Massachusetts Performance Assessment for Leaders (PAL)

Important Notice Regarding PAL Updates

In 2021, the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) released revised Guidelines for the Preparation of Administrative Leaders with updated indicators that incorporate anti-racist leadership competencies. These revised Guidelines are designed both to reflect recent research confirming the important role of school and district leaders, and to disrupt historical patterns of racial inequity and promote success for students by preparing program completers to become anti-racist leaders who understand and embody antiracist competencies, strategies, and mindsets so that each and every student can thrive in rigorous and culturally responsive learning environments supported by high-quality curricular materials and evidence-based practices.

Following the 2021 revisions to the Guidelines for the Preparation of Administrative Leaders , DESE worked with Evaluation Systems Group (ES) of Pearson to update the Performance Assessment for Leaders (PAL) to align it to the revised Guidelines and incorporate the anti-racist leadership competencies. PAL will continue to be composed of four Tasks that educators must complete. While the content of the Tasks has been revised, the structural design of the assessment remains the same. ES recently completed a pilot test of MA PAL Tasks 1 and 2. While revisions have been made to the Candidate Assessment Handbook for Tasks 3 and 4, changes have not been made to the corresponding rubrics for those Tasks.

The updated Candidate Assessment Handbook will be available on the PAL website under the Coming Soon section. However, candidates should not plan to submit PAL Tasks 1 and 2 using the new Candidate Assessment Handbook until the Fall of 2025. An exact date is forthcoming.

Candidates who have been working or will work on their PAL Tasks using the Candidate Assessment Handbook from Program Years 2023-2024 or 2024-2025 should plan to submit Tasks 1 and 2 by July 10, 2025 in order to be scored using the corresponding rubrics in the current Candidate Assessment Handbook.

Candidates who have already received a passing score on Tasks 1 and 2 prior to the transition to the revised PAL in the Fall of 2025 will continue to have their scores honored for the purposes of passing the full assessment following the transition. Per PAL policy, scores on each Task remain valid for a period of seven years from the score report date.

Please note, as has always been the policy, ES will continue to conduct originality checks for submitted PAL Tasks. Software is employed to screen submissions for originality of content. Any candidate using another candidate's work will face disciplinary action, from voiding their submission up to and including the loss of their license.