You have reached the ECRA Curriculum Leadership 360° Appraisal information and registration site. The Curriculum Leadership 360° is designed to evaluate personnel in curriculum leadership positions. The appraisal is a multisource assessment in which leaders complete a self-assessment and receive anonymous, confidential feedback from the people who work around them. The appraisal instrument is an easy-to-use online survey based on extensive research and best practices in appraisal.
Curriculum Leadership and the 360° Appraisal
Curriculum leadership involves a careful balance of instructional and administrative leadership responsibilities. The role is multi-faceted and complex, embedded not only in the formal trappings of authority (as supervisor of faculty) but also in functions that cut across a number of roles affecting student achievement, including professional development, professional accountability, and curriculum development.
Much of the current thinking on the role of the curriculum leader distinguishes the traditional, or “maintenance,” responsibilities commonly assigned to the position and the so-called “dynamic” tasks that extend the curriculum leader’s impact to community building and school improvement processes. The former reflect those tasks of managing the instructional program, such as spearheading textbook adoption, maintaining subject area expertise, and reviewing student achievement; the latter includes vision-building, tailoring standards and benchmarks to the particular needs of the student population, engaging and communicating with stakeholders, and managing the change process. According to research, the most effective curriculum leaders embrace the dynamic role and go beyond the expected responsibilities. They establish new directions, align people and resources, motivate participants, and aid school improvement processes. In this sense, strong leadership at the curriculum management level is also inclusive, embracing work that is carried out collaboratively with individuals at different levels of the system and with different purviews over instruction.
The Curriculum Leadership 360º Appraisal evaluates both the maintenance and dynamic responsibilities of the curriculum leader.
What is 360º Assessment?
Multisource feedback systems, commonly referred to as 360º assessments, refer to the process of collecting multiple viewpoints in order to provide a detailed and accurate picture of individual performance. When 360º assessment is applied to school leaders, teams of evaluators are utilized to gain the input of all members of the school’s professional community, thereby offering an overall assessment of the individual. Evaluators may include supervisors (school board members, superintendents, etc.), colleagues (assistant superintendents, curriculum directors, etc.), school personnel (educators, office staff), and community members (parents, students, etc.). All participants respond to the same survey items, thereby providing many perspectives and viewpoints on the actions and impact of the school leader being evaluated.
Because 360º assessment focuses on feedback and subsequent action to strengthen school leadership, the method reflects the research literature’s support of the mechanism as a formative evaluation tool to help school leaders focus on personal and leadership development and target particular areas for professional improvement. Furthermore, by comparing a leader’s perceptions with the evaluation of stakeholders, schools encourage enhanced self-awareness and performance improvement from all participants. Anonymous 360º feedback ensures leaders get honest feedback. In turn, it can create a culture where individuals become more ready to commit themselves to seeking and accepting feedback.
