WELCOME
Welcome to "School Self-Evaluation for Administrators".
Even though administrators aren't usually directly involved in the processes of self-evaluation, they should nevertheless have an understanding of what goes on. This course aims to provide administrators with the knowledge and understanding they require to support the effective self-evaluation of their schools.
The course is divided into three modules:
- Administrators and schools
- What is school self-evaluation?
- Keeping in touch: administrator-teacher links
As you work through the course, you will:
- analyze the relationship between the administrators and the school's leadership team
- reflect on the effectiveness of your school's current policies and procedures for self-evaluation, and consider how they might be developed
- develop your knowledge and understanding of how you, as administrators, can construct practical policies to support self-evaluation
PREPARATION
You don't need to do any preparation work before starting this course.
COURSE STRUCTURE
This is an independent study program which means your individual starting date and due date are based on your date of registration. Your instructor will advise you of this due date.
This is an interactive online course. Although you will be able to complete some of it just by sitting in front of your screen working through the online material, we will regularly ask you to reflect on what you have learned, and put ideas into practice.
- Activities - exercises or reflections for you to carry out in front of your computer screen. Unlike a Task, there is no specific end product, and you'll always be able to complete them on your own.
- Tasks - similar to Activities, but requiring you to put your learning into practice in a specific situation in school.
- Forms - use to collect the information learned.
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Resources -
a) RESOURCE FORMS: Has PDF forms to help you answer questions in the Student Books
b) RESOURCE FURTHER READING: Includes clarifications about the module.
c) REFERENCE LINKS: Has links to websites referred to in the module.
d) DEFINITIONS: Has definitions of terms used in the module.
e) BIBLIOGRAPHY: The bibliography is located at the bottom of this page that includes books you may check out at your local library.
- Student Book- for you to record your reflections and send to your instructor.
At any time you may email your instructor with questions or problems you may be having with the material or the web site.
How do I get the Student Book to my instructor?
You will need to email it to your instructor. Download and save the document as described below and then you can enter your own text into the Student Book word document. Your instructor will expect a version of your Student Book as you complete each module. These can be saved by you in your files as well as being sent to your course instructor via email as an email attachment.
How do I save and name the Student Book?
You cannot type your answers on this web site. You must download your Student Book template which is a word document, by clicking on the download link below.
For your Student Book, please use a text document or a Microsoft Word document and type your text there. Title the document like this:
- NAME OF CLASS
- NAME OF TEACHER
- YOUR NAME
- DATE
- MODULE1
[NAMEOFCLASS_TEACHERSNAME_YOURNAME_MODULENUMBER.doc ]
like this
6208_DRCLARK_JOHNDOE_MODULE1.docSave the Student Book on your computer and complete the assignments on the document and then email it to your teacher.
INDEX
STUDENTBOOKS Click here to download all student books
RESOURCES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
REFERENCE LINKS
Module 1: Administrators and schools
MODULE1A Intended learning outcomes for Module 1
MODULE1B Who's responsible for what?
MODULE1C Activity 1: Relationship between the administrators and staff
MODULE1D Task 1: Working together in your school
MODULE1E How the relationship bears on self-evaluation
MODULE1F Activity 2: What do you need to know?
MODULE1G Knowledge is strength
MODULE1H Task 2: Responsibility
MODULE1I Moving on to self-evaluation
MODULE1J What have you learned? Review of your learning from Module 1.
MODULE1K Congratulations
Module 2: What is school self-evaluation?MODULE2A Intended learning outcomes for Module 2
MODULE2B Looking at school self-evaluation
MODULE2C Activity 3: Questions to ask about school self-evaluation
MODULE2D Activity 4: Reflection on school self-evaluation
MODULE2E Activity 5: Why is it important?
MODULE2F What does self-evaluation consist of?
MODULE2G Activity 6: Defining the stages
MODULE2H Activity 7: What has to be evaluated?
MODULE2I Activity 8: What counts as evidence?
MODULE2J Activity 9: What self-evaluation happens in your school?
MODULE2K Task 3: Investigating the evidence of self-evaluation
MODULE2L Activity 10: Understanding policy and practice
MODULE2M What have you learned? Review of your learning from Module 2
MODULE2N Congratulations
Module 3: Keeping in touch: administrator-teacher links
MODULE3A Intended learning outcomes for Module 3
MODULE3B The involvement of administrators in self-evaluation
MODULE3C Activity 11: Outside visits to school
MODULE3D Focused school visits
MODULE3E Activity 12: Why school visits must be focused
MODULE3F Outside visits have to be planned
MODULE3G Activity 13: Planned administrator visits
MODULE3H Setting guidelines for administrator visits
MODULE3I From the head's perspective
MODULE3J Developing the guidelines
MODULE3K Task 4: Canvassing your administrator colleagues
MODULE3L School visit protocol
MODULE3M Task 5: Drafting a set of guidelines or a policy
MODULE3N Logging visits
MODULE3O More guidance on classroom visits
MODULE3P Activity 14: When teachers visit the administrative body
MODULE3Q Structured teacher visits
MODULE3R What have you learned? Review of your learning from Module 3
MODULE3S Congratulations
Module 1: Administrators and schools
MODULE1A Intended learning outcomes for Module 1
By the end of this module you should:
- be clear about what is an effective relationship between any governing boards and the leadership team
- understand in some detail how this relationship works
- understand how this relationship bears upon the school's policy of self-evaluation
This course is adapted from the British Educational Module intended for their system and those staff members associated with International Schools. While the process and reflections are valuable to all administrators in a global sense, the integrity of the terminology has been retained (particularly in the resources) which may give you pause to question the applications for your situation.
Be advised that "governing body" or "governor" may refer to all federal and state department of education administrators, but more often it means your local school board, the local school district superintendent, those district managers who operate out of the district office and other fellow members of your administration team.
"Head" generally refers to lead teachers who may assume responsibility when the building administrator is gone, unit leaders, curriculum department heads and building principals who may or may not also be teaching within the school.
Enjoy a cup of tea and contact your instructor if you have any questions.
MODULE1B Who's responsible for what?
School self-evaluation is one of many issues that lie on the boundary between administrators and leadership team responsibilities. On the one hand, you are held accountable for standards of performance in your school - a responsibility that implies a degree of evaluation and monitoring. On the other hand, you could justifiably say:
"Hold on! We're not education professionals, and evaluation and monitoring certainly look like professional activities to me."
This sentiment lies at the heart of the relationship between any lay governing body in any walk of life, and the professionals who put their strategies into action. It's a subtle link, which is often misunderstood. For that reason, before we look at the detail of school self-evaluation, we need to ask you to be clear about your understanding of your role as an administrator.
MODULE1C Activity 1: Relationship between the administrators and staff
What is the nature of the relationship between the administrators and the school's staff ? If you think this is difficult to articulate, then even more reason for trying to do it. Write your thoughts in your Student book (1), and then print out and read Resource 1: The Board - an example for a more extended reflection on this issue.
You can then return to your Student book if you wish, and add to or amend what you've written, in the light of your reading. You can follow this pattern throughout the course.
MODULE1D Task 1: Working together in your school
Print out Resource 2: Ten-point questionnaire. This is designed to help you see whether that proper working relationship between staff and administrators is in place in your school.
You'll see from the content of the questionnaire that it has a direct bearing on how you might approach monitoring and evaluating the work of your school.
MODULE1E How the relationship bears on self-evaluation
Let's look at the staff/administrator relationship from another direction by asking:
'What, as administrators, do you need to know about the work of your school?'
Then we can extend the question to:
'What, as administrators, can or should you do to influence the work of your school?'
MODULE1F Activity 2: What do you need to know?
What, as administrators, do you need to know about the work of your school?
This is a pretty open-ended question and one best approached quite quickly by noting down a list of ideas just as they come to you. Record your ideas in your Student book (2). You'll see we've provided some headings to guide your thinking.
Don't spend too long on this - no more than 15 minutes. To see some prompts, look at our Resource 3: Ideas.
MODULE1G Knowledge is strength
The point we're making here is that you can't be knowledgeable partners in self-evaluation unless you have good understanding of the way your school works. You don't need to know the fine detail - which physics textbook is used, which particular courses Mrs. Jenkins took last year (though it's good to pick up such details when you can, especially if they interest you personally), but you do need the big picture.
MODULE1H Task 2: Responsibility
For most of the items listed in Activity 2, it's not just a question of knowing about them but of having direct responsibility. That doesn't mean you'll run the detail of each item yourself, but you'll question your leadership team, knowing that it is you who will be responsible for success or failure. So as your final Task in this module, you will question the leadership team to find out the detail of how the school works.
Of course, you'll need to arrange an appropriate time and place to do this, and agree it with your fellow administrators and the superintendent first.
Print out the full list of items you need to know, from Resource 3: Ideas and your Student book (2). Put them before you, deciding:
- whether you know enough about the item, and how you can learn more if necessary
- to what extent you feel you carry out your responsibilities to the item, and how you can improve
- to what extent you're content to delegate most, or all, of the responsibility for the item to the leadership team
MODULE1I: Moving on to self-evaluation
You can see that before you can be an effective "critical friend" to your school , you need to be as clear as possible about the relationship between administrators, the leadership team and staff.
You won't get it right first time, or all the time - there are nuances and hazy boundaries that are only clarified when issues crop up and are dealt with. The important thing is to be thinking about the relationship, maintaining dialogue between principals and the leadership team, and focusing all the time on the school's core purpose, which is the improvement of teaching and learning. Above all, don't let any misunderstanding or lack of agreement escalate into confrontation or mistrust, because that doesn't help anybody.
MODULE1J What have you learned? Review of your learning from Module 1.
When you have worked through the Activities and Tasks in this module, please look again at the intended learning outcomes for Module 1.
By the end of this module you should:
- be clear about what is an effective relationship between administrators and the leadership team
- understand in some detail how this relationship works
- understand how this relationship bears upon the school's policy of self-evaluation
How much has this module helped you to achieve these outcomes? Make a note in your Student book (3) - save your responses and e-mail your comments to your instructor.
Module 2: What is school self-evaluation?
MODULE2A Intended learning outcomes for Module 2
By the end of this module you should:
- understand the nature of school self-evaluation
- see how it fits into your vision for your school
- understand how you as governors fit into the process
MODULE2B Looking at school self-evaluation
Having established in Module 1 that you really do have considerable responsibility for school self-evaluation, let's now look at what it actually is. It's one of those phrases that seems to have an obvious meaning, but when you start thinking about it, it raises a lot more questions. To begin with, let's see if we can come up with some of those questions and then later we'll explore some of the answers to them.
MODULE2C Activity 3:Questions to ask about school self-evaluation
Imagine your district superintendent says to you: "Of course, we're going to be much more into self-evaluation." It's said in a way that seems to take for granted that you'll know what it means. But if the phrase is new to you - and we'll assume for the moment that it is - you need to be bold and ask for more details.
So even if you think you know all about it, imagine you're an inexperienced administrator and, in your Student book (4), take fifteen minutes or so to write down the questions that come to mind. You'll find our ideas in Resource 4: Some possible questions about self-evaluation, but you'll probably have others of your own
MODULE2D Activity 4: Reflection on school self-evaluation
It's not difficult to see that the process of answering those questions, discussing them and adding the detail, will form the basis of this course.
So let's start by getting your off-the-cuff answers to some of them. Go to your Student book (5), and without doing any research, just note down your initial responses to the questions there.
MODULE2E Activity 5: Why is it important?
There's a lot of emphasis on school self-evaluation. Education professionals clearly think it's important. Why is that?
In your Student book (6), see if you can write down a short list of bullet point reasons for the importance of school self-evaluation.
Then have a look at Resource 5: School self-evaluation is important because..., and make any additions or amendments to your Student book.
MODULE2F What does self-evaluation consist of?
On its own, self-evaluation is quite a vague term. It becomes clearer when we break it down into its component parts. There are various ways of doing this, but one way is to think of it as a three-stage process comprising:
- monitoring
- evaluating
- reviewing
You can add a fourth stage to this, something like "acting", then you can make the whole thing into a circle, because you follow your action with monitoring, and then start all over again.
MODULE2G Activity 6: Defining the stages
We need to know what each of these stages consists of. At this point, try and make your own definition of each, recording your ideas in your Student book (7).
If necessary, talk to some fellow administrators and to teachers. You may find they all have different ideas from each other. Don't worry about this, listen and see if you can find common threads. Pay particular attention to finding the difference between "monitoring" and "evaluating", because there's often confusion here.
When you've done some reflection of your own, look at some more ideas in Resource 6: Defining the stages.
MODULE2H Activity 7: What has to be evaluated?
You should now be a bit clearer about the process of self-evaluation, even though there's still some way to go.
However, we can't leave it there. Having established the nature of the tool we now need to understand to what exactly, we apply the process. The quick answer is "school performance", but we need a bit more detail than that.
In your Student book (8), make a list of the sub-headings you think are encompassed by "school performance". When you've run out of ideas, have a look at Resource 7: What should the school be evaluating?
MODULE2I Activity 8: What counts as evidence?
Before you can make judgments about school performance, you need evidence of what that performance is.
What information, exactly (and here the word "evidence" is suitable) would help your school to evaluate each of the categories listed in the previous Activity? Go to your Student book (9) where we've listed the categories from Resource 7.
Look at the list and try to answer that question for each of them. Don't spend long on this. If you don't know, don't worry. The leadership team need to know in detail what counts as evidence. Your strategic responsibility requires you to have a general idea, but it's not a disaster if you can't say.
If you get stuck, look at Resource 8: Evidence of performance, where you'll find brief suggestions for each.
MODULE2J Activity 9: What self-evaluation happens in your school?
Although they're not exhaustive, we'll use the list of headings for evidence that we used in Resource 8 as the basis of this Activity.
The aim is to see if you know, without any research in school, whether each of these evidence-gathering activities actually happens.
Click on Resource 9: Evidence of performance (2), and run quickly down the list, asking yourself if you know whether each activity happens in your school. There's no need to write anything down at this stage, but if you come across an evidence-gathering activity which you know takes place in your school, ask yourself:
- When does it happen?
- Who does it?
- How are the results recorded?
- To whom are they reported?
- Does the evidence definitely inform planning and future action?
MODULE2K Task 3: Investigating the evidence of self-evaluation
Now print out Resource 10: Collection of evidence (which covers four pages), and take it into school. For each activity, ask enough questions (to the appropriate person) to be able to write two sentences which explain the basics of how the evidence is gathered under each of these headings.
Which of these areas is examined systematically in your school now? Who does it? Senior teachers? Who else? What information is shared with the school board?
We then suggest you summarize the information you get in your Student book (10), to focus your thinking and to have a printable record available.
MODULE2L Activity 10: Understanding policy and practice
Assuming that some of these activities take place - perhaps systematically, perhaps not in some cases - what happens to the evidence gathered?
How is the evidence recorded in your school? Is it gathered to a standard format? Are those gathering the evidence sure about what they are looking for?
Who is evidence and information passed to? Is it passed to the school board? How is feedback given?
How is the evidence from lesson observation and scrutiny of students' work put into the school's cycle of planning for improvement? Is it a coherent part of the school development plan?
Note your answers to these questions in your Student book (11), and note down what you need to clarify.
Think about how and when you could raise your views with the district administrator, other principals, school board, or curriculum coordinator.
(Note: it's likely that there will be a range of questions or queries to raise, so it might be better if you deal with them all together when you have completed the course. There will be tasks at the end of the whole course about formulating administration' policies in respect of self-evaluation.).
MODULE2M What have you learned? Review of your learning from Module 2
When you have worked through the Activities and Task in this module, please look again at the intended learning outcomes for Module 2.
By the end of this module you should:
- understand the nature of school self-evaluation
- see how it fits into your vision for your school
- understand how you as administrators fit into the process
How much has this module helped you to achieve these outcomes? Make a note in your Student book (12) - save your responses and e-mail your comments to your instructor.
MODULE2N Congratulations
Module 3: Keeping in touch: administrator-teacher links
MODULE3A Intended learning outcomes for Module 3By the end of this module you should:
MODULE3B The involvement of administrators in self-evaluation
In Module 1, we implied that if they are to play their part in school self-evaluation, it's necessary for administrators to be able to visit school during the daytime. In the first, and longest, part of this module we'll see why we think this is important, and we'll see how administrator visits might be handled, and how they can fit into the school's program of self-evaluation.
It's absolutely vital that all aspects of such visits are carefully considered and protocols properly maintained. A breakdown of trust caused by administrators overstepping the mark, marginalizing the principal's role, or appearing to behave as inspectors can and will cause irrevocable damage to the relationship between the School Board and the school.
MODULE3C Activity 11:Outside visits to school
First, let's take your own ideas. In your Student book (13), write down in outline, why it's essential for administrators to be available to visit school during the working day. Then have a look at Resource 11: "Why administrators need to visit the school", and add to or amend your own list.
Most of the reasons listed in Resource 11 were obvious. Let's home in on the last one - the program of focused school visits.
We use that phrase to emphasize that school visits by administrators (by which we mean visits that involve looking at the work of the school in classrooms and discussing it with teachers) can't be ad hoc. As an administrator, you can't simply drop in on your way to work one morning and say, "I had half an hour to spare so I thought I'd look at a couple of math lessons".
Why is that? After all, you're probably a friendly person, with the school's interests at heart, and you get on well with the staff when you meet them at evening events and meetings.
Think about this statement:
"I had half an hour to spare so I thought I'd look at a couple of math lessons".
Consider the functions and responsibilities of the school, then come up with any reasons why you shouldn't be able to drop in to a classroom and see what's going on.
Record your thoughts in your Student book (14).
Then see Resource 12: "Why administrator visits must be focused", and add to or amend your own thoughts.
MODULE3F Outside visits have to be planned
We've seen that there's a clear need for administrators to visit lessons and talk to teachers and other staff. Without that contact, they can't properly understand the basics of how the school works - including its self-evaluation process.
There's a fine balance to be achieved here. As we said in Module 1, the administrator is not an inspector. The administrator is not there to judge - or evaluate - what happens in the classroom, or in any sense to pronounce upon the competence of a teacher. And if relationships are to be positive, teachers need to be reassured about this.
The answer is good cooperative planning so that both staff and administrators know what the agenda is when administrators visit school.
MODULE3G Activity 13: Planned administrator visits
Reflect for a moment on how you might achieve a working balance between these pressures:
- teachers worry about the motives of a visiting administrator
- administrators need to find out how the school works
- administrators are aware of the need to be non-threatening and non-judgmental
In your Student book (15), note some thoughts about how you might approach this problem, which is common to all schools and governing bodies. In Resource 13: Basic principles, you'll find some thoughts that may help you.
MODULE3H Setting guidelines for administrator visits
Review the three principles in Resource 13: Basic principles, you can begin to see how to develop a set of guidelines within which administrator visits to school should operate. We're going to ask you to do just that. But first, let's flesh out the guiding principles.
Administrator visits should:
- arise from, and take place within, the school development plan, or a policy within it, such as special needs, behavior or numeracy
- not be ad hoc, but planned and timetabled in advance, by agreement with staff and the principal
- be subject to clear agreed definitions of why the administrator is in a classroom, and how the visit should proceed
- be reported back, in non-judgmental terms, to the governing body
- provide information which will inform future planning and policy
MODULE3I From the Principal's perspective
In order to see in a little more detail how a visit should work in practice, have a quick look at the following scenarios and questions. They show a administrator visit from the principal's point of view, and should help illuminate some of the issues.
The principal's looking through the office window and sees a car draw up. It's the district administrator - and she's not expecting a visit. Will the principal:
Quickly phone her secretary and say she can't be disturbed.
Emphasize to her secretary that the administrator isn't to come past the reception desk, but must be asked to make an appointment.
Come to the front door and greet the administrator.
The administrator says: "I was just passing and remembered the discussion we had about math, so I thought I'd pop in on the off-chance of seeing a lesson'. What reply should be expected from the principal?
"Of course! Follow me!"
"Out of the question. I'll have a strike on my hands!"
"Sorry. Your interest is really welcome, but a classroom visit needs advance notice if we're to be fair to the teacher. Let's sit down and talk about this for five minutes with a view to discussing it in more detail at the next meeting."
The administrator says: "Fair enough, but any chance of seeing a copy of the math policy and perhaps having a chat with the teacher in charge?" What do you think the principal would say to this?
"I'll go down and get him. The teacher next door can keep an eye on his class."
"Look. We're all busy. Can I respectfully suggest that you let us get on with our jobs?"
"I'll sort out a copy of the policy, and if you give me a couple of dates I'll see if we can arrange a chat with the subject leader. Again, we'll need to mention it at the next administrators' meeting."
Clearly, what we're looking for in these situations is a compromise. That's exemplified in each case in the third of the three options. For some more discussion of the background, read Resource 14.
Now let's look at the practicalities of establishing a policy for administrator visits. There are various possible approaches - here's one of them:
- ensure that the school development plan is kept under continuous review by the leadership team and
- also by the administrators
- as each section of the school development plan comes up for administrator review, set up visits by the
- administrator to see the:
- relevant area in action
- review the guidelines and documentation for these visits
- ensure that there's feedback from the administrator to governing body or committee meetings
- ensure that this feedback produces advice, upon which school management can act
What we're describing here is a mechanism whereby administrators can participate in real evaluation of the work of the school in a way that is entirely consistent with their role as critical friends.
This list of actions begs yet more questions. You could, for example, make each into a question by adding, "How can we..." to the beginning of each point. That leads us naturally into trying to provide answers.
Print out Resource 15: Questionnaire for involving governors in school self-evaluation used in England. It contains the list of practical points we raised in the last section converted into a questionnaire, with space for answers. The term governors refers to any members of administration, school board or federal/state visitors.
Notice that we haven't left a huge space for answers - administrators need to avoid too much detail. In most cases, you may simply say: "We do this already". That's fine, but it's helpful to revisit and confirm each point.
In our comments on the questionnaire, we suggested that:
"An administrator needs to understand the diplomatic niceties of visiting classrooms".
Here are some suggestions as to the principles that administrators need to remember when visiting classrooms.
- Administrators are not inspectors, and shouldn't behave like them.
- The visiting administrator's job is mainly to listen and learn - to understand what's being taught, how, and why.
- Importantly, it's also to hear what teachers and students have to say about how management and administrators should be helping them. For example: "I really wish we had enough textbooks for the students to have one each. I've been banging on about this for two years!"
- Administrators' comments should be framed in non-judgmental style - so it's not "You don't seem to be setting enough homework", but "Do you have any problems making the school's homework policy work?"
- The administrator should not promise to sort out difficulties. "Leave it to me" is misleading and raises false hopes. "I understand your point and will take it up..." is honest and realistic. The administrator should listen, make notes, and then raise the questions tactfully with the teacher or the principal in a debriefing, and then later more formally with the governing body.
Based on all that we've done so far, prepare a draft set of guidelines (call it a policy if you like) covering administrator visits to your school. It's a draft because it has to be approved by the governing body as a whole - and, if you want it to work, it should be shown to the staff, the principal and the leadership team at draft stage. Keep this draft in your files as your Resource 16.
For another tool which might be helpful, print out Resource 17: Governor visit log, a simple form that you can use to log a visit. It looks basic, but you can adapt it for your own needs, and more importantly, if it's filed, you end up with a good cumulative record of visits to school. A governor is any administrator, school board member or visitor from an educational agency who might be interested in your SDP (School Development Plan).
Finally on this subject, a word about the niceties of being in a teacher's classroom.
We can't emphasize too strongly the fact that many teachers are nervous of being observed in the classroom, even by friends and colleagues. The presence of an administrator can be unnerving, particularly for an inexperienced teacher.
You can print out Resource 18: Classroom visits: guidance for governors, and use it as a guidance document on the subject. You could also circulate it to all administrators as a reminder, and maybe include it in any materials given to new administrators.
MODULE3P Activity 14: When teachers visit the administrative body
As well as visiting school, administrators can also play a useful part in evaluating the school's work by inviting teachers to their meetings to report on their work. It's important that these sessions are planned and focused. In order to help you see what this means, quickly answer these questions:
- Do teachers, other than those who are members, ever attend administrative body meetings?
- If they do, at whose invitation is it?
- Assuming that they speak, does the teacher:
give a factual presentation, with figures and visual aids? - invite administrators to participate in curriculum activities?
- take questions?
- leave you feeling genuinely more informed than before about the work of your school?
Go to your Student book (16) to write up your thoughts.
MODULE3Q Structured teacher visits
The last Activity should have provided the necessary clues about how to extract value from teacher presentations to the administrators. Here are the principles that emerge:
- Teachers - as representatives of areas of the school curriculum - should be invited by the administrators.
- The invitation is via the head, who will have some say as to which member of staff is the appropriate one to attend.
- You'll need to emphasize, via the principal, that the presentation should be well prepared, with enough facts and figures to show you what progress is being made by students.
- You should be ready to ask questions.
- Get this right, and you have another valuable way to monitor and evaluate the work of your school.
When you have worked through the Activities and Tasks in this module, please look again at the intended learning outcomes for Module 3.
By the end of this module you should:
- understand the principles that should lie behind governors visiting school
- know how to plan and conduct a school visit
- know how to plan a visit by a member of staff to the governors' meeting
How much has this module helped you to achieve these outcomes? Make a note in your Student book (17) - save your responses and e-mail your comments to your instructor.
RESOURCES
Resource 1: PDF
Resource 2: PDF
Resource 3: Ideas
Curriculum
- what subjects are taught
- what exams are taken
- policy on reports to parents and meetings with parents
- outline homework policy
- outline understanding of the school's approach to teaching styles
- curriculum resources
- particular understanding of how special educational needs are managed
Staffing
- names, qualifications and experience of staff
- general understanding of staffing structure
- how decisions are made about deployment of staff (although you won't make these decisions)
- understanding of how staff performance is managed
- knowledge of staff salary policy
- understanding of how professional development is managed
- knowledge and understanding of how pupil performance is assessed and recorded
Finance
- clear understanding of how the budget is arrived at and managed
- how funds are raised
- how financial resources are used
- salary policy
- understanding of the principles of good financial practice
- how fee levels are established
Administration
- knowledge of who does what in the school office
- general understanding of the administrative demands placed on staff
- understanding of resources needed in and used by administration
Site and buildings
- general understanding of health and safety issues
- knowledge of the state of the building and of plans for its upkeep
- understanding of how the building and the grounds are used in and out of school hours
Resource 4: Some possible questions about self-evaluation
- What precisely do you mean by evaluation? Is it measurement, and if so, of what? Performance of students? Of individual teachers? Of management? Of planning?
- When you say "self", who do you mean? The teacher? The leadership team? The administrators? All of the staff? The students?
- How exactly is it to be done? As a formal periodic exercise? Unprepared judgments as you go along? Tests? Written reports?
- What do we do with the results of your evaluation? Have meetings about them? Use them in future planning? File them away?
- Perhaps most importantly, where do we, the administrators, come in?
Resource 5: School self-evaluation is important because...
It underpins school improvement
The improving school must know at any one time whether and how it is improving, and it can only sensibly make this judgment through the efforts of its own staff – you can't rely on external assessment for every facet, detail and step of the process.
It's necessary for effective planning at every level
From individual tasks in individual lessons in individual classrooms right up to the strategic plans that articulate the long-term vision for the school. You can't plan the next step if you don't know how effective the last one was.
Preparing your school for accreditation means you can evaluate your progress and effectiveness
If the accreditation report takes you by surprise, then it's probably because your self-evaluation wasn't effectively done. Or maybe the visiting team got it wrong, in which case your self-evaluation, if you're confident of it, will form the basis of your challenge to the team's conclusions.
It tells you what your staff's training needs are
This enables a school to put together coherent training strategy. It will also show whether you need to fill any gaps by recruitment.
It enables you to demonstrate value for money
Highlighting how you use your school's budget wisely.
It is a necessary tool for administrators and school managers who are looking to change the school in any way
Such as changes to update buildings, to add specialist rooms, to change the curriculum, to change the fundamental nature of the school (e.g., the admissions policy, exam program, age levels). Where major change is planned, whether forced upon you or deliberately chosen, you have to know where you are now so you can measure the effects of what happens in the future.
Today's school must be focused on learning
And that means learning in the staffroom as well as in the classrooms and labs. If that's to happen, self-evaluation – "What have we learnt today?" – has to be embedded in the culture.
Resource 6: Defining the stages of self-evaluation
Monitoring
Monitoring implies systematic measurement. This means you pick out activities and apply as many measuring tools as you sensibly can – these might be tests, teacher judgments, figures about behavior and attendance. These measuring tools provide you with evidence. As far as possible, this evidence is firm and defensible. (It doesn't have to be clinically objective all the time. Teacher or management judgments are an important part of monitoring.)
Evaluating
Evaluating means looking at the evidence you've identified in the monitoring process, and seeing how it compares to any stated aims and objectives, and making judgments about where and how to make improvements.
Reviewing
Reviewing is the summed-up report of your evaluating process, setting its conclusions against the stated aims and objectives of the process you are evaluating. When you do this you can see whether, how and to what extent the aims and objectives are being met, and plan to do something about the results of the evaluation.
Acting
Logically, you're led onwards, relatively straightforwardly, to the point where you can plan any necessary action which will make improvements. You apply the action, then you start the process all over again.
Resource 7: What should the school be evaluating?
- the quality of teaching and learning
- the attainment of students
- the behavior and attitudes of students
- the quality of extra-curricular activities
- the care, support and guidance of students
- relationships with parents/guardians
- relationships with the community
- the quality of leadership and management
- inclusion (in the broadest sense – all adults and students, of all races, abilities, ages, given equality of opportunity
Resource 8: Evidence of performance (1)
The quality of learning and teaching
Results of lesson observations
Answers and work by students that confirms they have reached the learning objectives of the lesson
Meeting explicit criteria for effective teaching and learning
The attainment of students
Test and exam results, including "value added" measures
The behavior and attitudes of students
Observation of students in lessons and around the school
Attendance figures
Number of behavior incidents
Number of suspensions or expulsions
The quality of extra-curricular activities
Observation and auditing of out-of-school activities
The care, support and guidance of students
Results of student surveys
Observation of student/staff relationships
Behavior measures
Attendance figures
Relationships with parents
Attendance at parents meetings
Auditing of parental complaints and other communications to the school board and to the school
Existence and effectiveness of home-school activities (e.g., reading records, homework diaries, homework tasks involving parents)
Relationships with the community
Observation of business and other community link activities
Auditing of communications to school and school board from neighbors, shopkeepers
Observation of quantity and quality of out-of-hours use of the school by community groups
Inclusion of community groups in daytime activities (e.g., assembly, library, computer training)
The quality of leadership and management
Staff satisfaction surveys
Staff absence and turnover
Quality and quantity of professional development opportunities for all staff
Inclusion (In the broadest sense – all adults and students, of all races, abilities, ages, given equality of opportunity)
Review of the building for disabled access (if appropriate)
Representation in the school of the local community
Make-up of the governing body
Make-up of the staff
Numbers in the school of students with an SEN statement
Numbers of requests for admission from parents of children with special needs
(A useful self-evaluation tool for inclusion is the Index for Inclusion, published by the Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education.)
Resource 9: Evidence of performance (2)
- systematic classroom observation
- "trawls' of students" work by senior teachers
- systematic recording and analysis of assessment and achievement data
- use of "value added" measures in judging achievement
- recording and analysis over time of behavior incidents
- recording over time of extra-curricular provision
- recording and analysis of attendance patterns
- questionnaires on satisfaction and attitudes among students
- questionnaires on satisfaction and attitudes among parents
- questionnaires on satisfaction and attitudes among teachers
- systematic recording of evidence of the quality of home-school relationships
- systematic recording of evidence of relationships with the community
- systematic management, by a designated senior person, of staff professional development
- management of inclusion – by ability, race, gender, age
Resource 10: CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD
Resource 11: Why administrators need to visit the school
You need to be available to visit school because:
It's important to meet the staff, and you can't easily do that only in evening meetings and functions.
- You need to get a feel for their working conditions.
- You need to see the children at work in school.
- You need to understand how the building and the grounds (for which you have a heavy responsibility) work when they are being
- used.
- You need to see the resources, for which you have budgeted, being used.
Perhaps most importantly, you can only take part in a program of focused school visits if you're available in the daytime to do so.
To sum up: you can't sensibly govern your school, taking strategic charge of its fundamental policies of development, improvement and evaluation unless you are able to see it at work.
Resource 12: Why administrators visits must be focused
You have to understand that however easy it might be at the personal level, the working relationship between the administrators and a classroom teacher isn't as easy or relaxed as administrators might either hope or believe. That's because there's always going to be the knowledge that the administrators is in a position to have a substantial effect upon a teacher's career. After all, the governing body:
- recruits teachers
- sets teachers' salaries
- is responsible for handling competence or disciplinary issues involving teachers
- may receive complaints from parents about teachers
- is even in a position, for example, to make the teacher redundant, by, for example, removing the teacher's specialty from the curriculum, or getting involved in a contract renewal discussion.
So when you, as an administrator, appear in a teacher's classroom, smiling and trying hard to be genial, you have to remember that the teacher may have in mind any or all of the powers of the governing body that we've outlined above. The moment you arrive, a teacher may ask any or all of the following questions of the administrator:
- Are they at this moment considering my salary?
- Are they looking into a complaint against me?
- Are they thinking about not renewing my contract?
You, of course, can laugh this off as humorous. But you aren't standing where the teacher is standing.
Resource 13: Basic principles
There are some basic principles that should guide governor visits to schools:
- Visits, just like everything that administrators do, need to adhere to the principle that no governor has any independent authority. Anything a administrator does must be within a decision or policy of the governing body as a whole.
- Visits by administrators to classrooms should be subject to protocols and timetables agreed by the governing body – upon which teachers are represented.
- Visits should not be ad hoc, but planned within the context of school strategies, e.g., school development, school improvement, school self-evaluation
Resource 14: Administrator visit seen through the principal's eyes.
The underlying message here is three-fold:
- administrator visits to school have to take place within an agreed framework
- it's important that well-meaning, friendly and enthusiastic administrators don't underestimate the anxiety that their presence can provoke among teachers who don't see past the official role
- it's a matter of commonsense that if a busy administrator wants to gain value from a visit, then the school needs notice to prepare and to make sure the right people are available
But this doesn't mean that a administrator can't drop in to school, say, to pick up a letter or to have a quick word with the principal if they're available. And a wise and welcoming principal will find time to greet the administrator, even if it's only to say, "Sorry I can't talk for long, I have meeting with a parent".
Resource 15: PDF
Resource 16: PDF
Resource 17: Click to download
Resource 18: Click to download
REFERENCES
Name: National Association of Independent Schools
Description: The 'conference and workshops' section includes information on the 'Leadership Through Partnership' workshops being held in the USA.
URL: http://www.nais.org
Name: Council of International Schools (CIS)
Description:The 'events' section includes information about workshops on 'Leadership Through Partnership' and 'Governance Through Partnership' being held outside the USA.
URL: http://www.cois.org
Name: The National Policy Board for Educational Administration (NPBEA)
Description: This site offers information for many educator leadership groups.
URL: http://www.npbea.org/
Name: Edutopia
Description: This is the George Lucas Educational Foundation website for the benefit of educators.
URL: http://www.edutopia.org/
Name: 5 Great Websites for School Administrators
Description: A article that lists five educational websites with a short description for each site.
URL: https://www.topeducationdegrees.org/lists/5-great-websites-for-school-administrators/
Name: U.S. Department of Education
Description: This site offers links on all subjects and topics in Education.
URL: http://www.ed.gov/
Name: National Education Association
Description: Explore this site for current issues and research.
URL: http://www.nea.org/
Do an Internet Search for research and available workshops in your in your area of interest. Explore your state education agency for current procedures, laws and regulations. They are updated frequently, so bookmark your sites and check back regularly.
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BACK TO INDEX
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