Realigning Evaluation Outcomes in the Preparation of School Administrators

A globally shared perception is that educational reform contributes to better societies. The role of the school administrator is increasingly cited as the key factor in such improvements. This role, however, is shifting from one that was solitary and authoritative to one that is collaborative and consensus oriented. In recognition of this transition, professional preparation programs in higher education are redesigning existing leadership programs or creating new ones. This results in a need to evaluate the effectiveness of such redesign in terms of both individual and institutional outcomes. This article shares how the evaluation process in one administration preparation program evolved over two decades in order to achieve better alignment between individual and institutional expectations and local and national accountability measures.