Expectations for what constitutes principal effectiveness are extensive, making the process of assessing principals complicated. Ideally, principal evaluations should provide information about the most important aspects of principal performance:

  • What principals do
  • How they do it
  • The impact they have on their schools, teaching, and student learning

Collecting and using multiple forms of data to capture the scope and complexity of new expectations is considered a key component of principal evaluation.

This brief, co-authored by Karen Kearney formerly of the Leadership Initiative at WestEd, demystifies the concept of using multiple forms of data in principal evaluation systems and provides examples of those who have done so successfully.