Leading Assessment: The Triple-A Framework for Educational Leaders

Abstract

At a time when accountability for student performance continues to be a central theme in education reform policy, literacy in student assessment is considered key, if not indispensable for successful educational leaders at every administrative level. Drawing from a wide range of studies published in the last decade on the links between student assessment and educational leadership, three overarching themes are demonstrated to provide a framework for understanding assessment literacy for educational leaders. The ‘Triple-A Model’ proposes three intersecting points to reflect the complex construction of assessment: aims, approach, and accountability. First, today’s leader understands that the aim of educational assessment is no longer straightforward but encompasses a wide variety of purposes that are often confused and poorly understood. Second, an intentional, knowledgeable, and visionary approach to leadership is shown to be a key factor in the quality of instruction that occurs in classrooms. Third, accountability is not only a means for communication between schools and the public, but the result of increasing demands by society and its governments to know and understand what actually happens with students in classrooms.