Chapter 13: Assessing Leadership Skills And Organizational Conditions For Continuous Improvement: Two Approaches

To achieve continuous improvement in student achievement and well-being within their organizations, school leaders and classroom teachers must acquire, develop, and use new skills to address performance and equity issues. Goldring et al. (2009) have argued, “Principals are more likely to improve student achievement if they have the expertise to engage in key leadership functions and roles related to improving student achievement” (p. 198). Competencies such as problem-framing, inquiry, and data use have implications for not only leaders’ preparation but also for the organizations they lead. As these authors further explain, “To make the connection between leaders’ expertise and practice more explicit, it is necessary to develop valid and reliable ways of conceptualizing and measuring leadership expertise” (p. 198).