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There is growing recognition of the importance of educator diversity. The purpose of this paper is to examine the production, placement and employment of school leaders as assistant principals, principals and school leaders in Texas by the intersection of race/ethnicity and gender over 23 years.

This is a quantitative study that employs multilevel logistic regression analysis to examine using 25 years of educator employment data from Texas.

The authors find descriptive evidence of an increase in diversity of school leaders driven by a decreasing percentage of white men educators and an increasing percentage of Latina educators. Important differences, however, emerge when examining assistant principal vs principal positions, particularly with respect to the odds of being hired. The authors find black male and Latino educators are more likely than white male educators to be hired as an assistant principal but are less likely than white male educators to be hired as a principal. Women educators, regardless of race/ethnicity were less likely to be hired as assistant principals or principals relative to white male educators. Women of color had the lowest odds of being hired in any position relative to white male educators. With respect to school leader preparation program accountability, the authors find few program characteristics associated with placement and differences between programs explained very little of the variation in placement rates, bringing into question efforts to hold programs accountable for such outcomes.

A longitudinal examination of racial/ethnic and gender intersectionality over 25 years is a unique contribution to the study of inequitable access to school leadership positions.

This paper explores the school leadership career outcomes, timing and educator evaluation of those who complete the Massachusetts Performance Assessment for Leaders (PAL) in comparison with others who did not. It also compares outcomes for those with different PAL score completion requirements.

Using PAL assessment results and state employment data for years 2015 through 2019, the authors examined trends and timing in PAL completers' career advancement into an initial school leader position (assistant principal or principal), by assessment cohort (based on assessment year and passing (cut) score requirements) and with who never had to complete the assessment for licensure (non-PAL completers). Using regression analysis, the authors evaluated potential race/ethnicity and gender differences in advancement. Using chi-square tests of association, the authors compared non-PAL and PAL completers on their demographic attributes and on retention and promotion from assistant principal and on their educator evaluation scores. The authors also examined differences in advancement based on the cut score requirements and preparation pathways.

PAL completers made steady career advances over time and at faster rates than non-PAL completers. Further, PAL completers subject to higher cut score requirements advanced more quickly than those with lower or no score requirements. PAL completers' gender and race/ethnicity seemed to matter less in career advancement than was found in other studies. In 2019, almost half who advanced were employed in the same districts as they had been in 2014 and were more likely to be new leaders in urban districts. When compared with other career-related measures, PAL completers outperformed non-PAL completers who first became school leaders since 2014: they were more likely to be rated as exemplary on educator evaluation and more likely to be retained or promoted after two years in their first school leader position.

Until now little research has existed on the career effects of licensure assessments. Because it requires candidates to demonstrate proficiency in core areas of school leadership work, the PAL assessment appears to be a superior means of screening initial school leaders (based on rate of hiring) and of signaling future performance (based on subsequent educator evaluation ratings) than other assessment forms (such as the School Leader Licensure Assessment [SLLA] exam).

The purpose of this paper is to compare two years of results for one state’s performance-based assessments for principal licensure Performance Assessment for Leaders (PAL). This includes the field trial (2014–2015) and first year of statewide implementation (2015–2016) when passing score requirements and fees were added. Survey results on candidates’ career aspirations provide concurrent validation.

Two years of PAL submissions (n=569 candidates) were scored by trained, certified scorers. Task and total score results were compared by year, preparation pathway and gender. Online feedback survey results on career aspirations for (n=146 candidates) were compared by year.

The results show that PAL assessments measure independent dimensions of leadership, differentiate candidates on leadership knowledge and skills, and confirm PAL’s internal validity. Implementation year scores were higher than field trial scores, and preparation program candidates scored better than non-program candidates did. Candidate career aspirations were stronger in the implementation year than during the field trial.

The study is limited to one state’s candidates, but findings are generalizable based on the wide range among candidates’ districts (demographically and economically).

The results are promising for the leadership preparation and assessment field, demonstrating the effectiveness of performance assessment for authentic evaluation of leadership candidates’ knowledge and skill and overall readiness for initial leadership work.

This is the first large scale performance assessment for aspiring leaders designed for state licensure decisions. It is being replicated in another state and shown promise for both formative and summative leadership assessment.

This chapter analyzes 2011 survey data from a sample of Texas principals who were asked about their perceptions of their working conditions such as: support and facilities; salary; resources; autonomy to make decisions; testing and accountability pressures; and relationships with supervisors. Respondents were also asked about their intentions to stay or leave their particular school. Researchers and policymakers agree effective and stable school leadership is critical to school improvement efforts, but we know little about how various working conditions impact principal effectiveness and turnover. This work is important because in-depth knowledge of the causes of principal turnover in general and how principal working conditions impact turnover in particular is a pre-requisite to creating policies and support mechanisms to support principals in small and mid-sized districts.

National basic education curriculum in Mexico emphasizes the need for the construction of a positive national identity. The purpose of this paper is to describe the perceptions, expectations and views of pre‐service Mexican teachers about Mexico as a country.

Participants were 193 in‐training teachers in the last semester of study from the four normal schools (3 public, 1 private, Catholic) in the state of Yucatan who participated voluntarily in the study. From these, 44 (23 per cent) were men and 149 (77 per cent) were women, with a modal age of 21 years old.

Opinions extracted from a paper and pencil survey administered to 193 pre‐service teachers from Yucatan showed that the new teacher training curriculum has succeeded in creating a sense of nationalism and promoting feelings of pride and positive national identity, with the construct of Mexico as a motherland.

This research suggests training must include activities in community service projects that effectively teach the value of actual work and involvement in the community: all this beyond existing sublime feelings of belonging. Teacher candidates seem to have an increased drive to participate in social and community projects, despite the fact it is not currently formally fostered in the national teacher training curriculum. Further research in these important aspects of traditional teacher training education is needed to better understand the role of nationalism and the values and tradition of the teaching profession in Mexico.

The study found a lack of criticism and reflection about the disadvantages and limitations of a unique orientation to the countries' symbols and rituals. Do teachers need to be a mere reproductive force of values and identities? Or, should teachers be expected to be reflective, critical and aware of the risks and dangers of blind loyalty to the country's policies and government dictates? Teacher training national guidelines should be revised and perhaps an effort to go beyond ideological issues should be considered, posting the concept of performance standards and other forms of accountability whilst in the schools.

The focus of this research is to understand the role of the district superintendent, the building principal, and the school leadership team of classroom teachers as catalysts for innovation in instruction and classroom assessment. School characteristics and structures designed to specifically support professional learning communities are to be analyzed, and the responsibility teachers take for student learning using formative assessment is evaluated.

The setting for the study is a small, Midwestern high school in the USA. The high school has a staff of 38 teachers, 15 of whom are on the Formative Assessment Building Leadership Team. The high school principal and district superintendent also participated in the study. The study took the form of a qualitative case study. The data sources were transcripts and artifacts from eight months of interviews, and building‐wide teacher meetings. Professional development inservices were also analyzed.

The principal served as a catalyst for building teacher knowledge and implementation of formative assessment practices. The success of the change initiative hinged on relationships between teachers and school leaders. Teachers used assessment in the service of student learning.

Because this is a case study, the findings themselves are not designed to be generalizable to other contexts.

Understanding the role school leadership will play in the implementation of a new State‐wide policy initiative for curriculum improvement is critical to uncovering the capacity required for formative assessment to be successfully implemented on a large scale.

There has been research in the field of educational measurement in the past few years on the use of formative assessments to raise standards of achievement and to lead to higher quality learning. This is an analysis of the complex dynamic between school leaders and teachers in the service of implementing assessment for learning.

The implementation of formative assessment on a large scale is a concern not only in the State in this research study, but in schools around the country. An exploration of the leadership capacity needed to originate and sustain this school improvement initiative is novel to the field.