Teaching and Assessing Dispositions in Principal Preparation Programs: An Exploratory Study 119
ASSESSING DISPOSITIONS IN PRINCIPAL PREPARATION PROGRAMS
Many participants reported that they assess dispositions, either for program admission, as
part of course requirements, for exiting the program, or for some combination of these. The
screening of applicants to principal preparation programs based on dispositions varies greatly.
One program gives such attention to dispositions that program admission requires letters of
recommendation, a letter of intent, and interviews (based on questions aligned to the ISLLC
standards, including dispositions). All three sources of data are screened to assess the
applicant’s dispositions; some applicants have been denied admission based on disposition-
related issues. Two participants reported relying on deferred admission or conditional
admission in those cases in which the applicant does not demonstrate that he or she clearly
possesses the dispositions expected by the program. The student is admitted on probation;
after 9 to 12 semester hours of coursework, a committee of program faculty convenes to
decide on the student’s admission to the program. One of these participants reported having
screened students out of the program at the end of the probationary period. The other program
had only recently instituted this policy and had not yet been confronted with the need to
recommend against offering full admission. Yet another respondent stated that he had been
sued by several students who had been denied admission; however, in all cases the judge
ruled in favor of the institution on the grounds that the decision had been made by a group of
faculty members who were appropriately trained in the assessment of dispositions and who
were using a validated methodology.
In one program, an assessment center approach is used for admissions, conducted in
conjunction with the many school districts it serves. Applicants respond to oral and written
problem situations, in which dispositions figure heavily in the scoring rubric. Applicants have
been denied admission to this program because of dispositional issues illuminated by this
admission process.
On the other hand, relatively few programs screen applicants for dispositions, including
even some programs that require interviews for admission. As one participant noted, “there is
too much pressure for FTEs to screen out students.” Others have dispositions as a criterion,
but have not denied admission based on that criterion to date. Several programs have a mid-
program review after a student completes 12 to 18 semester hours of coursework; however,
although there are rubrics that include dispositions, no student has been removed to date from
any of the reporting programs. In many programs, interviews are not conducted, although
some rely on letters of recommendation to assess an applicant’s dispositions. Many
respondents indicated that they did not consider an applicant’s dispositions in the admissions
process because of fear of lawsuits from denied applicants. As one respondent noted,
“Considering dispositions in the admissions process is a legal minefield. To reject an
applicant would be saying that your program could not teach the desired dispositions to its
students. You don’t screen out applicants because they don’t arrive in the program already
having the knowledge and skills necessary to be a principal, do you?”
Several states are in the process of state-wide redesign of principal preparation programs.
In all cases, a much greater involvement of the local education agencies in the admission and
selection of students is required. Respondents from these states universally anticipated that
this would lead to a greater emphasis on dispositions in the admissions process.
The most common form of assessment of dispositions in coursework was through
candidates’ portfolios, which were generally portrayed as capstone assessment requirements.
One respondent described his program’s assessment of the portfolio as being based on the