The Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL) was developed as part of a 4-year grant from the Institute for Education Sciences (IES) in the US Department of Education. Researchers from the highly esteemed Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis (ELPA) at the University of WisconsinMadison created, piloted, and validated the CALL survey and formative feedback system. The CALL survey was developed from a set of rubrics developed by ELPA’s Professor Rich Halverson and the Institute for Learning at the University of Pittsburgh. The survey was vetted by various school leaders and other expert practitioners, piloted for user feedback and content validity testing, and administered in over 200 hundred schools as part of the development and validation process.
The research reported here was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education, through Grant R305A090265 to the University of Wisconsin, Madison. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not represent views of the Institute or the U.S. Department of Education.
Below, you may download various papers that CALL researchers have written. These papers recount the process of the development of CALL. Currently, several manuscripts are under review in top tier education journals.
Freeman, M. A. (2020). The difference in distributed principal leadership practices according to the comprehensive assessment of leadership for learning between teachers and school leaders, grade level and region. Teachers College, Columbia University. Access article
Modeste, M. E., & Kelley, C. J. (2018). Examining Distributed Leadership Practices by School Grade Configuration. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 1-30. https://doi.org/10.1080/15700763.2018.1514057
De Voto, C., & Superfine, B. M. (2023). The crisis you can’t plan for: K-12 leader responses and organisational preparedness during COVID-19. School Leadership & Management, 43(4), 369-389. Access article.
Ahn, J., Bowers, A. J., & Welton, A. D. (2021). Leadership for learning as an organization-wide practice: Evidence on its multilevel structure and implications for educational leadership practice and research. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 1-52. Access Article.
Imig, David, South Holden, and Dale Placek. "Leadership for learning in the US." Instructional leadership and leadership for learning in schools: Understanding theories of leading (2019): 105-131. Access article.
Bowers, A. (2020), "Examining a congruency-typology model of leadership for learning using two-level latent class analysis with TALIS 2018", OECD Education Working Papers, No. 219, OECD Publishing, Paris. Access article.
Modeste, M. E., Nguyen, C., Nafziger, R. N., & Hermansen, J. (2022). Socially distributed leadership in elementary schools: teacher and staff leadership practice in Denmark and the USA. Journal of Educational Administration, 60(2), 188-206. Access article.
Bowers, A. J., Blitz, M., Modest, M., Salisbury, J., & Halverson, R. (2017). How Leaders Agree with Teachers in Schools on Measures of Leadership Practice: A Two-Level Latent Class Analysis of the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning. Teachers College Record. 119(1). https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/d8-dwbk-mt40
Modeste, M. E., Buhl Hornskov, S., Bjerg, H., & Kelley, C. J. (2018). School leadership practice across international policy contexts: Organizational roles and distributed leadership in Denmark and the United States. Educational Management Administration & Leadership. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143218807489
Kelley, C., & Dikkers, S. (2016). Framing feedback for school improvement around distributed leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 52(3), 392-422. Access article.
Blitz, M. H., & Modeste, M. (2015). The Differences Across Distributed Leadership Practices by School Position According to the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL). Leadership and Policy in Schools, 14(3), 341-379. Access article.
Halverson, Richard, Carolyn Kelley, and James Shaw. A CALL for improved school leadership. Phi Delta Kappan 95.6 (2014): 57-60.
Kelley, Carolyn and Halverson, Richard (2012) The Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning: A Next Generation Formative Evaluation and Feedback System, Journal of Applied Research on Children: Informing Policy for Children at Risk: Vol. 3: Iss. 2, Article 4.
Kelley, C., Halverson, R. & Camburn, E. (2012). The Design and Validation of the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL) Formative School Leader Assessment. Annual Conference of the American Educational Finance and Policy Association. Boston MA, March 2012.
Blitz, M. (2012). A Case Study Comparison of School Leadership Practice Against the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL) Pilot Results (WCER Working Paper No. 2012-5). Retrieved from University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin Center for Education Research website:
http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/publications/workingPapers/papers.php
Camburn, E. & Salisbury, J. (2012). Examining the Validity and Reliability of the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL) Formative Leadership Assessment Tool: Pilot Study Results. Annual Conference of the American Education Research Association. Vancouver BC. April 2012.
Blitz, M. H., & Salisbury, S. (2012). The Role of Cognitive Validity Testing to Understand Leadership Practice in the Development of CALL, the Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (WCER Working Paper No. 2012-11).Retrieved from University of Wisconsin–Madison, Wisconsin Center for Education Research website:
http://www.wcer.wisc.edu/publications/workingPapers/papers.php
Halverson, R. & Dikkers, S. (2011) Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning (CALL): Development and Design of an Online, Formative Assessment and Feedback System for Middle and High School Leadership. Annual Conference of the American Education Research Association. New Orleans, LA. April 2011.
Blitz, M., Milanowski, T. & Clifford, M. (2011). Content Validity as a Window to a Richer Understanding of Leadership Practice. Annual Conference of the American Education Research Association. New Orleans, LA. April 2011.