Chapter 8: An Exploratory Analysis of Mid-Career Principals’ Assessment Leadership: Practices, Challenges, and Training Needs

While research on principal leadership often focuses on early- and late-career principals, there is relatively limited literature on mid-career principals. This chapter explores the assessment leadership experiences of 31 mid-career public primary and secondary school principals in Barbados. Using a descriptive study, the authors investigate the principals’ assessment competency standards, assessment leadership practices, the challenges they face as assessment leaders, and their assessment training needs. The findings suggest that while the principals indicated competence in using and interpreting assessment results, they identified recognizing illegal assessment practices and developing grading procedures as common areas of weakness. In addition, while the mid-career principals admitted to discussing student assessment practices/ results with their teaching staff, they were less likely to have these types of discussions with other stakeholder groups, including students. Specific areas identified for training for both principals and teachers included the use of a variety of assessment strategies, assistance with the design of assessment tools, and the analysis and interpretation of assessment data. The findings point to the need for modifications to be made to the principal preparation training programs as well as the implementation of a principals’ evaluation system in order to increase accountability and transparency.