Large-scale assessment and school principals are focus of REL studies

Two reports recently prepared for the United States Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences by Regional Educational Laboratory Pacific, administered by Pacific Resources for Education and Learning (PREL), focus on the status of large-scale assessment and the status of the preparation and hiring of school principals in the Pacific region.

Prepared by Jennifer Ryan and Scott Keir, PhD, “The Status of Large-Scale Assessment in the Pacific Region” addresses the need for effective large-scale assessment as a major priority for improving student achievement in the Pacific region jurisdictions: American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM; Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap), Guam, Hawai‘i, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and the Republic of Palau.

The primary purpose of large-scale assessment is accountability and the provision of information to the federal government, state education agencies, key stakeholders, and the public on whether and how well schools are meeting achievement standards

The chief state school officers and curriculum and instruction chiefs and directors of research and evaluation made it clear that educators want information related to the adoption, development, and revision of large-scale assessment for use with the culturally and linguistically diverse students in the Pacific region jurisdictions. This technical brief responds to that identified need.

“The Status of the Preparation and Hiring of School Principals in the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Region,” prepared by Sharon Camblin, EdD, and Scott Keir, PhD, responds to the requests of regional state education agencies and the urging of REL Pacific advisory groups to build on the recently published Issues & Answers report, “Preparing and Licensing High Quality Teachers in the Pacific Region Jurisdictions.”

The REL Technical Brief describes the current status of the preparation and hiring of school principals and answers a central question: What academic, practice-based, and standards and policy criteria are used in the preparation and hiring of principals in the Pacific region?

It was found that many jurisdictions had established certification standards and policies relatively recently, and that the procedures and criteria for preparing and hiring school principals vary across jurisdictions in model, requirements, and implementation level. The only requirements common to all 10 jurisdictions are that principals must complete some college-level coursework and have teaching experience.

REL Technical Briefs is a new report series from Fast Response Projects that help educators obtain evidence-based answers to their specific requests for information on pressing education issues. REL Technical Briefs offer highly targeted responses across a variety of subjects, from reviews of particular studies or groups of studies on implementation issues for the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, to compilations or quick summaries of state or local education agency data, to appraisals of particular instruments or tools, and to short updates of Issues & Answers reports. All REL Technical Briefs meet Institute of Education Sciences (IES) standards for scientifically valid research. For more information about IES, please visit http://ies.ed.gov.

PREL is an independent, nonprofit 501(c)(3) corporation that works in partnership with the Pacific educational community to provide quality programs and products developed to promote educational excellence, including professional development and educational materials. In addition, PREL administers the Regional Educational Laboratory (REL) Pacific, 1 of 10 Regional Educational Laboratories funded through the Institute of Education Sciences of the U.S. Department of Education. With a commitment to ensuring that all students have an equal opportunity to develop a strong academic foundation, regardless of circumstances or geographic location, PREL serves the U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands, including American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM; Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap), Guam, Hawai‘i, the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and the Republic of Palau. For additional information about this media release or PREL and its work please contact Jackie Burniske, Director of Communications, by telephone at (808) 441-1300 or by email at burniskj@prel.org . [B][I](PR)[/I][/B]