"Circumstance and proper timing": Context and the construction of a standards framework for school principals' performance

Professional standards for school principals have been developed in many jurisdictions in the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom in recent years. Typically, these standards frameworks describe an ideal performance in a generalized context. This article describes an alternative method of developing a standards framework, combining qualitative vignettes with probabilistic measurement techniques to provide essential or ideal qualities of performance with contextually rich descriptions of variations in performance. The article provides an empirically grounded basis for the (future) development of performance assessments against the framework.