A Practical Guide to Designing Comprehensive Principal Evaluation Systems: A Tool to Assist in the Development of Principal Evaluation Systems
Author: Clifford, Matthew
Date: 2012-04-00
Type: Guides - Non-Classroom
Subjects: Evaluators,Teacher Evaluation,Administrator Evaluation,Evaluation Methods,Accountability,School Personnel,Instructional Leadership,Fidelity,Reliability,Stakeholders,Administrator Effectiveness,Principals,Improvement Programs,Improvement,Academic Achievement,School District Wealth,Instructional Effectiveness,Teacher Effectiveness,Personnel Selection,Professional Development,Program Implementation,Standards,Strategic Planning,Measures (Individuals),Data

Across the country, states and districts are designing principal evaluation systems as a means of improving leadership, learning, and school performance. Principal evaluation systems hold potential for supporting leaders' learning and sense of accountability for instructional excellence and student performance. Principal evaluation is also an important component of state and district systems of leadership support efforts, especially when newly designed evaluation systems work in conjunction with principal certification, hiring, and professional development systems. This guide is intended to assist states and districts in developing systems of principal evaluation and support. The guide is informed by research on performance evaluation design and lessons learned through the experience of state/district evaluation designers. It is organized in three sections: (1) Research and Policy Context; (2) State Accountability and District Responsibility in Principal Evaluation Systems; and (3) Development and Implementation of Comprehensive Principal Evaluation Systems. The guide discusses the following eight components as critical to states' and districts' success in redesigning principal evaluation: (1) Component 1a: Specifying Evaluation System Goals;  (2) Component 1b: Defining Principal Effectiveness and Establishing Standards; (3) Component 2: Securing and Sustaining Stakeholder Investment and Cultivating a Strategic Communication Plan; (4) Component 3: Selecting Measures; (5) Component 4: Determining the Structure of the Evaluation System; (6) Component 5: Selecting and Training Evaluators; (7) Component 6: Ensuring Data Integrity and Transparency; (8) Component 7: Using Principal Evaluation Results; and (9) Component 8: Evaluating the System. Each subsection includes an overview of the component, practical examples, and guiding questions designed to help stakeholders organize their work, design better evaluation systems, and launch new designs within their state or district. This guide complements "A Practical Guide to Designing Comprehensive Teacher Evaluation" (Goe et al., 2011). This guide should be used as a facilitation tool for conversation among designers, not as a step-by-step approach to redesigning principal evaluation systems. State and district policymakers should address all components of the guide but also should capitalize on local capacity and processes when doing so. Appended are: (1) Glossary of Terms; and (2) Summary of Measures. (Contains 1 figure, 2 tables and 1 footnote.) [For related report, "A Practical Guide to Designing Comprehensive Teacher Evaluation Systems: A Tool to Assist in the Development of Teacher Evaluation Systems," see ED520828.]