Distributed Leadership for Assessment: Considerations for Individuals, Institutions, and the Profession

Assessment takes place throughout the collegiate context involving a range of diverse individuals and they need to be valued, appreciated, and respected for their unique individual, disciplinary, and professional contributions to assessment. Those working in assessment are encouraged to consider adopting collaborative, shared approaches to leading and accomplishing interdependent processes and outcomes, often described as distributed leadership. This article begins by articulating the significance of leadership for assessment, continues by describing how a distributed leadership perspective may be useful, and concludes by defining and promoting conditions to support distributed leadership for assessment. As a concept, distributed leadership has the potential to influence the individual identity development of the assessment professional, involve other stakeholders engaged in the learning enterprise, inform institutional cultures for assessment, and provide opportunities to strengthen the assessment profession.