Internal and External Accountability: Building Evidence-Informed Leadership Capacity at All System Levels

Abstract

This chapter considers leadership standards at the district and school levels in relationship to advantageous systemic data analytic structures and processes facilitated by a provincial department of education. Evidence-informed decision-making is explicated within a multifaceted, adaptive leadership framework that is evolving in the province of Alberta, Canada. Among the key foundational aspects of this leadership framework are: (1) attaining a comprehensive approach to student assessment; (2) monitoring and understanding students' progress controlling for various educational, cultural and social settings and conditions; (3) supporting deeper analysis of at-risk students' achievement; and (4) encouraging evidence-informed leadership, programming and decision-making at school, district and province/state levels. We consider some of the challenges and benefits of building system-wide and local leadership structures grounded in holistic and systematically collected empirical, data-based evidence.