Unit One Indicators and characteristics of school effectiveness

Introduction
Schools and Departments of Education have become increasingly aware of the need to be effective. This is partly due to the pressures for accountability brought about by the government through the Ministry of Education. The parents in a school are also becoming increasingly aware of the need for their children to have a sound education and the qualifications that go with it, to prepare them for the rigours of their adult lives.. At the same time, a realisation of the importance of the issue has grown as heads and staff have sought to increase effectiveness in the school setting as part of the development of professionalism. In this unit, you will focus on the concepts and characteristics of learning and teaching effectiveness, and consider your role in the process of monitoring school effectiveness.

Individual study time: 3 hours

Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you should be able to:

explain the concepts of effectiveness, monitoring, evaluation, accountability, professionalism, assessment and performance in the school setting;
identify the characteristics of an effective school;
describe when and how learning and teaching are effective in the school setting;
state the characteristics of effective guidance and counseling for school pupils;
outline the qualities of a good head as a leader;
explain how school ethos and policies contribute to school effectiveness.

Terminology
In order to avoid ambiguity in the interpretation of the contents of this module, the following definitions are suggested:

Monitoring: This can be defined as collecting information at regular intervals about ongoing projects or programmes within the school system, concerning the nature and level of their performance. Regular monitoring provides baselines against which to judge the impact of inputs and identifies areas for improvement.

Effectiveness: This is the extent to which the set goals or objectives of a school programme are accomplished. Such effectiveness can be seen in relation to the quality, quantity, equity or equality of learning and teaching in a school.

Efficiency: This is the extent to which the inputs produce the expected outcomes in a school setting. Increased efficiency means achieving the same or better outcomes with fewer or the same inputs.

Accountability: This is the process of justifying to others our job performance in relation to agreed goals and targets. In other words, it is accepting the responsibility for providing the conditions and learning experiences which will promote the development of the students to effectively participate in the development of the society in Guyana.

Professionalism: This is the practice of setting, maintaining and working to improve educational standards in Guyana

Evaluation: This is a formal process normally linked to monitoring. When carried out within a school setting, it involves forming conclusions about the quality of education provided and the overall effectiveness of the school. It uses data provided from the monitoring process. This data may be qualitative or quantitative in nature. In other words, it may be based on observation and judgements about what has been seen or has happened; or about hard numerical data, usually about pupil performance over a given period. The evaluation could be formative or summative in nature. Formative evaluation will be used by the school to identify strengths and weaknesses and develop an action plan to build on the strengths and improve the weaknesses. Summative evaluation is normally used by external agencies such as the Department of Education and the MERD Unit. Although, remember that the “D” in MERD stands for “Development” which would mean that their judgements should be formative in nature and schools would be helped to improve.

Assessment: This involves the measurement of performance against a set of criteria.

In the above list of terms a simple definition of effectiveness was given; but what exactly does this mean?

What is effectiveness?
When people discuss what they mean by ‘effectiveness’, we find that a number of terms and concepts will constantly crop up, including efficient, improvement, quality, development, evaluation, monitoring, reviewing, professional, appropriateness, accountability, performance, etc. This shows us that the concept of effectiveness is very broad. It deals with purpose, effort and accomplishment. Measurement may be used but it also involves judgement. The determinants are manifold and complex. Thus, the head may perceive the school’s effectiveness as the pupils’ performance in the external examinations. The parents may perceive the school’s effectiveness in the way their children behave at home and perform at national examinations. Society may perceive the school’s effectiveness in terms of the good moral behaviour of the children. The Ministry of Education may use a combination of indicators. The following indicators may be used in the school setting:

Internal performance indicators over a given period of time
Qualitative indicators where judgements are made about what has been observed against certain criteria, usually the objectives and mission of the school and national expectations
External performance indicators such as CSEC, CAPE, A level etc.
Staff productivity indicators such as punctuality, attendance, examination results, participation

Reflect for a while on whether you consider your school to be effective. Consider external examination / test results, qualitative indicators and whether you consider the school meets its stated objectives and mission.

Comments
You will not only consider whether the examination / test results are at the level they should be but also whether there is continuous improvement over time as a result of the strategies you have employed to improve them. You will have looked at every aspect of your school from the use of appropriate teaching methodologies to pupil behaviour and personal and social education to effective financial management.

It will be useful now for you to compare your thoughts on this matter with the ones below and then attempt to make some assessment of your school’s effectiveness on these indicators as well.

Indicators for measuring school effectiveness
When looking at the effectiveness of a school, it is important to look at the whole institution as every part of it can have an impact on the quality of learning that takes place – the principle purpose of the school. When one part does not function well, it affects the whole. For example, the best methods of learning and teaching will be severely hindered by a teacher’s inability to control unruly pupils and, conversely, poor teaching methodology will affect the behaviour of children.

In looking at the whole school, therefore, we will consider the following:

1. The leadership of the school
The amount to which the Headteacher and SLT creates the vision for the school, articulates it to all and ensures that it is carried out
The way in which the Senior Leadership Team will create the ethos in the school which is conducive to effective learning and pupils’ social, moral and cultural development
The degree to which the SLT prioritises pupil achievement and school effectiveness
The amount of effective and guided delegation given to middle leaders in the school (HODs, SMs, Level heads etc.)
The scope created for team work and the effective involvement of all staff
How the school uses it’s resources including human, property, financial and educational materials

2. The standards achieved in the school
The school’s results and pupils’ achievements
The progress pupils make over a given period of time

3. Pupils’ attitudes and the values they hold
What pupils think about the school
Children’s behaviour in and out of the classroom
The way the children develop in school and their personal relationships with each other and with the teachers and staff
Pupil attendance
The climate of the school

4. The quality of teaching and learning
The methodologies used by teachers and their effectiveness
The extent to which the lessons are intellectually challenging
The quality of teaching and learning
The way children learn
The structure of lessons and lesson planning

5. The curriculum
The quality of the curriculum offered and the extent to which it is followed by the teachers
The extent to which all children are catered for regardless of their race, ethnic group, gender or ability
The extent to which provision is made for children with Special Educational Needs, whether physical or learning related, temporary or permanent (See module 4)
How the school provides for the social, cultural and moral and spiritual development of children
The way in which the school cares for its children generally .i.e. a child centred approach.
The quality of assessment and the way it is used to improve pupils’ learning
The scope of the record keeping procedures in the school

6. The school’s relationship with its stakeholders
The relationships of staff within the school
The involvement of parents within the school
The attitudes of parents to the school
The relationship with the local community
The relationships between the school, the Department of Education and the Ministry of Education.

7. The professionalism and accountability of the school’s staff
The extent to which school staff set, maintain and work to improve educational standards in Guyana
The way in which all staff of the school accept their responsibility to others, in and out of the school in relation to achieving the school’s agreed goals and targets.
The degree to which all staff carry out and fulfill their contractual responsibilities.

8. The areas in which the school does well

9. The areas in which the school needs to improve

Activity 1.1
1. You have been provided above with 33 overall indicators of an effective school. Judge your school in general on these indicators by scoring each one with a points score of 1 – 10 with one being low performance and ten being high performance in each area. Do not spend too long thinking about it, but for this exercise, give an overall first impression. However you do it, be really honest and consider the evidence you have for your judgements.
2. Add up your scores and convert it to a percentage (your total score divided by 330 multiplied by 100)
e.g. 225 x 100 = 68.2%
330
3. Now indicate three areas for numbers 8 & 9 above – what the school does well and what needs to be improved.

Comments
It is clear that there are very many ways of judging an effective school and your original list may have been somewhat different to this one. However, heads often overlook many of these factors, and it would be useful for you to examine some of them more carefully so that you can reflect on the effectiveness of your school. We will deal with this in much more detail as we progress through the module.

Effective learning and teaching
The quality of learning and teaching should take precedence over other factors of school effectiveness. This is because effective learning and teaching determines the perceptions of everyone who is interested in the quality of your school. Because effective learning and teaching start from the classroom, let us see how pupils learn effectively in a classroom situation. Pupils learn effectively when they:

are motivated
understand the purpose and relevance of their work
are given tasks in a sequence planned to maximise learning
are able to use available resources and know where and when to ask for help
show consideration for one another and for the teacher
rise to the challenge of working and show commitment
have first-hand experience and are able to observe, estimate, record, measure, collect, classify and interpret
formulate and test hypotheses
acquire key information and are able to recall it in new contexts
plan, choose and take responsibility for their learning
acquire study skills and use resources well
revise and practice to improve performance
receive feedback on their progress from teachers and from other pupils
present good work for others to see or hear
undertake tasks in their own time and out of school
work co-operatively in groups
read, write, listen and discuss in a variety of contexts
experience the creative aspects of individual subjects.

Think about some different groups of children in your school and ask yourself to what extent they are provided with the above factors which will improve the quality of their learning.

Comments
It is an accepted fact that really effective learning requires a good teacher. This implies that there are certain key qualities of an ‘effective teacher’. Children and adults will learn whatever their circumstance and without parents and a teacher. Life’s experiences will provide them with opportunities for learning through experimentation, improvisation and trial and error.

However, to be a really rounded person, a child needs to have his / her learning accelerated and the scope for his / her experiential learning widened. This is done through the teacher and the available learning resources. It is true to say, therefore, that the quality of these will affect the quality of learning. It is, therefore, the role of the teacher to provide for these key factors of learning and the responsibility of the headteacher to ensure that they do!

You may find it useful to consider the answers you gave to the above activity in relation to the following qualities of an effective teacher:

§ patience
§ firmness
§ enthusiasm
§ calm control
§ tolerance
§ understanding
§ fairness.
§ ability to generate an atmosphere of purpose
§ seeing learners as individuals
§ ability to communicate effectively



§ encouraging
§ emotionally stable
§ physically stable
§ willingness to praise
§ a genuine interest in pupils
§ valuing pupil contributions

Activity 1.2
1) Can you suggest other qualities that an effective teacher should have?
2) Identify the qualities of teachers in your school in relation to their ability to teach effectively.
3) Which qualities, if any, would you suggest are generally exist and are lacking amongst your teachers?

Comments
Before a teacher can be effective, he or she must plan and organise their teaching well. The following are guidelines for an effective teacher in planning and organising teaching:

Be clear about the learning objectives both for each lesson and for the whole programme.
Plan each lesson well, anticipating where questions, explanations and feedback will be appropriate.
Allow learners to reach outcomes in different ways.
Provide resources in such a way that allows learning to progress with little interruption.
Use learning groups of different and appropriate sizes.
Match methods and tasks to the abilities of pupils.
Use the space available to best advantage including the use of displays.
Set tasks in varied and imaginative ways.
Be aware of other approaches to learning used by colleagues.
Model how pupils can improve
Put the children’s interest first
Cater for the individual needs of all children, regardless of their gender, age, ability, race or ethnic group
Ensure you provide for children with Special Educational Needs.

The collection of information about teaching styles and the extent to which they are successful becomes crucial if teachers in your school are to improve their learning and teaching processes. Observation of classroom practice and the systematic collection and reporting of data about the quality of teaching is essential.

For effective monitoring, the head should try to check on a day-by-day and week-by-week basis what learning has taken place. Here, the main judgements about effectiveness will be in terms of the quality, the quantity and the variety of tasks engaged in by the pupils and its relationship with effective learning.

Effective guidance and counselling
One aspect of school effectiveness is the extent to which the head introduces and manages a programme of guidance and counseling of the children. This involves ensuring good relationships between teachers and pupils, meeting the needs of individual pupils and working with all the teachers to create a generally caring atmosphere. For effective guidance and counselling, the school head should note:

The need for effective organisation structures in the school
The need for effective communication.

Effective organisation structures
The school organisation structure and procedures should ensure the effective care of the pupils. They will vary from one type of school to another, but in general for effective guidance and counselling the following requirements are essential:

appropriate information on pupils
appropriate confidentiality at all times
sound advice and reassurance for pupils and parents at important times of transition
appropriate counselling sessions with the pupils on a regular basis
prompt responses in crises
continuity of procedures for a pupil moving through the school
effective forms of records and record-keeping
a policy in which all teachers and especially middle and senior leaders are involved in information and review of the school policies.

Communication
Effective communication is an essential tool for the head in managing the school and ensuring that staff are aware of the pupils’ needs at the right time. In respect of this, the following guidelines for ensuring effective guidance and counseling are suggested:

Make a clear statement of policy which preferably all staff have the opportunity to formulate and review.
Apportion and describe jobs and relevant tasks.
Link guidance and counseling with the academic systems so that an all-round view of the pupils is available.
Give all staff an appropriate and satisfying role within the school’s activities.
Ensure a flexible system which allows teachers to maintain an interest in a child rather than handing a case totally to a colleague.

In addition, there should be a regular review of the progress of pupils with specific problems and formally conducted interviews and general discussion on important issues affecting the school pupils. In some schools, a special office is created for counselors.

Finally, it is important to consider effective communication with parents. This may be through the form of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meetings or during visiting or open days.

Activity 1.3
Plan an Open Day for the parents of your pupils during which the parents and teachers can receive reports on the progress, problems and prospects of their children. You should list areas of interest to you, including those which fall within the area of guidance and counseling. Your objectives for the Open Day should be clearly stated in the plan. You might consider such questions as:

what should the parents see and why?
What should the role of the teachers be?
How can all the pupils play some part in the programme?

School leadership
The head is the leader in the school setting and he or she is involved in a number of activities:

The strategic direction and development of the school
The provision of effective learning and teaching i.e. curriculum planning, coaching of teachers, developing methodology, assessment and monitoring and evaluation.
Leading and managing staff to achieve the stated aims, objectives and mission of the school
Efficient and effective deployment of staff and resources i.e. physical assets, buildings, personnel, recruitment, budget.
Accountability – to self, children, staff, parents and the community,

The effective leader will do this by:
ensuring the school has a coherent vision for the future and that it is communicated to all
providing opportunities to work in partnership with others as part of a team
identifying the training needs of staff and developing them
being accountable to all

To achieve this, he / she will:
be confident
have drive to lead the school forward
have the ability to influence others both within and outside of the school
be able to see the big picture beyond the school
be an excellent communicator
be capable of making decisions at all levels
be a good motivator of people

Consider for a moment your own ability in the above activities and characteristics. If you like you can rate yourself in the same way as you did in Activity 1.1.

Effective leadership is essential for the achievement of results. The head’s leadership strengths or weaknesses affect the performance of the entire school. He or she can:

clarify or confuse objectives, the extent to which the curriculum is oriented to personnel and criteria for measuring performance
stimulate or inhibit optimum performance
encourage or retard the use of his or her staff’s abilities, skills and interests
provide or withhold incentives for growth and development
enhance or undermine job satisfaction and morale.

As a school head you would want to consider the following:

to what extent I am democratic or display other styles of leadership (see Unit 2 Module 1)
the level of group participation or teamwork in which I involve my staff
the results achieved from this participation
my ability to use authority without arousing resentment, especially amongst senior staff
the level to which I prevent my wishes from being distorted by those who transmit them
the different responses that staff will have about my leadership.

Activity 1.4
Evaluate you own performance in the six areas outlined immediately above.

Comments
If you have been totally honest and you can find positive examples of your practice in the areas in which you are performing well, you will either be satisfied with your performance or have identified areas in which you need to improve. The whole purpose of self evaluation is to recognise issues for which you need further development. You will do this in a non-threatening way at your own pace. Better to realise your own strengths and weaknesses than to be told them as part of an inspection report over which you have no control.

All good leaders will need to develop personal attributes such as awareness, sensitivity and an understanding of human relations. In addition, they will need skills in the techniques of ascertaining the cause of personal problems, mastery of the art of changing behaviour and skills in on-the-job coaching.

You might like to consider also some further leadership characteristics.

The effective head:
adds value to the resources of the school
is a prime mover
energises staff
promotes the satisfaction of staff needs
builds a committed and cohesive work group
sets an example to staff
is a resource expert
is a change agent
is an essential link between staff and pupils

It is possible that you are beginning to feel daunted by the requirements and characteristics of an effective leader and are wondering how you will evaluate yourself against them. Evaluation should always be based on evidence. You have no doubt already developed many of these characteristics. The recognition of those you need to work on will provide you with targets for you to meet over a period of time. Do not expect to be all things all at once. Identify your development needs and find ways of achieving them one by one, usually through experience.

School Ethos
Most schools have traditions for efficiency, effectiveness and quality, which are reflected in the pupils’ behaviour, dress, discipline or the school mission. Parents often choose a particular school because of their belief in its ethos as reflected in the teachers’ attitude to pupils and general evidence that good relationships prosper.

As a school head you may be able to think of some other aspects. The following are identified as factors associated with a good school ethos:

The general well-being of pupils
Teacher commitment and morale
Positive attitudes of teachers to pupils to each other
Recognition of the motivating effects of praise
A sense of identity and pride in the school
Suitably high expectations of academic progress and behaviour
The quality of teaching
The way the senior leadership team supports the staff
Opportunities for pupils to participate actively in their own learning
The range and quality of extra - curricular activities
The opportunities for pupils to assume responsibility
An appropriate degree of both cooperation and competition
A concern to establish good relations with parents and the wider community
Staff consensus on the mission and values of the school
Pleasure in learning
A sense of belonging
Courtesy
Firm but fair classroom management
Care for the fabric of buildings
A functional and supportive former students’ body
Sound school policies relating to such areas as the curriculum, teaching styles, assessment, guidance and counselling, provision for pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities, discipline, resource management, management structure and procedures, homework and staff development.

An examination of school policies in each of the above areas will tell us a lot about the school’s prevailing ethos.

Ask yourself if your school has such written policies that are communicated to the staff and expected to be followed. If not, why not?

Although there are common basic policies in schools, most vary from school to school; but differences occur also in the nature of policies themselves. Some policies are documented, while others are traditions and a part of the school ethos. There are administrative policies which differ from statutory ones. But having a policy is one thing, ensuring that it is implemented is quite another and here, the head’s role is crucial.

Given the policies you have identified above, recollect for a moment on how you monitor to ensure that those policies are maintained by all in the school. If you do not do so, consider why not.

Comments
The means you adopt to monitor the implementation of school policy will of course vary, depending on the nature of the policy. The important point is that monitoring and evaluating are essential for an effective school system and may involve many agents and elements and especially all the staff at different levels. In conclusion:

1) Each school has policies and practices which require monitoring and evaluation across all aspects of school life.
2) Individuals should monitor and evaluate their own practices, taking their pupils’ views into account whenever appropriate.

Summary
Monitoring, evaluating and reviewing, therefore, are features of what should go on in every school. Everyone engaged in the process, at whatever level, should seek to improve the effectiveness of the school for the benefit of all concerned – staff, parents, the community, and potential employers. The various characteristics and features of effective learning and teaching and of the effective head have been explored in this unit. Subsequent units will look in more detail at how evaluation may be undertaken.

We started our discussions in this unit by looking at a few concepts, the major one being that of effectiveness. Some indicators of school effectiveness were identified, but there is no doubt that the effectiveness of the school is closely tied to the existence of some key school management characteristics. These include sound teaching and learning, functional school organisation, good personal relations, effective guidance and counselling, a good school ethos and effective leadership as well as continuous monitoring and evaluation. The latter can be considered a defining characteristic of effective leadership and management.