Introduction

The principle purpose of a school is to provide learning. The Headteacher of a school must ensure that this function is carried out effectively. We might assume, therefore that this is his / her most important role.

A question which might seem both easy and perplexing to answer is: What makes an effective school? It is essential that all schools are effective as every child within them is entitled to the same quality of education as every other child, whatever his / her background, ability, social class, race or ethnic group. We need, therefore, to know what we mean by this term, how we can determine the extent to which each school is effective, identify the areas requiring attention and employ strategies to bring them up to an acceptable standard.. A school may be effective in some areas of its operation and life, but less successful in others. How can we determine these and how may we then plan and provide for an improved performance?

In Guyana, the MERD Unit is a key agency for determining school quality at Ministry level. The Regional Departments of Education have an overview of the standards of the schools within their region. However, each school must be able to evaluate its own performance and initiate plans for improvement without waiting for external agencies to provide advice and support. The aim of this module is to explain and demonstrate how this might be done.

Individual study time: 16 hours

Objectives
After working through this module you should be able to:

explain the concept and main characteristics of an effective school;
describe the reasons for monitoring and evaluation and its place in good management practice;
apply systematically a range of monitoring and evaluation techniques;
plan a programme of monitoring and evaluation aimed at improving practices and performance;
demonstrate how to analyse and use evaluation findings to inform school decision-making processes;
identify a balanced set of performance indicators and explain both their use and their limitations.

Units
This module is divided into five units.

Unit 1: Indicators and characteristics of school effectiveness 3 hours
In this unit you will learn about a range of concepts relating to school effectiveness and some of the characteristics by which you and your staff may recognise the degree of effectiveness of your school.

Unit 2: The Rationale for monitoring and evaluation 3 hours
Here you will derive a rationale for evaluating school effectiveness as part of a process of accountability to the pupils, the parents and the community.

Unit 3: Monitoring and evaluation techniques 4 hours
Here you will learn some of the evaluation techniques which you need to use with your staff to monitor and analyse the performance of different aspects of school life, and which may also be used by external agents, such as the REDO / DEOs or the MERD Unit.

Unit 4: Planning a programme of monitoring and evaluation 4 hours
In this unit you will learn how self-evaluation may be developed as a normal part of the planning and management processes organised by you and your staff.

Unit 5: Using monitoring and evaluation findings 2 hours
The results of an evaluation have to be used to develop aspects of school work. In this final unit you will determine the conditions and requirements under which the results of the evaluation exercise undertaken by you and your staff may be used for the further development of your school.