Shifting the Leadership Assessment Paradigm in Doctor of Pharmacy Curricula

Leadership brings about direction, alignment, and/or commitment. Observing and assessing leadership, in context, over time, is challenging. In this review, we take a critical stance. We move beyond describing leadership-related measurement tools and argue that an effective leadership assessment process involves shifting from an attainment approach, broadening educational outcomes, and examining new techniques for assessment and program evaluation.

Pharmacy education has typically approached assessment from an attainment perspective, setting a desired performance level for all students to achieve. But leadership learning does not progress linearly, it is dynamic and requires repeated application of complex skills over a lifetime. Therefore, a shift to a growth-focused assessment approach is needed. Quality self-assessments can help instructors understand a student's status and fuel student growth. Growth-focused assessment may also include program-level coordination of assignments, collection of leadership-related work products over time (eg, cumulative coversheets, patchwork text assessment), and feedback from multiple assessors. Entry-to-practice goals include the beginnings of a leadership identity and a commitment to ongoing leadership development. In addition, the impact of leadership education can be more fully captured with an extended taxonomy of education outcomes, including relational and affective outcomes. To support program improvements, strong program evaluation can provide insight into whether, how, and why leadership learning occurs. Seven areas are identified to move leadership learning assessment forward.

Shifting the student learning assessment paradigm in leadership education will require inquiry, debate, and action using the collective wisdom and expertise of assessment professionals and leadership educators.