How can school performance be improved?

Relationship between learning outcomes and enrollment Crouch and Vinjevold, 2006

Access to secondary education: secondary gross enrollment ratios, Crouch & Vinjevold, 2006

What good schools do REGULATORY FUNCTION: INSTRUCTIONAL FUNCTION: Orderly environment Intellectual activity valued Sense of responsibility INSTRUCTIONAL FUNCTION: Proficiency in LOI Reading & writing Proficiency in specific discipline: Maths, History, Literature

SA High Schools Former Other Prop of total HG M SC 2004 Top 380 34 7% 66% Mod 254 573 14% 19% Poor 600 4277 79% 15%

SACMEQ mean maths score by quintile vd Berg & Louw, 2006 1 2 3 4 5 Total Botswana 490.57 499.01 510.21 508.05 556.62 Kenya 540.04 545.23 555.48 564.92 610.82 Lesotho 443.30 448.09 447.56 445.19 451.75 Malawi 422.44 426.81 435.32 433.23 446.84 Mauritius 519.33 564.17 587.07 619.93 639.55 Mozambique 526.43 524.93 530.59 530.15 538.18 Namibia 403.32 402.41 411.19 425.08 512.70 Seychelles 520.83 541.04 555.32 575.84 578.71 South Africa 441.84 444.74 454.18 491.47 596.97 Swaziland 505.56 511.29 510.92 513.43 541.48 Tanzania 484.29 511.44 528.54 527.62 560.14 Uganda 484.43 497.07 497.88 508.74 543.11 Zambia 414.20 425.74 435.61 434.33 466.10 Zanzibar 478.02 471.62 477.89 478.68 484.39 468.13 479.59 485.13 491.99 559.53 Non-SA 469.09 480.13 488.01 494.35 557.25

Top Performing Schools What do they need? Where African numbers are small: Incentives to increase African roll Where African numbers are large: Subsidies for poor children All: Increase level of cognitive demand of curriculum

Moderately Performing Schools: What makes the Difference? Factors Home District School Class Language Speak LOI ** Policy Develop proficiency Time Sign h/w Monitor Regulate Micro-pace Coverage Assist with h/w * * Plan, monitor ** Macro-pace **** Reading & Writing Read Distribute books Manage books *** Read & write * Assessmt Monitor results QA QA, monitor Assess, feedback **

Key lever 1: Time on Task Chisholm et al, 2005 Teachers work an average 41 hours (out of 43)/week 41% of this on teaching: 3.4h/day 14% devoted to planning and preparation, 14% on assessment, evaluation, reports and record-keeping

Key lever 2: Curriculum Coverage 3: ¾ or more ASs completed during year 2: Between ½ and ¾ of ASs completed 1: Between ¼ and ½ 0: Less than ¼ covered

Key lever 3: Teacher Knowledge Grade 3 teachers wrote parts of the Grade 6 learner test: Literacy: 55% Numeracy: 65%

SA High Schools Former Other Prop of total HG M SC 2004 Top 380 34 7% 66% Mod 254 573 14% 19% Poor 600 4277 79% 15%

524 QLP schools > Control Pass Exp E HG M HG M SG Rate +17 +62 +36 +924 +0.7 +8

Poorly performing schools Start with Time Management Part of institutional culture Leadership Organisational development ≠ training BUT provinces & districts too weak

Differentiated approach Raise level of cognitive demand Top performing schools Schools with Threshold Capacity Eg Dinaledi II Training Resources Incentives Dysfunctional Schools Organisational development State authority But weak state

Why is our civil service so inefficient? They went to poorly performing schools Structural instability Ideology: threw out authority with authoritarianism Unions better organised Lack of focus, eg matric exams