The NASSP Assessment Center Story Apr 97

It all started soon after I joined the National Association for Secondary School Principals (NASSP). I met a very frustrated young man who had been forced into becoming a school principal. He hated the job, but his boss demanded that he continue because he was one the best teachers in the school. During my travels for several more years, I found the same frustration, replicated again and again in state after state. The implications were obvious! Many people being assigned to key leadership positions in our secondary schools did not possess the proper knowledge, preparation, or desire to be successful on the job. The year was 1975, and it was long past the time when something should have been done about leadership-if schools were to meet the needs of youth in a changing society.

The timing was perfect for the call I received from the chairman of a special "social issues and action" committee of the American Psychological Association's Division 14. I was asked whether our Association would be interested in experimenting with a leadership selection process called an "assessment center." After several quick meetings with the Division 14 committee, months of research about the concept, a visit to an AT&T assessment center, and weeks of discussion with the Association and APA leaders, the project was launched. Members from the Division 14 committee (Tom Jeswald, Joel Moses, Hal Hendrick, George Henderson, and Brenda Gurel from APA, were the core group; but others helped) gave willingly of their professional time and expertise to make this national leadership project a reality.

The NASSP Assessment Center was developed in 1975 using 12 generic skill dimensions (important for success in the principalship) that were observed during performance by candidates in certain job-related simulations and activities. After several years of development and pilot testing with personnel from five different local school districts, the assessment process was implemented on a national basis in 1977. The growth of the NASSP center was slow for several years because, even though the information generated by the process seemed to provide valuable information about potentially talented school leaders, many school officials were hesitant to experiment with a process so different and new to them.

However, after Neal Schmitt and a research team from Michigan State University conducted the first criterion-related validation study (1979-81) involving this process, and the positive results were publicly released at a national press conference in Washington DC, the project immediately doubled in size.

From 1984 to present, the assessment project achieved spectacular growth!! With more than 20,000 teachers and assistant principals assessed, and more than 10,000 principals, central office administrators, college professors, and others from business and industry trained as assessors, this assessment center project has become one of the largest of its kind throughout the world. Centers have been requested and initiated in more than 35 states and four foreign countries (Australia, Germany, England, and Canada.)

In 1986, the project shifted from an "assessment only" focus to a direction emphasizing "skill development." As a result of past assessment center efforts, and the development of a repository of valuable "skill dimension" information generated by the process, many individuals involved with the centers requested (in fact, demanded) additional skill development in a multitude of leadership areas. As a result of this demand, and with financial assistance from National Philanthropic Foundations, NASSP created 10 different skill development modules in an 8-year period to assist in training principals, teachers, superintendents, and college personnel teaching school administration. By 1995, more than 8,000 school leaders had become involved in these behaviorally oriented development programs. And the number of participants continues to grow.

Booker T. Washington put it this way, "The world cares very little about what a man or woman knows; it is what the man or woman is able to do that counts."

The "special" committee from Division 14 of APA knew what Washington meant! They can take great pride in knowing that their initiative and interest, coupled with NASSP as a willing partner committed to nurturing and implementing the assessment center for school leaders, has contributed greatly to the improvement of school administration throughout this nation and the world.

The President of the United States has recently given educational improvement in this nation the highest priority on his domestic agenda for the next 4 years. The NASSP assessment project (with new and contemporary improvements) continues to have unlimited potential for assisting with this priority, as school leaders for the 21st Century are identified and developed.

Paul W. Hersey served as Director of the National Assessment Project from 1975 until his retirement in May, 1995.