0.4 4. designing performance assessments: a guide for faculty; gary

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.