Abstract This manuscript introduces a culturally specific assessment framework for STEM leadership, developed through qualitative analysis of leadership narratives from presidents, provosts, deans, department chairs, and professors at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). While grounded in the HBCU context, the framework is designed to guide the future development of a rubric‐based assessment tool, with broader implications for leadership assessment in other culturally specific educational environments. A formal instrument development process was used to ensure that a leadership assessment framework reflected the voices and experiences of HBCU leaders. Through collaborative in‐depth qualitative analyses, six dimensions of STEM leadership were identified that represent the epistemologies, values, and practices embedded in these institutions. While the resulting framework is tailored to the HBCU context, the development process provides a rigorous and transferable approach to assessment design. The methodology repositions validity not as a post hoc adjustment, but as a foundational commitment to epistemic alignment between what is being measured and who is being measured. In doing so, assessment development for culturally specific environments is presented as both methodologically rigorous and conceptually sound.
Sul et al. (2026) studied this question.