Multidimensional assessment of school leadership: keys to school improvement

Abstract

This paper presents, first, the Spanish adaptation and validation of the questionnaire Vanderbilt Assessment of Leadership in Education (VAL-ED); one of the most important instruments used for assessing the school principal’s educational leadership. Second, we show the results for three of the categories included in the questionnaire and related to culture of learning, teaching quality and community involvement. Our research has found serious deficits in all of the three dimensions analyzed. The principals in secondary schools have limited capacity and competencies to set the school as a learning community focused on students’ learning. We identify some lines of action for school improvement that try to get over the status quo in schools and the lacks detected in these dimensions.

Educational leadership; Learning culture; Secondary education; Questionnaire; Validation