Need for the VAL-ED?
Virtually every school district in the country (N = 14,000 school districts and over 90,000 schools) requires some form of evaluation of its principals or leadership teams. Many states and some large school districts have developed their own leadership assessment tools, but our analysis of 79 of these assessments indicates that few have a conceptual framework based on how leaders improve student learning, nor have they been validated for their intended uses. Thus, we believe there is no current high quality competition for the VAL-ED.

Assessment Development and Design
VAL-Ed is designed, developed and tested to be both reliable (i.e., provide accurate measurement) and valid (i.e., measure leadership behaviors that lead to improved student achievement). The instrument is constructed to have the following eight features:
1. Work well in a variety of settings and circumstances
2. Be construct valid
3. Be reliable
4. Be unbiased
5. Provide accurate and useful reporting of results
6. Yield diagnostic profiles for formative purposes
7. Be used to measure progress over time in the development of leadership
8. Predict important outcomes.

To accomplish these goals, we are following a multi-stage development process that involves cognitive labs, pilot tests, and field tests. At each stage of the design and develop process, the properties of the instrument are being investigated through empirical study and expert review. The process is guided by the American Educational Research Association's 1999 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing.