0.4 4. designing performance assessments: a guide for faculty; gary  (Page 11/12)

Program development is the final phase in the high quality assessment process. Among other things, this involves a close examination of achievement results to see if there might be evidence of unintended bias related to how the assessment was designed and written. Analysis of student outcomes and interpretation of the patterns of performance that emerge engage faculty in dialogue about the interrelationships among curriculum, instruction and assessment. These conversations inform the re-design phase as the next cycle of high quality assessment begins.

Conclusion

This chapter described high quality assessment practices associated with the design of performance assessments based on standards for Educational Leadership. Based on our experience at EMU, the process is involved and time-consuming but we have found that the payoff regarding program development is worth it in the end.

Some professors of educational leadership will engage in this work because they value performance assessment and believe it is the right thing to do. Others will do it because it is mandated by accreditation agencies or institutional policy. Regardless of the motivation for one’s engagement, we firmly believe the work should be of high quality. This overview of one strategy for designing performance assessment is an attempt to point us in that direction.

References

Council of Chief State School Officers. (2008). Educational leadership policy standards: ISLLC 2008 . Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved May 23, 2008, from (External Link)

Sanders, N. M.,&Kearney, K. M. (Eds.). (2008). Performance expectations and indicators for education leaders: An ISLLC-based guide to implementing leader standards and a companion guide to the educational leadership policy standards: ISLLC 2008 . Washington, DC: State Consortium on Education Leadership, Council of Chief State School Officers. Retrieved June 9, 2008, from (External Link)

Squires, D. A. (2005). Aligning and balancing the standards based curriculum . Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Appendix

Performance Expectation 2: Teaching and Learning

Education leaders ensure achievement and success of all students by monitoring and continuously improving teaching and learning.

Dispositions exemplified in Expectation 2:

Education leaders believe in, value, and are committed to

• Learning as the fundamental purpose of school
• Diversity as an asset
• Continuous professional growth and development
• Livelong learning
• Collaboration with all stakeholders
• High expectations for all
• Student learning

Narrative

A strong, positive, professional culture fosters learning by all educators and students. In a strong professional culture, leaders share and distribute responsibilities to provide quality, effectiveness, and coherence across all components of the instructional system (such as curriculum, instructional materials, pedagogy, and student assessment). Leaders are responsible for a professional culture in which learning opportunities are targeted to the vision and goals and differentiated appropriately to meet the needs of every student. Leaders need knowledge, skills, and beliefs that provide equitable differentiation of instruction and curriculum materials to be effective with a range of student characteristics, needs, and achievement.