Evaluation for School Improvement Geoff Barton Thursday, October 15, 2015 PowerPoint available to download at

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT BARTON’S BUMPER BRAINTEASER BONANZA 

1: How many teachers does it take to change a light-bulb? Well hang on a minute! You can't go changing a light- bulb just like that. You need a plan - long, medium and short-term - or your method of changing the bulb will be in question. And of course, you need to be very clear what you are trying to achieve by changing it - that will need writing down and handing out to anybody who happens to be watching you change the light-bulb. Furthermore, some account will need to be made for the fact that the light bulb may not be very bright - you can't just discard it. You will also need to spend time assessing your procedure after the event, with a clear emphasis on taking the bulb-changing process to the next stage. Oh and there is the question of changing other bulbs on a voluntary basis after hours..

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT 2: How often have you or your headteacher stood up in staff meetings and reminded staff about basic expectations (eg uniform code)? Clue … 2 Answer: 2 often

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT 3: Think of your own question for this punchline … Answer: Because there’s only one ‘f’ in Ofsted

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT How evaluation could help to improve your school

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT Achievement and standards Based as far as possible upon an interpretation of the data agreed with the school, include:  the standards learners reach, including an assessment of whether they meet challenging targets  learners ’ progress in relation to their capabilities, based upon a clear evaluation of their prior attainment  an assessment of whether there is any significant underachievement, for example between groups of learners such as looked after children and those with learning difficulties and disabilities. Grade: 1 - 4

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT Personal development and well-being Include:  learners ’ spiritual, moral, social and cultural development  learners ’ attitudes, behaviour and attendance, and how much they enjoy their education  the extent to which learners adopt safe practices and a healthy lifestyle, make a positive contribution to the community and develop skills that contribute to future economic well-being. Grade: 1 - 4

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT Whole-school culture: Some opening assumptions Michael Fullan: “20 years in teaching is … 1 year, repeated 20 times”

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT Good teaching is a set of learnable skills, not a God-given gift Performance management is about performance We should encourage experimentation and occasional disasters We should be intolerant of mediocrity A genuine evaluation culture builds improvement Real change comes from within Whole-school culture: Some opening assumptions

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT 1 Map out the essential skills of teaching / tutoring / behaviour management are for your own context 2 Build everything else around them 3 Use evaluation to monitor impact 4 Use self-evaluation for teachers to reflect on their own improvement Whole-school culture: Some opening assumptions

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT Carol FitzGibbon (Durham): Get data into school life, without necessarily doing anything with it THREE GURUS

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT John MacBeath (Cambridge): “We should measure what we value, not value what we can measure” THREE GURUS

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT THREE GURUS David Reynolds (Exeter): “Within-school variation”: Aim to be a ‘high-reliability’ organisation …

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT Such complex social organizations as air traffic control towers continuously run the risk of disastrous and obviously unacceptable failure. The public would heavily discount several thousand consecutive days of efficiently monitoring and controlling the very crowded skies over Chicago or London if two jumbo jets were to collide over either city. Through fog, snow, computer-system failures, and nearby tornadoes, in spite of thousands of flights per day in busy skies, such a collision has never happened above any city, a remarkable level of performance reliability …

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT … By contrast, in the U.S., one of the most highly educated nations on earth, within any group of 100 students beginning first grade in a particular year, approximately 16 will not have obtained either their high school diploma or a General Education Development certificate years later. In Britain, just under half of all 16-year-old pupils will not have the benchmark of 5 or more high grade public examination passes in the national system. Obviously, many nations have even lower levels of educational performance.

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT Creating a self-evaluation culture: Tools for school evaluation: Student performance data - results, targets, etc Staff, parent, governor feedback Ethos data Questionnaires and focus groups Faculty reviews - inc observation sheets Self-evaluation

Staff Evaluations …

Routine monitoring …

Planners

Book sampling…

Focus groups run by Governors… What is it like to be a tutor here? Good bits of the job:Frustrations: Good Year Teams Good communication with Year Team Trainees are helpful Role will be strengthened by learning plans / target-setting days Lack of time Amount of admin Always dealing with the same students

What is it like to be a tutor here? What impact do you have on students and how do you know? Informal feedback from students – eg a disruptive student who admitted privately that he wants to do well Seeing decreasing number of referral slips Can feel a sense of progress How would we improve? Year 12 mentoring can be inconsistent – role of mentors not always clear – but principle of them is good Small minority – importance of planners not recognised by students/parents

What are the key ingredients in an effective tutor? Know and care about students in their tutor groups See monitoring and target-setting as a core part of their job Understand the need to work with students on skills beyond the classroom – emotions, motivation, social skills, courtesy, how to speak appropriately in difficult circumstances Are well organised and manage time well Listen actively Pay attention to small details – courtesy, thanks, etc Treat poor behaviour as simply a choice and good behaviour as a characteristic Apologise when they do something wrong or inappropriate Catch students being good far more than they catch them getting it wrong Have genuine interest in students ’ lives and experiences Heads of Year …

Faculty reviews

Student Evaluations …

Student …

Attitudes to learning

Enthusiasm of teacher Fun Good class control No disruptive students Practical activities Teacher interested in the subject Sitting with a friend Clear instructions and expectations What for you is the most important ingredient in a good lesson?

Talk less and let us get on with work Teaching us techniques for learning and revising Practice papers Explain things clearly Acknowledge different kinds of learners Praise us Basic ideas about how to do things Providing lunchtime sessions Teach me in a way that I understand What do teachers do that helps you to learn well?

Longer breaks More trips Don ’ t give coursework at the end of term Tougher line on disruptive students More guidance with coursework Stop giving detentions for trivial reasons Smarter uniform Regular teacher evaluations by students Clone Mr Green Be more relaxed about uniform and jewellery New headteacher Hotline to support students who are struggling Shorter lessons Bus to Newmarket Longer lessons Fewer questionnaires! Don ’ t have such high expectations of students What one thing would you do to improve this school?

1: Think of people in music, media, sport, politics. Who do you see as positive role-models? Michael Jordan; Johnny Wilkinson; Richard Branson; Marcus Trescothick; Gary Lineker; David Beckham; Paul Merton; Tiger Woods; Slash; Thierry Henry; Bob Geldof; Rolling Stones

2: Think of teachers who motivate you most successfully. What do they do? Mr G - funny; tells us what we need to know; knows his stuff Mr W - teaches well; encouraging; takes no rubbish from anyone Mr W - honest; encourages everyone, not just the best Mr P - energetic; makes lessons active Mrs C - lively; fun Mrs W - explains clearly; not patronising.

3: How could we encourage you to take on leadership responsibilities around school? Give everyone in Year 11 someone to look after in Year 9 Give us more responsibility Get us teaching younger students - eg how to play the guitar Better rewards policy Extra privileges Give us more say Rewards - eg non-uniform Let us run clubs.

4: Put these in rank order: Lessons Breaks / lunchtimes Extra-curricular activities Weekends 100% like weekends best 79% like lessons least (98% in bottom two) 50:50 split between breaks / extra-curricular

Parent Evaluations …

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT The essential skills of good teachers EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT What do you think are the 3 most important ingredients of good teachers / tutors …?

EVALUATION FOR SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT The essential skills of good teachers / tutors Establish expectations based on school evaluation Build into school systems - observation sheets, performance management, Faculty reviews Build differentiated training around them Add self-evaluation opportunities

Eg: Essential Literacy

Effective tutors … Know and care about students in their tutor groups See monitoring and target-setting as a core part of their job Understand the need to work with students on skills beyond the classroom – emotions, motivation, social skills, courtesy, how to speak appropriately in difficult circumstances Are well organised and manage time well Listen actively Pay attention to small details – courtesy, thanks Treat poor behaviour as simply a choice and good behaviour as a characteristic Apologise when they do something wrong or inappropriate Catch students being good far more than they catch them getting it wrong Have genuine interest in students ’ lives and experiences

Good practice in tutor time … One student collecting register One student sorting register box, giving you announcements One student each week reading out the “ Thought for the Week ” and briefing students on assembly arrangements that week “ 4-minute limelight ” : One student per week talking about an interest / passion / hobby they have. Other students asking them questions End of each week: One thing I ’ ve learnt this week that I didn ’ t know or couldn ’ t do on Monday ” Discussion of something in the news Rapid planner signing Informal conversation between tutor and individuals / small groups

Evaluation for School Improvement Geoff Barton Thursday, October 15, 2015 PowerPoint available to download at