A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

The Role of Leadership in Sustaining School Reform: Voices From the Field - July 1996

Tailor-made Rubrics

One way to focus data collection and calibrate measurements of progress is to create a rubric. Participants from Kentucky generated a rubric targeting the specific leadership dimensions demanded to implement the provisions of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). The rubric, which runs to about 19 pages in table form, details particular behaviors that define levels of competence, from the novice rating of 1 to the distinguished rating of 4, in 12 areas of leadership: assessment, curriculum, instruction, school transformation plans, parent involvement, community engagement, high school restructuring, technology, site-based decision making, primary grade programs, personnel evaluation, and budget. Table 1 lists the behaviors that characterize levels of competence in two aspects of developing a school transformation plan: "vision" and "communication."

Because Kentucky has a high-stakes assessment system and a strong, statewide reform mandate, educators have been systematically aligning activities and accountability structures to promote coherent planning and reporting. This rubric for leadership will be one of the tools available to principals who want to structure their self-assessment to match the demands of reform. In addition, the state's team of "distinguished educators"--expert practitioners employed to support reform efforts--can use rubrics as coaching tools in their professional development programs for leaders in schools that fail to meet expected achievement goals. (A more extended excerpt from the Kentucky rubric can be found in an appendix.)

Table 1: Segment of the Kentucky Leadership Rubric
Rating Vision Communication
4
  • Sees that a shared vision drives the curriculum through the plan.
  • Aligns school vision/mission with that of the district
  • Ensures that all audiences are targeted
  • Seeks out opportunities to communicate to all audiences
3
  • Sees that the school transformation plan is based on a shared vision
  • Ensures that most audiences are targeted
  • Willing to articulate plan upon request
2
  • Sees that a vision/mission is developed
  • Sees that limited audiences are targeted
  • Willing to articulate plan in limited settings
1
  • Does not ensure the development of a vision/mission
  • Not concerned with targeting audiences
  • Not willing to articulate plan


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