Teaching and Assessing Dispositions in Principal Preparation Programs: An Exploratory Study 117
of being: inclusive, democratic, just, accessible to all, equitable, and valuing of diversity. She
also discussed doing what is right, including getting the right people.
Another respondent identified four key dispositions that she focused on heavily in the first
and in the final courses of the leadership preparation program. These were: the courage to
care, compassionate justice, understanding of self, and only being human. She clarified that
only being human refers to a benign approach to recognizing that when people do something
unexpected or possibly ill-conceived, they are merely exhibiting the natural frailties of our
species.
Other respondents cited the ELCC standards or state standards for principal preparation
programs that contained specific dispositions. Several respondents cited dispositions
contained in their college or school’s conceptual model, typically associated with the NCATE
accreditation process. However, when all respondents discussed the specific dispositions in
their state, college, or other models, there was considerable overlap and congruence with the
dispositions identified in the ISLLC standards.
The amount of emphasis given to dispositions seemed to vary considerably across
programs. One respondent from a large program stated that the curriculum was highly tied to
the ISLLC standards. He also noted that dispositions were mentioned in the program’s
mission statement: “attitudes for helping to build effective learning communities within a
culturally diverse society.” However, he reflected that dispositions were not addressed in
course syllabi, nor did they feature prominently in departmental discussions. Another
respondent estimated that his program devoted approximately 10% of its time to the teaching
and assessment of dispositions; this extent of coverage seemed to be close to a norm among
the respondents. Yet another respondent asserted that dispositions carried equal weight (33%)
to the skills and knowledge taught in his program. In some programs, however, dispositions
are given a more central role. One respondent from a religiously-affiliated university
estimated a relatively high percentage of time, owing to the institution’s mission and vision
being so heavily rooted in Biblical dispositions. One program, heavily guided by a nationally-
recognized author, researcher, and scholar on dispositions in teacher education, offers a
course on Becoming a Transforming Leader, which focuses on preparing students with the
theoretical background and instrumentation to assess and self-assess dispositions. The course
culminates with each student developing a dispositional growth plan. In addition, he estimated
that between eight and ten other courses of the program also have strong emphases on helping
the candidate be a “more effective person.”
TEACHING DISPOSITIONS IN PRINCIPAL PREPARATION PROGRAMS
Almost all respondents indicated that they, personally, taught dispositions as part of the
principal preparation courses. Most respondents informed that the most significant means of
teaching dispositions is through modeling them consistently in all interactions with students.
One clarified that he does so through his professional writing and teaching. He also noted that
the field-based mentors of the program’s extensive internship component are expected to
model the ISLLC dispositions. Several others described the use of scenarios or case studies as
a primary means of teaching dispositions. One respondent informed that rather than teaching
the dispositions, per se, he designed activities “to bring the dispositions out of the students.”
To foster the disposition of collaboration, another respondent discussed her requirement of
team projects in her leadership course. Another respondent noted that dispositions can be