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A 34‐item Likert‐type survey instrument, The Reflective, Ethical, and Moral Assessment Survey (REMAS), measuring perceptions of use of reflective, ethical and moral dispositions and leadership practices was developed. Items, component factors, and results of the self‐assessment of graduates from an educational leadership preparation program in which the reflective, ethical and moral constructs are two of four curricular strands are reported.

Data from mailed surveys from 106 program graduates and 113 co‐workers were compiled and analyzed. Descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and analyses of variance (ANOVA) were used for analyses of program graduate responses on the factor scores based on demographic variables of age, gender, and position, i.e. higher education, p‐12, or other.

Its show differences among the graduates by gender for the defensive behavior factor with males tending to be more defensive than females, and for age on the reflective dimensions factor, with older graduates tending to be more reflective. Data were subjected to factor analysis to confirm that the hypothesized items were measuring predicted constructs. Extraction of principal components, with orthogonal rotation yielded four factors, with approximately 62.3 per cent of the variance explained. Alpha reliabilities ranged from 0.91 on the first factor to a low of 0.71 on the third.

The REMAS instrument is newly developed and fulfills a void in the literature on this topic. Both the literature review and instrument will be useful to universities as changes emphasizing reflective, ethical and moral leadership are made to preparation programs and increased needs for program assessments are articulated.

A vast array of leadership dispositions associated with school and student success is well-documented in extant leadership development literature. However, persistent challenges face practitioners as they attempt to measure leader dispositions and apply what is known about dispositions to hiring, selection, development, and retention of school leaders. We begin this chapter with an exploration of the essential leader dispositions which surfaced through an exhaustive cross-disciplinary review of literature, in concert with a review of disposition tools and frameworks in use in a variety of practical settings. Next, we illuminate significant challenges associated with reliably measuring school leader dispositions and explore promising emergent innovative strategies for assessing disposition development. Though difficult to measure, we argue that dispositions are too important to ignore and conclude with practical recommendations for using research on leader dispositions to cultivate outstanding school leaders.