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This chapter outlines a strategy developed by the Educational Leadership faculty at Eastern Michigan University (EMU) for designing performance assessments based on standards for Educational Leadership. The strategy is not intended to suggest a model of best practice. Rather, it is presented as one example of how this work might be done and was written to assist faculty at other institutions confronted with the challenges of developing performance assessments for Educational Leadership curriculum.
This module has been peer-reviewed, accepted, and sanctioned by the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA) as a significant contribution to the scholarship and practice of education administration. In addition to publication in the Connexions Content Commons, this module is published in the International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, Volume 4, Number 4 (October – December 2009). Formatted and edited in Connexions by Theodore Creighton, Virginia Tech.

Introduction

Standards and curriculum are related but they are not the same. The written curriculum for a program describes what is most important to teach and provides specific guidance about the scope and sequence of instruction (Squires, 2005). The basic structure for curriculum in school administrative preparation programs typically consists of a required series of courses organized around a conceptual framework or a set of functional responsibilities associated with the role of principal or superintendent. The theoretical frame or functions guide the distribution of content across the required courses to ensure that students encounter what they need to know and be able to do as they progress through their program of study. The original organizing principles for a program curriculum may be tacit or explicit and determine the scope and sequence of instruction.

Standards specify desired program outcomes but they do not indicate how the standards should be met; the means to outcome achievement is the realm of curriculum. Standards-based reform can be thought of as an attempt to standardize the structural framework used to organize the curriculum, thus influencing the quality of instruction and ultimately improving the quality of practicing school administrators. The goal of standards-based assessment at the program level is to collect data about the performance of participants in the program in relation to the expectations, analyze the results, and use that information for purposes of program development.

University program accreditation agencies such as the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and many state program approval processes currently utilize a standards-based methodology. This chapter provides guidance for faculty who must respond to the mandated use of performance assessments by accreditation and state program approval agents to document that graduates from their Educational Leadership programs have met some set of standards.

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Source:  OpenStax, Performance assessment in educational leadership programs; james berry and ronald williamson, editors. OpenStax CNX. Sep 26, 2009 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11122/1.1
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