1. Appraisal of Principals and Tumuaki Webinar 2b - Inquiry Into Practice
Naumai Haere mai.
Ko Kerry Mitchell ahau.
Thank you for taking the time to view and participate in this webinar.
This webinar is designed to be used by Board representatives who could not attend Workshop 2 of Appraisal of Principals.
This webinar has been developed to support Principals and their Board chairperson to:
develop, refine and engage in a Performance Review/ Aappraisal system that fosters learning
undertake evidence-based leadership inquiries as a central component of Performance Review/ Appraisal
have a shared understanding that the Performance Review/ Appraisal process supports the Principal in their role as Principal.
Appraisal of Principals and Tumuaki Webinar 2b - Inquiry Into Practice

2. Setting goals/objectives (Strategic and annual)
What we will cover
Strengthening our understanding and practices in Professional Inquiry into Practice
Setting goals/objectives (Strategic and annual)
Looking at trends over time
Overlaying our schooling improvement journey, my Inquiry into Practice and my Appraisal
Today we will examine an example of an inquiry and how that example demonstrates a strong evaluative process based on:
Clarity of focus (what we want to achieve)
Clearly defined strategies for change
The importance of using data and evidence over time
How we as principals can use evidence we gather as part of our school’s improvement journey.

3. What you need
Resource Booklet for this webinar
The Principal’s Performance Agreement
Effective School Evaluation: how to do and use internal evaluation for improvement – an Education Review Office Resource

4. Spiral of Inquiry Setting my Performance Goal and my Inquiry Focus
What is the data/ information now showing? Evidence here will benefit my learners as next steps
What data/ information do I have?
Appraisal conversations: Progress and next steps
Let’s start by thinking about our inquiry into practice. You will recall this diagram from previous workshops and webinars.
In developing an inquiry into practice the spirals of inquiry process can guide our thinking and our actions.
Essentially the scanning and focusing phase of inquiry provides ample data for you to develop your goals. As you move through the process of inquiry you will see a strong parallel between the checking phase and your ongoing appraisal conversations.
Developing a Hunch …. What data/information do I have? This will be useful as evidence throughout the inquiry. I can use this to make comparisons and judgements along the way.
               Checking …..What does my data/ information look like now? What has or hasn’t changed? This will be useful evidence for my leadership.
               Scanning…..Again what is the data/ information now showing? Evidence here will benefit my learners as next steps.
What does my data/ information look like now? What has or hasn’t changed?
Graphic credit: Judy Halberg and Linda Kaser (2013)
Ref: Helen Timperley, Linda Kaser and Judy Halbert

5. Learner Focused Evaluation Processes
Effective School Evaluation
Monitoring and Evaluating Impact
Noticing
Investigating
Collaborative Sense making
Prioritising to Take Action
Learner Focused Evaluation Processes
We can do better
Setting my Performance Goal and my Inquiry Focus
Appraisal Conversations:
Progress and next steps
Another way to consider inquiry is to look at the ERO resource Effective School Evaluation.
This resource sets out a process much like spiral of inquiry. It also identifies some key questions that you might ask at each stage of the process.
The noticing and investigating phases will provide ample data about what needs to be focused upon and therefore form the basis of your performance goal or inquiry.
Collaborative sense making can occur in many places and importantly should happen during the ongoing appraisal conversations you have with your appraiser and within your school setting. It allows us to make sense of our inquiry with the perspectives of staff/students / whanau and with the BOT and our appraiser. It allows opportunity for the PTCs and  PS and Tataiako to be explored giving us multiple perspectives and next steps.
Go to pages 14 – 19 of the ERO resource. Review the tables contained on each page.
Talk with each other about how this process aligns to your own inquiry process within your Appraisal. You might like to use page 3 of your workbook to jot down a few ideas.

6. Setting Performance and Inquiry Goals
Performance Goals can come from
Inquiry Goals come from
Strategic Plan
Annual Plan along with Analysis of Variance
Education Review Office recommendations
Feedback from previous Appraisal(s) and Principal’s learning needs
Identification of a significant achievement challenge –
For example
student engagement
student learning
academic achievement
Now let’s play the process out. Setting a goal or focus for inquiry is just the start. Many of the achievement challenges we face in our schools cannot be addressed quickly and take time to effect real change. We may also refine and change our focus as improvements are made.
This is also true for the Principal’s appraisal goal and inquiry – each year the goal or focus will be drawn from:
Performance Goals can come from
Strategic plan
Annual Plan along with Analysis of Variance
Education Review Office recommendations
Feedback from previous Appraisals – Principal’s learning needs
Inquiry Goals come from:
Identification of a significant achievement challenge – student engagement, student learning, academic achievement…

7. The Key Questions for the Focusing Inquiry Goal are
What is important (and therefore worth spending time on), given where my learners are at?
What strategies (evidence-based) are most likely to help my learners learn what they need to learn?
What will I notice about my changed practice and the impact on my learners?
Clarity of goal (what you are aiming to achieve) is critical.
So too is the idea that although we may have a hunch about what will work we need to suspend judgement and be open to what the inquiry shows you and where it takes you. The actions may be different to what we had expected as we progress through an inquiry.

8. Goal
When setting goals a clear and motivating endpoint in relation to the needs of learners must be identified
This is about outcomes. What outcomes am I wanting to achieve and for whom?
Students
Parents
Staff

9. The learning needs of students? The learning needs of teachers?
Do the Goals reflect
The learning needs of students?
The learning needs of teachers?
The outcome that will be achieved if the goal is met?
Good appraisal goals should lead to:
Actions
Clarity
Energy

10. Time bound Changed practice By the end of the year
I have strengthened my own inquiry processes through effectively leading the school improvement focus of developing resilience within our students
so that at risk students are more engaged and well supported in their learning. .
Lets take a look at a goal that is focused on an outcome, changed practice and has a time frame associated with it.
It is important to note again that clarity of goal does not always equal clarity of action. In a true inquiry the actions become determined by the evidence. What are we noticing about what is changing, how might we need to adjust our actions?
Have a look at your performance agreement. Do the goals you have set:
Reflect the learning needs of students?
The learning needs of teachers?
The outcome that will be achieved if the goal, is met?
How might they be sharpened?
Outcome for students

11. Performance Management
Appraisal Components
Appraisal Report
Overall evaluative judgements/ statements with reference to PS/ PTC & Career Structure Criteria
Key strengths
Next steps/concerns
support to be provided
Performance Management
Renewal of practising certificate (every 3 years)
Annual performance review (for growth and development)
Goals
Goals established
Indicators of success agreed
Evidence sources and perspectives agreed
Timeframes and actions
Support to be provided
Written into Performance Agreement
Appraisal Discussions
Interpreting evidence
Affirmation
Feedback
Next steps
Now let’s make the link between setting goals and the Appraisal process. This diagram will be very familiar to you.
I want to draw your attention to the purple segment – this segment is all about what evidence a principal might curate in order to demonstrate how they are making progress towards meeting their own leadership goal and how, in doing so, the school’s improvement journey continues.
Evidence Curated
Charter/strategic plan
Student outcomes (AoV)
Participation in professional learning
Feedback – staff, students, parents, board

12. Using our evidence Narrate To describe the data Curate
Pull the evidence together in an organised way so that we can make sense of it
Evaluate
Use the evidence to affirm progress and to identify next steps…
Collecting evidence and doing nothing with it is just collecting stuff.
An inquiry into practice requires us to examine data:
To describe the data
To pull it together in an organised way so that we can them make sense of it.
And most importantly, once we have the evidence in an organised way we can evaluate the evidence and use it to affirm and to make changes.

13. Linking Inquiry to Appraisal Using Evidence in Appraisal Conversations
Appraisal Discussions
Interpreting evidence
Affirmation
Feedback
Next steps
Appraisal meetings are an opportunity for the Principal to reflect on and interpret data from a leadership perspective and to link this back to the performance goals.
Let’s look at page 4 of your workbook. Here you will find a set of possible discussion points that may assist you to plan for your appraisal meeting.
Take some time now to record what evidence you will take with you to your next appraisal meeting that will allow you to discuss some of these points.
Stop the webinar while you review page 4.
Linking Inquiry to Appraisal Using Evidence in Appraisal Conversations

14. An Example of a Principal’s Inquiry Into Practice
Now let’s look at an inquiry process in action. Meet Paul Olsen who is the Principal at St Kevin’s School in Oamaru. St Kevin's’ School caters Year 9 to 15, secondary and is a boarding and day school.
In the 3 minute video clip we are about to watch Paul talks us through the process of inquiry he used as part of his Appraisal process.
Use page 5 of your workbook to take some notes about each aspect of the process as you watch the video.
When you are ready move to the next slide and watch the video clip. You may want to watch it twice in order to capture all of the detail.

15. Linking Inquiry to Appraisal
By the end of the year
I will have strengthened my own inquiry processes through effectively leading the school improvement focus of developing resilience within our students…
so that our at risk students are more engaged and well supported in their learning.
Paul believed that focusing attention on his at risk students was important and worthy of effort in order to improve outcomes for those students. It makes really good sense that as part of his Appraisal Paul’s goals capture this.
Let’s look at page 6 of your workbook. Paul’s Performance Agreement goals for the current year might look something like this. In subsequent years the goal may be refined and adjusted to take into account progress made towards achieving the goal.

16. Professional Learning
Sources of Evidence
Paul’s Evidence Shows
Outcomes
Data from SMS system and our interpretation and use of the data  
Feedback from students – focus group interviews
Analysis of Variance
Leadership Practice
___________________’s portfolio reflections
and coaching notes
Professional Learning
Minutes of SLT meetings
Turn to page 7 of your workbook. The sources of evidence stated on this page are linked to the example of a PA on page 5. You may be able to think of other sources of evidence that Paul could use to assist him to demonstrate his progress.
When you look at the sources he has stated what do you believe his evidence might show? Stop the webinar now and complete the right hand column of this table.

17. Professional Learning
Sources of Evidence
My Evidence Shows
Outcomes
Leadership Practice
Professional Learning My
Evidence
As I indicated earlier: Appraisal meetings are an opportunity for the Principal to reflect on and interpret data from a leadership perspective and to link this back to the performance goals.
Now look at your own goals and evidence. Choose one of your goals or your inquiry focus. On page 8 of your workbook jot down your evidence sources and a few notes about what your evidence shows. To what extent does your evidence show:
Your learning
Your changed professional practice
The impact of your changed practice on outcomes for students?
Take some time now to review your inquiry goal, your curated evidence and how you could use your evidence to talk with your appraiser
Stop the webinar now and record your comments.

18. Learner focused evaluation processes
Overlaying our School’s Improvement Journey, my Inquiry into Practice and my Appraisal
Monitoring and evaluating impact
Noticing
Investigating
Collaborative sense making
Prioritising to take action
Effective School Evaluation page 15 to 19
Learner focused evaluation processes
We can do better
Lets review our key intention for today - that of overlaying our school’s improvement journey, my inquiry into practice and my Appraisal.
Go back now to the ERO Effective School Evaluation pages 15 to 19. Use them to reflect on and question your inquiry and your Appraisal.
Do they help you to see the coherence between your inquiry, Appraisal and school improvement journey?
What can they add to your next steps as a Principal that will also serve the purpose of internal school self-review?
Use page 9 of your workbook to complete this task.

19. Pulling It All Together
Affirm progress
Identify next steps
And finally…
On Page 10 of your resource book is a copy of a summary report that affirms progress and shows where the next steps may be for this Principal.
Use the blank template on page 12. What would you record under each of the headings. Take some time now to jot down some of your thoughts.
This is where you will stop the webinar and we leave you.
We wish you well in your pursuit of effective Appraisal that supports you in your role as Principal.
Ka kite ano.