The CALL-OTL Survey as a Formative Feedback Support for School-Level Equity-Centered Leadership

• In Event: Equity by Design: Redesigning Principal Pathways for Systemic Change

Abstract

School-level leaders need timely, actionable feedback to understand how their practices close opportunity gaps, affirm student identities, and advance sociopolitical empowerment. The CALL-OTL (Comprehensive Assessment of Leadership for Learning—Opportunity to Learn) building on the original CALL survey (Halverson & Kelley, 2017), translates the theories and aspirations of equity-centered leadership into observable, day-to-day practices.

CALL-OTL provides formative, school-level feedback to local educators on the practices that matter for creating equitable schools. The survey assumes that leaders shape the conditions for teaching and learning (Spillane, Halverson & Diamond, 2004), and that educators can recognize these effects in their everyday work. Unlike conventional surveys, each CALL-OTL item reflects a level of a specific leadership practice, making the act of taking the survey itself a formative learning process.

The survey was developed through multi-stage design involving fieldwork in ECPI districts and informed by equity leadership research (e.g., Khalifa, 2016; Galloway & Ishimaru, 2015; Theoharis, 2009; Welton & Diem, 2020; Lewis & Diamond, 2015). The survey includes four domains of leadership practice:

1. Creating a Culture of Equity and Inclusion assesses leaders’ critical self-reflection, attention to tracking patterns, and data use to address disparities (Grissom, Egalite, & Lindsay, 2021; Khalifa, 2018).

2. Supporting Responsive and Engaging Teaching and Learning examines co-designed curricula, inclusive pedagogy, and racial literacy (Welton & Diem, 2020; Theoharis, 2009; Irby & Green, 2018; Winn, 2018).

3. Developing Educator Capacity for Equitable Practice measures whether equity is embedded in professional learning communities and evaluation (Frattura & Capper, 2007,; Ishimaru & Galloway, 2020).

4. Partnering with Families and Communities highlights power-sharing with families and culturally relevant civic engagement (Ladson-Billings, 1995; Khalifa, 2016).

The survey was refined through cognitive interviews, pilot testing in seven schools, and feedback from over 60 ECPI leaders and researchers. Items were adapted from the original CALL item bank to reflect observable, equity-centered leadership actions. In early testing, we aggregated responses from over 400 educators. The mean score (3.25/5) and standard deviation (0.77) suggest the survey captures meaningful variation in perceptions and enactments of equity leadership (Table 1). Domains 1, 2, and 4 were rated similarly. Domain 3 (M = 3.09) received the lowest rating, suggesting a need for stronger supports for equity-focused professional learning. These patterns reveal both strengths—particularly administrators’ attention to inclusive culture and partnerships—and persistent challenges in developing shared adult learning and capacity-building for equity. CALL-OTL offers a comprehensive perspective on the equity leadership that matters through localized feedback. The survey allows educators to see equity as a set of observable, improvable leadership practices.

Author

• Richard R. Halverson, University of Wisconsin - Madison