Using the Baldrige criteria to strengthen educational leadership systems: The development and validation of a 360 degree feedback instrument

This study focused on developing a 360 degree feedback instrument for assessing and strengthening educational leadership systems. The purpose of the instrument is to provide educational leaders a tool for gathering feedback on how frequently they demonstrate behaviors related to increasing their school or district's capacity for continual improvement and organizational learning. The Leadership Excellence Assessment Feedback (LEAF) instrument is a frequency observation instrument consisting of seven independent scales based on the categories of the Baldrige Education Criteria for Performance Excellence.;Three specific goals guided the development of LEAF. The first goal was to develop a valid feedback instrument suited to the intended purpose. This goal related to the content and construct validity of the instrument. Results relevant to this goal were produced through a content expert review process and exploratory factor analysis procedures. The second goal was to achieve a satisfactory level of internal scale reliability. This goal was addressed by examining the coefficient alpha levels from the tests conducted after the LEAF instrument was administered to 480 observers and leaders. The third goal was to ascertain the utility of the instrument in “practical use.” This goal related to determining whether using LEAF provided meaningful feedback to educational leaders. Procedures related to this goal include both qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative methods allowed for participants in the study to describe their experiences with and insights about the LEAF instrument though a structured interview process. The quantitative methods related to the value of unique perspectives from multiple observers in a 360 degree feedback process which required an examination of within-subjects testing. These methods included both paired samples t-tests and repeated measures analyses of variance.;The statistical testing conducted and the subsequent interpretive reflection resulted in the development of the LEAF 360 degree feedback instrument consisting of 51 items in seven independent scales which represent the seven categories of the Baldrige Criteria. The conclusions discussed in the final chapter relate to providing participating leaders a more valuable feedback process in the context of strengthening educational leadership systems. The use of LEAF in the context of organizational development is also discussed.