Principal & Assistant Principal Evaluation Rubrics

Developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, the Framework for Leadership (FFL) consists of 20 leadership practices which are organized within four domains:

1. Strategic/Cultural Leadership
2. Systems Leadership
3. Leadership for Learning
4. Professional and Community Leadership

The FFL is widely used in the principal evaluation process throughout the Commonwealth. In addition, other school and district leaders use the FFL for their own leadership evaluations.

Click here to read a reliability study from REL Mid-Atlantic about the FFL.

These leadership standards were adopted into Illinois law in 2014 for principal evaluations.

The Illinois Performance Standards for School Leaders are organized with the following six standards:

1. Living a Mission and Vision Focused on Results
2. Leading and Managing Systems Change
3. Improving Teaching and Learning
4. Building and Maintaining Collaborative Relationships
5. Leading with Integrity and Professionalism
6. Creating and Sustaining a Culture of High Expectations

McREL’s Education Leadership Evaluation Systems, such as the one for principal evaluations, are organized around four framework components:

1. Purposeful Community
2. Managing Change
3. Focus of Leadership
4. Management

Each component contains several elements. These elements are a critical feature of the component that characterizes a behavior to be evaluated. The elements have four levels of professional practice with descriptors for developing, proficient, accomplished and distinguished.

McREL’s Principal Evaluation Rubric is an New York State approved instrument for principal evaluations.

The two-year development process for PSEL was guided by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA). The PSEL development was informed by empirical research, researchers, and educational leaders throughout the United States. For more information on PSEL, click here.

The Thoughtful Classroom Principal Effectiveness Framework (TCPEF) is one of a few approved rubrics by the New York State Education Department (NYSED) for a principal evaluation process. According to the authors of this instrument, TCPEF was developed from three distinct lines of research and evidence:

1. Effective School Leadership
2. Organizational Improvement
3. Wisdom and Experience of School Leaders, Teachers, and Educational Consultants

TCPEF is organized around 10 dimensions for principal evaluations:

1. Organization, Rules, and Procedures
2. Positive Relationships
3. Engagement and Enjoyment
4. A Culture of Thinking and Learning
5. Establishing Goals for Improvement
6. Developing a Plan of Action
7. Building Capacity and Professional Development
8. Implementing Change Across the System
9. Refining Practice and Sustaining Change
10. Professional Practice

Dimensions 1-4 are the cornerstones for the TCPEF while dimensions 5-9 are part of the school improvement process . Dimension 10 is the principal’s commitment to growing as a professional and contributing to the larger school community. The TCPEF is an excellent research-based instrument and should be considered for use in the principal evaluation process.

These rubrics are organized around six domains covering all aspects of a principal’s job performance:
A. Strategy
B. First Things First
C. Curriculum and Data
D. Talent Development
E. Culture
F. Management

The rubrics use a four-level rating scale with the following labels:
4 – Highly Effective 3 – Effective 2 – Improvement Necessary 1 – Does Not Meet Standards

The rubrics are designed to give principals and other school-based administrators an end-of-the-year assessment of where they stand in all performance areas – and detailed guidance for improvement. This instrument is an approved rubric by the NYSED for use in a principal evaluation process.

This rubric is approved for use in the principal evaluation process in New York State. Currently, 73% of all public school districts use the MPPR for principal evaluations. The MPPR has been designed to support principals and superintendents as they work to make explicit connections between the actions, decisions, and learning of school leaders and the improvements to teaching and learning in the schools they lead.

The MPPR has two major components. The first supports the use of the Educational Leadership Policy Standards: ISLLC 2008. This component is organized by ISLLC domain, with five dimensions, culled by clustering and categorizing the ISLLC “functions.” These dimensions (Culture, Sustainability, Instructional Program, Capacity Building, and Strategic Planning Process) are consistent throughout this component, though not all appear in every domain. Descriptors are specific to each domain. The second component of the MPPR supports goal setting and attainment and has dimensions that are arranged to scaffold the goal setting process, from the initial defining of goals, through action planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. This instrument can operationalize the evaluation process for a focus on school improvement.