PAL Pilot Test: FAQs

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) selected participants who had indicated they were interested in participating in the pilot test. Efforts were made to select candidates for each task who represent a diversity of backgrounds with respect to school and personal demographics.

Task 1 must be submitted on or before 11:59 PM (Eastern time) January 1, 2024.

Task 2 must be submitted on or before 11:59 PM (Eastern time) January 31, 2024.

Candidates should provide as much information as is readily available. Some information may only be available for the school as a whole (such as the number of children eligible for free/reduced-fee lunch) and candidates can suggest how a given class of students may be similar to or different from the school-wide data.

The PAL Pilot Candidate Assessment Handbooks explain how these documents are to be grouped for submission, and resources available for pilot participants on this website provide online guidance for submission.

There is no reciprocity or compensation for such individuals except professional courtesy and the opportunity for collaborative professional learning and growth.

It is difficult to estimate the total amount of time required for several reasons. The time needed to complete a task varies because it depends on the work that candidates are already conducting in their schools, the scope of the issue or priority area they choose to address, and their proposed plans and activities. Further, the tasks are designed to be authentic work in school leadership and, as such, candidates may do more than the task requires as part of their responsibilities in their school or district. Given these conditions, it is anticipated that it will take candidates 40–80 hours to complete a single task.

All artifacts, documents, and commentary specified in the PAL Pilot Candidate Assessment Handbook for each task are required. Please refer to the PAL Evidence Charts on the Pilot Test Assessment Materials page for details on each required work product.

The electronic portfolio platform will list the required work products to be uploaded when candidates view a task online. When a candidate is ready to upload materials for a task, the system will indicate the required work products and the upload status of each.

The candidate is required to confirm that each upload appears as intended (documents are viewable, etc.) prior to final submission.

Each candidate who provides a scorable submission will receive a PAL Pilot Score Report, which provides scores at the Task and Assessment Summary levels. Candidates who provide a scorable submission will receive a score of at least 2.75 on the task. Score reports will be provided to candidates who participate in the pilot test in April 2024.

Candidates whose submission is unscorable will be provided an email indicating the reason(s) their submission is unscorable.

A scorable submission is one in which all artifacts for the task can be reviewed by a scorer and have scores assigned to all rubrics.

Candidates who submit a scorable task will receive a score of at least 2.75 for that task. This score can be used toward satisfying the testing requirement for PAL.