view of certification of school principals: Current and future trends. In University Council for Educational Administration, Convention, Nashville, TN. Retrieved October (Vol. 15, p. 2007).
The New Teacher Center has released guidelines and standards for the implementation of coaching as a powerful means of improving school, teacher, and ultimately student performance. The Instructional Coaching Program Standardsdefine the essential elements of a coaching program designed to accelerate teacher effectiveness.
New Teacher Center (2018). Instructional Coaching Program and Practice Standards. New Teacher Center. https://newteachercenter.org
This book presents information and tools necessary to successfully evaluate all types of educational leaders and improve both individual and organizational performance.
Reeves, D. B. (Ed.). (2008). Assessing educational leaders: Evaluating performance for improved individual and organizational results. SAGE.
This article examines the outcomes that organizations can expect from using 360 evaluation systems and provides recommendations for implementing these feedback methods to better ensure improvements will be realized.
Waldman, D. A., Atwater, L. E., & Antonioni, D. (1998). Has 360 degree feedback gone amok?. The Academy of Management Executive, 12(2), 86-94.
This report represents the first systematic comparison of student outcomes in schools led by the Aspiring Principals Program (APP) graduates after three years to those in comparable schools led by other new principals.
Weinstein, M., Schwartz, A. E., & Corcoran, S. P. (2009). The New York City Aspiring Principals Program: A School-Level Evaluation. NYU Wagner Research Paper, (2011-07).