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Indicators and
Characteristics of School Effectiveness
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Introduction
Schools and education authorities have become increasingly aware
of the need to be effective. This is partly due to the pressures
for accountability brought about by governments at the federal,
state and local government levels and the parents, and by the
economic down turn and resulting reduced resource allocations.
At the same time a realisation of the importance of the issue
has grown as school heads and staff have sought to increase
effectiveness in the school setting as a 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, 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
counselling 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.
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 either the quality,
quantity, equity or equality of educational instruction given
in a school.
Efficiency: This is the extent to which the inputs
produce the expected output in a school setting. Increased
efficiency means achieving the same or better outputs 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.
Evaluation: This is a formal process, carried out
within a school setting and designed for particular educational
purposes. It involves asking questions, gathering information
and forming conclusions. The evaluation could be formative
or summative in nature.
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?
In discussions to determine what we 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, ranging over 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 the pupils
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 government may use a
combination of indicators. For example, the Federal Government
of Nigeria's Policy on Education focuses on the following
indicators of the school setting:
• internal performance indicators
• operating indicators
• external performance indicators
• staff productivity indicators.
These are summarised in Fig 1.
Fig 1 Indicators for measuring school effectiveness
| 1 Internal performance indicators |
2 Operating indicators |
Average length
of study
Success rate: graduation rates
Distribution of pupils
Market share of applicants
Teaching performance
Pupil learning outcomes |
Class sizes
Staff/pupil ratios
Pupil workloads
Resource usage
Space usage
Assets and equipment |
| 3 External performance indicators |
4 Staff productivity indicators |
Acceptability of graduates
Destination of graduates
Employer/community feedback
Awards and honours |
Publications
Contracts
Invitations
Citations and qualifications
Membership in professional bodies |
Activity 1.1
List ten ways in which you can recognise that your school is
effective.
Comments
It will be useful now for you to compare the list you have
made with the one below, and then attempt to make some assessment
of your school's effectiveness on these indicators:
• purposeful leadership of the staff by the head
• the involvement of the heads of department
• the involvement of other teachers
• structured lessons
• intellectually challenging teaching
• work-centred environment
• maximum communication between teachers and pupils
• efficient and accurate record-keeping
• parental and community involvement
• positive climate
• consistency among teachers
• productive division of labour among teachers
• good parental report.
It is clear that there are very many ways of judging an effective
school and your list may have been somewhat different. However,
heads often overlook many of these factors, and it would be
useful for you to examine some of them more carefully, and
for you to reflect on the effectiveness of your school.
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 set about tasks in an orderly way
• 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 practise 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.
Activity 1.2
(1) Which of the above factors overlap?
(2) Which of these factors would you suggest may be found in
your school?
(3) Can you add to this list?
The following tabulation format might assist you in recording
your answers to the above exercise; you may adopt a different
method if you wish.
Exercise(1)
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Exercise (2)
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Exercise (3)
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1
2
3
4
5
6 |
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'. 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,
ability to generate an atmosphere of purpose, understanding,
seeing learners as individuals, ability to communicate effectively,
a genuine interest in pupils, valuing pupil contributions,
encouraging, emotionally stable, physically stable, willingness
to praise, fairness.
Activity 1.3
(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
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:
1 Be clear about the objectives both for each lesson and
for the whole programme.
2 Plan each lesson well, anticipating where questions, explanations
and feedback will be appropriate.
3 Allow learners to reach outcomes in different ways.
4 Provide resources in such a way that allows learning to
progress with little interruption.
5 Use learning groups of different and appropriate sizes.
6 Match methods and tasks to the abilities of pupils.
7 Use the space available to best advantage including the
use of displays.
8 Set tasks in varied and imaginative ways.
9 Be aware of other approaches to learning used by colleagues.
10 Put the children's interest first.
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 pupils.
Effective guidance and counselling
One aspect of school effectiveness is the extent to which
the head introduces and manages a programme of guidance and
counselling 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 and
parents on a regular basis
• prompt responses in crises
• continuity of procedures for a pupil moving through
the school
• effective forms of records and of record-keeping
• a policy in which all teachers and promoted staff 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 counselling
are suggested:
1 Make a clear statement of policy which preferably all staff
have the opportunity to formulate and review.
2 Apportion and describe jobs and relevant tasks.
3 Link guidance and counselling with the academic systems
so that an all-round view of the pupil is available.
4 Give all staff an appropriate and satisfying role within
the school's activities.
5 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, formally conducted interviews
and general discussion on important issues affecting the school
pupils. In some schools, a special office is created for counsellors.
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 the visiting days.
Activity 1.4
Plan a visiting 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 counselling. 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
Leadership has been defined as 'The work a manager performs
to cause people to take effective action'. The head is the
leader in the school setting and he or she is involved in
five main management activities:
Decision-making: arriving at conclusions and judgements;
Communicating: creating understanding;
Motivating: encouraging and inspiring people to take
the required action;
Selecting people: choosing people for positions in
the school;
Developing people: helping people to improve their
knowledge, attitudes, and skills.
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 jobs, and criteria for measuring
performance
• stimulate or inhibit optimum performance
• encourage or retard the use of his or her subordinates'
best abilities, skills and interests
• provide or withhold incentives for growth and development
• enhance or undermine job satisfaction and morale.
Activity 1.5
(1) As a school head how would you answer the following questions:
- how democratic am I, and should I be?
- how much do I involve my staff in group participation?
- does this participation provide results or is it just a waste
of valuable time?
- how do I use my authority without arousing resentment?
- how do I prevent my orders from being distorted by staff?
- are there some groups of staff who seem to respond differently
to my leadership than other groups of the staff and, if so,
why??
(2) As the head of your school list some of the characteristics
you think you need to develop to improve the effectiveness of
your leadership.
Comments
Your list will probably have included personal attributes
such as: awareness, sensitivity and an understanding of human
relations; 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 compare
your list with the following summary of leadership characteristics.
The effective head:
• adds value to the resources of the school
• is a prime mover
• energises staff
• promotes the satisfaction of subordinates' 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.
School ethos
Most schools have traditions for efficiency, effectiveness
and quality, which are reflected in the pupils' behaviour,
dress, discipline or the school motto. Parents often choose
a particular school because of their belief in its ethos as
reflected in the teachers' attitude to pupils, the teachers'
skills in developing relationships with pupils and general
evidence that good relationships prosper.
As a school head can you suggest 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
• recognition of the motivating effects of praise
• a sense of identity and pride in the school
• suitably high expectation of academic progress and
behaviour
• the quality of teaching
• the way the management supports the staff
• opportunities for pupils to participate actively in
their own learning
• the range and quality of co-curricular activities and
the opportunities to assume responsibility
• an appropriate degree of both co-operation 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
• support from the government
• 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, 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 a school's prevailing ethos.
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/government
ones. But having a policy is one thing, ensuring that it is
implemented is quite another, and here, the head's role is
crucial.
Activity 1.6
Indicate at least five areas in which your school has
a clear policy available in writing, and using the format
below, state whether or not and how you monitor those
policies. |
Policy
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Monitoring method
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| Teachers must be in school at
least ten minutes before assembly each day. |
I stand at the entrance to the
school with a stop-
watch and record their arrival on a form! |
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 sum:
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.
Monitoring, evaluating and reviewing, therefore, are features
of what should go on in every school. Everyone engaged in
the process at whatever level, should seeking 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.
Summary
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 (Fig 1),
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, and continuous monitoring and evaluation. The
latter can be considered a defining characteristic of effective
management.
A self-evaluation exercise
(1) As a school head, and using the knowledge acquired from
this unit, write a brief account for your education ministry
of the effectiveness of your school.
(2) Classify the various policies of your school and explain
why some are more weighty and significant than others.
The Rationale for
Evaluation
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Introduction
This unit seeks to explain why evaluation is a necessary tool
in monitoring school effectiveness. Many school heads do not
utilise evaluation as much as they should do. They merely examine
students for examination purposes but ignore, for example, the
reports of school inspectors. They see examinations as evaluation
and consider the exam results as the end of the process. Evaluation
involves reviewing the whole school process to find out why
certain things have happened or what should be done to improve
poor performance. School heads need to be aware that they are
accountable not just to the government but to pupils and parents,
as well as the community which is served by the school.
Individual study time: 2 hours
Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you should be able to:
• list reasons for establishing standards of accountability
• identify the main functions of evaluation
• outline the place of evaluation in effective school
management.
Accountability
The broad aim of formal education is to produce human beings
who are able to appreciate the benefits of education and contribute
to the development of the community in different spheres of
life, be it political, moral, social, economic or technological.
Most governments see education as an important investment
and therefore devote huge sums of the taxpayers' money each
year to the provision of education at all levels. The government
spends money on infrastructure, such as school buildings,
on the payment of teachers and other personnel, and on the
provision of materials. There is therefore a serious need
for each government to ensure that the money provided for
education is wisely spent.
The government also needs to know that the aims of education
are being achieved. It needs to know, through constant evaluation,
where there are areas of shortcomings which need to be corrected
so that the goals of education can be achieved. In addition,
as schools draw their pupils from the community they are accountable
to the community in many ways, including, for example, the
kind of curriculum which is being operated, the quality of
examination results, and the safety of the children.
We will look further at the various functions in due course
but first let us develop our understanding of evaluation as
a management tool, building on ideas introduced in Unit 1.
Effective school management and administration
In Unit 1, monitoring and evaluating were identified as important
school management functions, necessary for ensuring effective
and efficient schools.
Activity 2.1
(1) What do you understand by an efficient and effective school?
(2) What steps should the school head take to ensure efficiency
and effectiveness?
Comments
This section recalls some of the points made about effective
schools in Unit 1 and introduces other issues relating to
efficient management and administration. As you read through
check whether these notes provide a full list of everything
which may contribute to efficient management.
School organisation
A school is established to give and receive learning. A school
that is able to discharge effectively its daily routines is
providing value for money. For this to happen, the school
should be well planned so that learning can take place in
a conducive atmosphere. A pro-active management style is required
where planning occurs well in advance of events occurring.
An efficient school should have good communication channels
for effective administration. The chart in Fig 2 is a model.
Fig 2 School organisation
This simple model shows the hierarchy in the school authority
which must be maintained for discipline. A school without
discipline cannot be efficient or effective. To each of the
offices there are specific duties attached and failure of
one officer will affect the effective administration of the
school.
School curriculum
The head should see that the school calendar is collected
from the State Ministry of Education and ensure that all school
activities coincide with the school calender. He or she must
see that textbooks, stationery, furniture, games equipment
and library books are ready before school resumes. Syllabuses
of all the classes must be available and, with the assistance
of the assistant head, teachers will be helped to prepare
schemes of work.
The head and assistant head should ensure that lesson notes
are made daily and that teachers teach according to the lesson
notes. Assignments, tests and examinations should be marked
and recorded promptly and corrections done where necessary.
Teachers should do corrections with their pupils so that they
can understand their mistakes. This will help to improve effectiveness
in teaching. Making pupils swap their exercise books for marking
without their being checked by the teacher is a practice which
should only be used occasionally.
Parent-Teacher Association (PTA)
The head should ensure that PTA meetings are held at least
once a term. It is essential that there is a cordial relationship
between parents and teachers for the effective administration
of the school. If parents are properly approached they can
help in easing some of the financial problems in a school.
In many countries PTAs have assisted schools with transportation,
building of classrooms, and some have levied themselves to
augment the children's feeding.
Staff meetings
Staff meetings (of the whole staff, departments and special
committees) should be held regularly to review the running
of the school. Heads should adopt a democratic system by listening
to teachers and understanding their personal and professional
concerns.
School records
The head should ensure that complete and accurate records,
covering pupil and staff records, stock ledgers and registers,
and other records which provide a full picture of the life
of the school, are kept. It is also necessary for the head
to have such records as Time and Movement Books so that absenteeism
and irregular movements of staff and school resources can
be checked.
School accounts
The head should keep proper accounts of income and expenditure
and bills and receipts must be accompanied by vouchers. These
are required in the auditing of the school accounts as well
as promoting the principles and practice of accountability
and evaluation in the school. The local government accounting
staff will inspect the account books of the school to ensure
that votes given to the school are properly spent.
Inspection records
The head must keep a record of all inspection reports and
discuss these with the staff so that recommendations with
regard to how the system can be improved and developed may
be implemented.
Activity 2.2
(1) Make a list of some essential features you should look for
in an inspection report.
(2) Describe how you presently use inspection records to contribute
towards improvements in your school and the mechanisms for implementing
change.
Comments
You will probably have included a range of features in your
list including observations of lessons which focus on the
effectiveness of the teaching and learning process. The important
point, which we wish to highlight here, is that inspection
records, together with the data contained in various school
records and reports, should provide information for the school
head which he or she may use as a means of institutionalising
changes in schools. If this is done then evaluation and monitoring
become major tools for effective management.
Let us now look at the functions of evaluation more closely.
Functions of evaluation
It is through evaluation that we learn to what extent the
goals of education are being achieved. It enables us to review
the progress of education and to devise new measures for its
improvement and development. Four main functions of evaluation
can be described.
Diagnosis
You can use evaluation to discover or locate weaknesses in
your pupils as to what they do not know. Diagnostic testing
will enable you to decide whether some of your pupils need
remedial courses or not. Pre-tests given at the beginning
of a class are good for determining what the pupils already
know and what they do not know. For instance, at the start
of an English lesson, you may ask for the meanings of some
words to find out if your pupils have come across those words.
You may then have to explain the meanings of such words even
before the passage is read. This is to facilitate the reading
exercise. This is a form of diagnostic evaluation - you have
got some information by which you have judged the knowledge
of the pupils and finally you have taken action to remedy
the situation.
Prediction
Sometimes we give tests to identify the aptitudes and abilities
of the pupils. This sort of test is varied so that different
types of abilities are catered for. From this test you can
predict pupils who are creative, technically or arts oriented
and as a teacher you give them exercises that will help develop
each individual's interests. The National Examination given
in Nigeria to select gifted children is a good example of
this.
Selection
Through evaluation we learn where additional and better resources
- human, material and financial - are required. Thus evaluation
is used to identify suitable persons for particular courses,
jobs, entitlements, etc.
Grading
Evaluation whereby pupils are ranked and graded in order of
performance is commonly used in schools. Grading between schools
in terms of exam results and other performance criteria provide
parents and the public with a measure for choosing which school
to send their children to.
Evaluation and target setting
In target setting, you need to have a specific objective (or
target) you want to accomplish, a plan as to how you will
achieve that target and then evaluation procedures to indicate
whether it has been achieved.
For example, you may have many underqualified teachers in your
school, who can adversely affect the quality of education. You
may decide you need to enable them to obtain training, through
upgrading. You will need to set a time limit for this upgrading
programme and also decide what method of upgrading will be immediately
useful. After setting the time target for the upgrading, you
will need to plan your approach. As teachers on the job, their
upgrading programme has to be an in-service course. You then
need to decide how many of them should go for Sandwich Programmes
held during the holidays and how many of them could be upgraded
using a Distance Learning Programme, such as has been provided
in Nigeria by the National Teachers' Institute (the NTI). The
final step in the process is to decide on criteria for evaluating
whether the objective has been achieved - and to ensure that
the results of any evaluation are utilised to plan the next
development.
Activity 2.3
Can you provide examples of ways in which the neglect of evaluation
reports has hindered the development of effective teaching and
learning in your school?
Comments
You may be able to cite examples of evaluations of projects
undertaken with particular goals, for example improving the
quantity and quality of food in your school, repairing damaged
furniture, improving discipline, etc. When actions are not taken
as recommended in evaluation reports then there in unlikely
to be any improvement and the quality of teaching might be affected.
You might like to reflect on why evaluation reports are so often
ignored, before turning to the next short activity.
Activity 2.4
(1) What problems have you encountered within your school in
trying to implement changes recommended by school inspectors?
(2) What problems have you encountered in getting the Local
Government Authority (or District Education Office) to improve
your school as a result of recommendations made by school inspectors?
Comments
Problems in improving the school might be due to some of the
following factors:
• failure to communicate and share recommendations with
those who need to know
• failure on the part of the Ministry's officials to
act
• financial and resource constraints
• inexperience in how to set about using the recommendations
to implement changes
• lack of organisation in the school to enable the implementation
of the recommendations
• mistrust of the value and accuracy of the evaluation
reports.
The last point is important. Often the quality of information
available through evaluation exercises is rather questionable
and subsequent units will explore this issue further.
Summary
In this unit you have studied the reasons why monitoring and
evaluation are essential characteristics of effective school
management. The major functions of evaluation have been identified.
These fall into two main categories: evaluation to assess
the extent to which goals are being achieved in order to improve
performance; and evaluation for accountability purposes, in
order to justify performance to others. Evaluation is about
asking questions and gathering information, and attention
has been drawn to both the quantity and quality of information
which the school head needs in order to help improve school
effectiveness.
Self-evaluation exercise
Imagine you are an inspector of schools. Write an inspection
report on your evaluation of a particular school in your locality,
perhaps your own!
You could select one of the following points for particular
attention: learning conditions, discipline, channels of communication,
school administration, supervision by the school heads, record-keeping,
involvement of PTA or staff meetings.
Evaluation Techniques
Introduction
In this unit we will discuss the different evaluation techniques
which the head can use in assessing the performance of different
components in the school. Evaluation involves collecting information
at regular intervals about ongoing programmes within the school
and then analysing it. Data collection can be in the form of
general observation of pupils, seeking views through discussion
groups, peer evaluation, interviews, etc. This unit examines
these techniques and also considers the role of external agencies
such as the inspectorate division in the evaluation of the school.
Individual study time: 4 hours
Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you should be able to:
• describe different evaluation techniques
• apply appropriate evaluation techniques to meet different
situations
• outline the different activities and techniques adopted
by external agencies such as the inspectorate service in the
evaluation of your school.
The various techniques of evaluation
Evaluation involves making judgements about achievement in
terms of set goals, but before you can pass judgement, you
must pin-point an area of activity which you seek to evaluate
and then seek information about it. Based on the information
you have collected, you are then in a position to pass judgement
on the quality of the activity, or the particular situation
in relation to the criteria set.
Any or all of the following techniques may be used to gather
information:
Questionnaires or checklists: These can be used by
the head to obtain from pupils or teachers an assessment of
various aspects of school life, for example: the standard
of catering services in the school; the standard of work of
some specific teachers; the success of some innovations introduced
to the school. It is particularly important not to try to
evaluate too much at one time; instead focus on a relatively
discrete and manageable topic.
Observation of classes: This is a technique to evaluate
the effectiveness of teachers and the overall teaching/learning
environment in terms of physical facilities, for example,
chalkboard, classroom seating arrangements, ventilation, etc.
We can also use this technique to check the pupils' stationery/textbooks
and the teachers' classroom control.
Systematic reporting: This technique involves written
reports or diaries on a daily or weekly basis written by pupils
or teachers on, for example: chronic latecomers or absenteeism
from school; the incidence of various acts of indiscipline
in the school; or the quality of the co-curricular programme.
Interviews: This is a technique whereby data and information
is collected from pupils or staff through a face-to-face interview
focusing on a specific issue.
Peer evaluation: Evaluation often seems to imply someone
more senior evaluating the work of someone junior. Peer evaluation
involves co-workers (heads, teachers or pupils) using the
techniques described above to help each other.
Discussion groups: This technique recognises the views
of different groups, such as teachers in different departments,
school prefects, the various clubs and societies, in their
evaluation of different aspects of school life. In business
and industry such groups may be known as Quality Circles,
since their purpose is to evaluate their work situation and
then make suggestions for improvement. Local Teachers' Clubs
and national associations (for example, of school heads) are
really discussion groups on a larger scale.
Activity 3.1
Make a note of which of these techniques you use in your school
and of any problems encountered.
Comments
We will deal with each technique in turn to enable you to
reflect further on its development and application. But it
is important to remember that whatever technique is used,
you have to ensure that the information is recorded simply
and accurately and in a form that will enable you to analyse
it quickly. This is most likely to involve written data (for
example, questionnaires and diaries) but could include audio
or video-taping (for example, observations).
Questionnaires
Supposing you want to assess a teacher of a senior primary
class. How would you go about the task? In order to obtain
information on the teacher's class performance, you might
decide to design a questionnaire to be filled out by the pupils.
The following variables might be a part of the questionnaire/instrument:
Class: age of pupil completing the questionnaire; punctuality;
commitment of the teacher to work; communication ability of
the teacher; the use of a variety of teaching methods; correction
of pupils' work; relationship with pupils; and so forth.
You may add more areas as you see necessary or perhaps exclude
some of these. In any event, a questionnaire for this level
of pupils should be simple, with short and close-ended questions.
After designing the questionnaire, you will need to ensure
that it is distributed to the whole group or a representative
group if the target population is too large. After administering
the questionnaire, you will have to analyse the information
in it and together with other collected or available data
pass judgement on the ability of the teacher as far as the
set goals of the school are concerned. For example, you might
want to express the results in terms of percentages and to
say whether the results are significant.
Activity 3.2
Imagine that a particular club or society in your school is
lagging behind others, that is, it is not very functional. Draw
up a questionnaire to be administered to pupils which would
evaluate the state of affairs of the club and provide an indication
of how to remedy the situation. Would other evaluation techniques
also be appropriate?
Comments
The questionnaire should be comprehensive and cover all the
various aspects of the club such as regularity of meetings,
quality and variety of activities, effectiveness of the patrons,
fees charged, contributions of members during meetings, issues
such as conflicts with dates of other meetings, etc.
The use of a questionnaire is an important technique where
concrete information can be collected from the staff and the
pupils on the issue to be evaluated. A checklist may also
be suitable in which simple and uncomplicated answers are
required such as `Yes' or `No', `Supported' or `Not supported',
or simple ticks are required on a graded scale or against
a predetermined range of answers. In order to get some objective
responses there may be the need for anonymity. However, this
could be supplemented by more subjective data from interviews,
for example.
Observation of classes
Observation of classes is a method of evaluating the teaching
and learning process, assessing the classroom performance
of teachers and providing a regular check on the state and
use of classroom facilities. It may be useful for heads to
organise routine observations of classes at different times
of the day in the school by different teachers, including
his or her own lessons.
Activity 3.3
Make a list of ten items you would observe in monitoring a teacher's
effectiveness in delivering a lesson in the class.
Comments
As we noted in the previous section observation might focus
on aspects of the learning environment such as physical facilities.
In addition your list probably includes materials which were
prepared for the lesson, evidence of a lesson plan, indications
that the teacher is communicating effectively with the pupils
on the objective of the lesson and a range of items concerning
pupil/staff interactions. Indeed, in order to evaluate the
extent to which effective learning has taken place in the
classroom, attention has to be focused on pupils as well as
the teacher. Therefore, observation will include, for example,
responses of pupils to the questions of the teacher, the time
given to, and quality of written work, and the use and availability
of textbooks. You might also want to evaluate contributions
made by a teacher to a subject outside the classroom, for
example, in a departmental meeting.
Activity 3.4
Draw up a programme of classroom observation which enables you
and your staff to have an effective and regular coverage of
classes in your school for three months. It should cover:
- a broad spectrum of teachers;
- all subjects on the curriculum;
- all classes in the school.
Comments
We think you will agree that it is useful to have some form
of policy and programme for carrying out regular classroom
observations. This should be done in such a routine way that
teachers and students become familiar with observations in
the classrooms. Such regular monitoring should enable any
deficiencies in the physical facilities and the level and
standard of lessons delivered by teachers to be rectified.
As may be expected, you will find teachers making mistakes
during their lessons, but you should not correct the teacher
there and then in the classroom in the presence of the pupils,
as this will inevitably destroy the confidence the pupils
have in the teacher. However, where a teacher's mistake is
likely to put the pupils or the teacher in an obvious danger
such as an experiment or the use of tools in a workshop, the
intervention of the head is defensible.
Interviews
Interviews may be structured (following a set list of questions)
or unstructured (a discussion following no set plan) or semi-structured
(partly set questions and partly free discussion). The last
is the most common approach. You will probably have used informal
interviews many times to collect information from members
of staff, and will be aware of some of the problems surrounding
this face-to-face technique of asking questions and noting
answers (either mentally or recording on paper or tape). You
might like to spend a few moments jotting down some of the
advantages and disadvantages of interviews.
You will no doubt agree that a major advantage of interviewing
is its adaptability. A good interviewer will be able to follow
up leads: 'You mentioned that......', 'Could you explain.....?';
probe responses: 'Why do you think that?' and generally get
closer to an interviewee's true feelings, motives or attitudes.
This is something which a questionnaire can never do.
The problems are, of course, that a good interview can be
very time-consuming, and there are many opportunities for
bias. This can be as a result of the way in which the questions
are asked and also as a result of respondents giving an 'acceptable'
but inaccurate answer. Preparing for and undertaking interviews
and analysing the information collected requires considerable
care and attention.
In sum, as with many of the other techniques discussed here,
the choice should be determined by the sorts of information
you wish to collect, why and from whom. For example, if you
want to obtain information from younger pupils, you would
probably obtain better results from talking with them than
asking them to write responses in a questionnaire.
Continuous assessment
Continuous assessment of pupils' work involves a range of
techniques by which a head ensures that pupils' work in the
various subjects is regularly and comprehensively evaluated.
This could include the use of regular assignments, class tests,
projects, practical work as well as observation and oral tests.
Activity 3.5
Compile a list of the forms of continuous assessment used in
a classroom in your school over a period of a week (or more)
in selected subjects. Assess the adequacy or otherwise of the
test or assignments or other techniques used by the teacher
and the quality of reporting.
Systematic records
It is a useful exercise for the head to draw up a checklist
of important school records which should be in place at regular
times in the school, and then to evaluate the purpose which
such records are expected to serve in the school and their
quality. In the process, the head will not only have a handy
list or records, but will also have a list of staff who are
responsible for keeping such records.
We give an example overleaf (Fig 3) of a checklist of equipment,
records and facilities which should be in place for the effective
administration of the school laboratory (excluding a list of
specific science equipment).
Activity 3.6
Draw up a checklist similar to the one given in Fig 3 of the
records and equipment which should be available for the general
operation of the Fine Art Department of your school.
You might like to consider how often in a school term of three
months you would actually use the list and how you might use
it to evaluate the general effectiveness of the administration
of that department.
Fig 3 Equipment and facilities record
| S/No |
Equipment/Record |
Officer/Teacher
Responsible |
Remarks |
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13 |
Sand bucket
Fire extinguisher
Fire blanket
First Aid box
Stock book
Breakage book
Fume box
Gas/electricity supply
Rules and regulations on the use of the laboratory
Subject syllabus
Schemes of work
Mark books
Departmental library |
Science teacher
Head
Head
School nurse
Science teacher
Science teacher
Head
Head/Science teacher
Science teacher
Department Head
Department Head/ Science teacher
Science teacher
Department Head |
Available at all
times
Functioning always
Available
Should contain essential drugs
To be kept up-to- date
To be kept up-to-date
Available
Available
To be displayed conspicuously
Current syllabus
Breakdown on weekly basis for each year
Available at all times
Available |
Comments
One of the important points to remember about such systematic
records is that for them to be useful for monitoring the effectiveness
of management and administration, they must be maintained
and regularly updated. They can provide a criterion against
which evaluation can be made. For example, taking Fig 3, Item
5, a quick assessment can be made as to whether the information
in the stock book is up-to-date.
Self-evaluation by peer group contribution
Peer groups in schools can be used to obtain information which
can contribute towards school effectiveness. For example,
various character traits manifest themselves more within the
pupil peer groups than in class and could be brought to the
attention of the head by members of the peer group. The head
might consider exploring this avenue to help identify pupils
who have particular character traits, or who have the potential
to take on responsibilities such as the head prefect, class
captains, house captain, games or labour prefects, etc. However,
it is an 'evaluation' technique which needs to be treated
with some caution and sensitivity.
Discussion groups
There are sometimes specific situations in a school where
an evaluation can only be made by using the views of a range
of appropriate groups in the school. Let us consider a situation
where there have been repeated complaints by pupils about
the general quality and quantity of food available in a school
dining hall. It would be difficult for the head to obtain
an accurate evaluation of the catering services in the school
without seeking the views and opinions of all involved: the
catering officers, cooks, stewards, house masters and mistresses
who supervise the pupils during meals and the pupils themselves.
Thus, one obvious approach to the evaluation of the catering
system would be to call a meeting of this group of people
to address the issue.
The views and advice of this group would no doubt go a long
way towards an accurate evaluation of the effectiveness of
the catering services in the school. Can you suggest other
sources or methods of obtaining information? You will probably
have thought that a questionnaire might usefully be administered,
or individual interviews undertaken. Frequently a combination
of evaluation techniques are most likely to provide the range
of information which is needed in order to draw conclusions.
Evaluation and external agencies
It is important for the head to be familiar with the work
and methods of operation of external agencies who are involved
in evaluation, such as the inspectorate service. It is likely
that some of the techniques used by these bodies for the evaluation
of schools can be adapted for use in schools, and exposure
to new ideas and innovative practices in the evaluation of
schools will be useful. In this respect, the head could obtain
copies of reports of inspections carried out by the inspectorate
as well as guidelines used by subject inspectors for the inspection
of subjects.
Other external agencies are also involved in evaluating schools
for a variety of circumstances. For example, in Nigeria, an
inspector of schools at the federal or state level could visit
a school and render a 'state of the affairs' report on the
'men', materials and finances of the school. Similarly, examination
bodies like the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) conduct
a summative evaluation test for final year students in senior
secondary schools yearly with a view to selecting those who
qualify for the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE).
The results of West African School Certificate (WASC) examinations
could be a performance indicator for the school. Other evaluators
are likely to include accountants, health inspectors, members
of the school governing board, and educational researchers,
all of whom visit schools to collect informnation on issues
specific to them and use the information to evaluate particular
problems of interest.
Activity 3.7
(1) Obtain copies of the inspectorate guidelines and reports
on various areas of inspection. Then examine them with respect
to the techniques used to evaluate:
- different subjects of the school curriculum;
- school management, including administration and organisation;
- co-curricular activities;
- boarding house and corporate life;
- school ethos.
(2) Extract from these documents approaches which are applicable
to the self-evaluation of your school, for use by yourself,
the assistant head and heads of departments.
Comments
School inspectors adopt a range of evaluation techniques in
order to gather information, draw conclusions concerning all
aspects of the school, and make recommendations for improving
school effectiveness. It is very likely that some of the practices
adopted by inspectors can be used by you and your staff in
order to undertake the self-evaluation of your programmes
and teaching.
A critical examination of the reports of external agencies
such as the inspectorate should provide you with some useful
insights into how to plan and execute a programme of evaluation.
This is the focus of the next unit.
Summary
In this unit you have been introduced to some important techniques
of evaluation, including: questionnaires, observation, interviews,
peer and discussion groups, continuous assessment and records.
You have also learnt that whichever technique you use, you
first have to record the information gathered carefully in
order to be able to analyse it and make judgements concerning
the questions being asked and issues addressed. Developing
evaluation instruments and analysing information may be a
little technical and you may therefore need to set up a committee
in your school to design proper school assessment instruments
like questionnaires, interviews, observations, diary keeping
and to analyse the information collected. Such a committee
can also help guide the planning and execution of an ongoing
programme of school evaluation, as explained in the next unit.
Your inspectorate should also be able to give you considerable
help in this.
Self-evaluation exercise
Tabulate the main areas of school life, including the curriculum,
staff and students, discipline, pastoral care, environment,
finance and resources, etc. and the evaluation techniques
which you might develop and apply in each area in order to
help contribute towards improving school effectiveness.
Planning a Programme
of Evaluation
|
Introduction
Evaluation is a key managerial skill, required both by those
from outside schools, such as school inspectors, researchers,
and examiners, and those working from within. This unit focuses
on self-evaluation, that is the process of each school evaluating
its own work as part of a planning and managerial process. This
builds on our discussion of evaluation techniques in Unit
3.
Individual study time: 2 hours
Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you should be able to:
• analyse the factors which determine how self-evaluation
could be conducted in a school
• plan a suitable evaluation programme for your school
• identify priorities and time-scales within which such
plans could be achieved
• identify the resources available for the evaluation
bearing in mind other pressures on resources
• collect, record, collate, analyse, interpret and report
information.
School readiness for self-evaluation
A conducive school climate is a prerequisite for successful
teaching and learning, and it is an equally necessary condition
for undertaking a self-evaluation exercise. Such an exercise
presupposes that both the head and the staff have the right
type of positive attitude that will enable successful self-evaluation
projects to be conducted. For an evaluation programme in school
to be effective, the head and the staff must co-operate and
work as a team. When the staff are consulted in all aspects
of school matters, they are more likely to feel committed
and to carry out assignments given by the head. Thus, ensuring
a conducive climate is a necessary step towards introducing
a systematic self-evaluation scheme into a school.
What is a conducive climate? The following are some of the
conditions we might look for:
• commitment of the management of the school which is
expressed in clear statements acknowledging the importance
of self-evaluation as a necessary and ongoing aspect of policy
• a management style based on openness, trust and confidence
• an institutional climate which fosters collaboration,
innovation and the expression of ideas, and opinion formed
through rational argument
• a school culture in which there is an expectation of
critically reflective practices, access to information on
current educational thinking and development, and which exploits
the use of available expertise within the local authority,
colleges of education and other agencies
• a district and regional support system which is responsive
to the needs of schools in developing the skills and expertise
needed to develop self-evaluation strategies
• an acknowledgement of the distinctions between self-evaluation
procedures and appraisal procedures (see Module
3, Personnel Management, for detailed consideration of
appraisal)
• considerations of the resource implications of self-evaluation
procedures
• an awareness of the time implications of self-evaluation
activities
• an expectation that identified needs will be satisfied.
Activity 4.1
List the steps you might take to carry out a small survey to
find out how ready you and your staff are to undertake a programme
of systematic evaluation in your school.
Comment
Here is one way to go about it.
1 Prepare a short questionnaire to survey staff opinion on
a range of aspects of your school, including questions about
the following:
• the learning process and level of performance
• the curriculum and how it is implemented in your school
• the physical environment, including provision and maintenance.
2 You could make several simple statements about each aspect
and let your staff react to each. You might also undertake
informal interviews raising questions related to the 'conditions'
listed above.
3 You also need to undertake your own self-assessment. The
questionnaire presented in Fig 4 might be useful.
Fig 4 Self-assessment questionnaire
From your answers you may be able to see whether you are
making all the decisions affecting your school alone, or if
you believe in teamwork and involve your staff in the decision-making.
Note that some seek 'agree' answers, whilst others seek 'disagree'
or even neutral answers. In assessing the climate of your
school, please note that there is no perfect school. No-one
is likely to agree with you about everything! Your teachers
may tend towards being helpers or hinderers. It is your job
to try to make everyone see how they may contribute to the
evaluation and change process in their own way.
Planning an evaluation programme
Identify the issues
In planning a suitable evaluation programme for the school,
the problem areas must be identified and sorted into types
or categories, and then ranked according to criteria such
as urgency and feasibility. Thus you can isolate the problem
or issue to be studied. Such a problem or issue must be important
and manageable; do not try to evaluate too much at one time.
Formulate questions
After selecting the problems or issues to be studied, you
now decide on the specific questions to be asked, and to whom
they will be addressed. For example, the priority may be the
performance of students in a certain subject, or the behaviour
of a particular group of pupils who exhibit deviant traits
by playing truant or by destroying school property. Formulating
questions requires the discipline of keeping within the bounds
of your enquiry and of limiting the number of questions asked.
Fix a time-scale
You now need to fix a time-scale within which to conduct the
evaluation. In fixing this you should take into consideration
the earliest time for the evaluation to be accomplished, the
latest allowable time, and slack periods, during which the
evaluation could be delayed. If the evaluation goes on for
too long people may lose interest and introducing changes
may become more difficult.
Match resources to the programme
It is also very important to identify the resources available
for the evaluation, in particular, the time of those who may
be involved. This is necessary because the successful accomplishment
of the programme will be eroded if, for example, the staff
are too busy to participate. Once resources are allocated
they must be matched to the time-scale and progress monitored
to ensure that the exercise is completed on schedule.
Collect the information
As soon as the preliminary stages have been completed, the
investigating team can begin the work of the evaluation proper.
Basic information on the problem which has been isolated for
study could be obtained using one or more of the following
techniques:
• using diaries that are kept systematically by individual
teachers
• interviews
• observations, including shadowing selected teachers
or pupils
• brain-storming discussions
• questionnaires.
Collate the information
The information needs to be gathered and arranged in a systematic
order which will help you or your team to analyse, and interpret
the data.
Interpret the data
It is important that an evaluation exercise such as we are
proposing is not intended as research for a PhD, but as a
practical, problem-solving exercise to provide new solutions
to old problems. The analysis and interpretation of the data
should thus be limited to describing the problem and identifying
possible ways forward.
Write the report
You will need to consider carefully the form of your report
and how it will be disseminated. The purpose of the evaluation
and the target audience must be kept in view when compiling
the final report. It must be short, perhaps just two or three
pages, and to the point. Overlong reports divert attention
from the set objective. A good report will:
• state the problem
• describe briefly the methods used to collect the information
• identify alternative ways forward
• make recommendations about which path to choose and
what needs to be done to implement it.
Case study
Problems at Ikeja Primary School
Some parents are withdrawing their children from Ikeja Primary
School. Mr Musaazi, the head, decides to mount an evaluation
programme to find out the reasons for the withdrawal and how
best to check (or even reverse) the situation.
What steps should he take? Outline a possible plan of action.
Comments
You could consider the following outline and see how it tallies
with your own plan, and then enrich yours where necessary.
Identifying issues
The head might call a Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) meeting
to identify the problems.
Suppose the problems listed are:
• lack of equipment
• increase in exam fees
• low performance of students in the sciences
• teachers not attending classes as and when due.
Deciding on the priorities
The head could call a staff meeting to explore these problems
with the staff, to establish their priorities and then to
decide on them as they feel appropriate and given the available
resources and time.
Re-arrangement of the priorities may be like this:
• teachers not attending classes
• low performance of students in the sciences
• lack of equipment
• increase in exam fees.
Planning the evaluation programme
The head might now decide to evaluate the first two areas,
and find out about the level of teacher lateness and absenteeism,
and the reasons for this, and also find out about the performance
of pupils in science subjects. He or she will need to consider
the scope of the evaluation, the precise form and sort of
evaluation questions to be asked. Some of the topics which
may need to be evaluated will include the implementation of
the curriculum, lesson plans, timetable allocations, and the
actual teaching performance of teachers in the class. It may
be useful to set up an evaluation committee to manage the
evaluation. Bearing in mind the key evaluation questions being
asked, it will be necessary to decide what information is
to be collected, how (questionnaires, observations, interviews,
group discussions) and from whom. In the light of these decisions
a time-scale can be set for the completion of evaluation (including
analysis and the preparation and dissemination of the report)
and then the evaluation can commence.
Collection of information
Considering just the quality of science teaching will involve
both science pupils and their teachers in the evaluation.
Pupil evaluation may be done through a review of the quality
of the continuous assessment, checking through the weekly,
monthly and termly assessments in science subjects.
The methods used for teacher evaluation could include both
peer and self-assessments.
Other teachers' assessment of the teacher
The head or the head of science department could carry out
this assessment. See Fig 5 for an example of an instrument
which could be used.
Teacher's self-assessment
The form shown in Fig 6 could be used.
Pupil assessment of the teacher
Pupils can be asked to describe their relationship with the
teachers through informal interviews and to rate their teachers
using the following indicators: mastery of subject, interest
and involvement in teaching, relationships with pupils, personality,
and involvement in co-curricular activities
Fig 5 A sample observation report
Fig 6 A teacher's self-assessment form
Recording, analysing and interpreting information
The information collected should now be collated together
and analysed. The committee should write a report to be presented
to the head and staff and a general staff meeting should be
held to discuss the report and its findings. During this discussion,
the various factors responsible for the problems will be listed
out. Suggestions on how to tackle each one will be considered
and a way forward, or solution, identified.
Agreeing the report and disseminating findings
Recommendations for improvement and a strategy for their implementation
should be agreed and written up in a brief, summary report.
A meeting of the parents and teachers should be held and the
parents should be able to share views about the evaluation
findings and the recommendations. This last step is important
as it can help build up the confidence of parents in the school's
ability and willingness to undertake self-evaluation for the
purposes of improvement and to involve them in the process.
Summary
In this unit you have examined the steps to be taken in planning
a programme of self-evaluation in your school. Remember, self-evaluation
is an important managerial skill, the purpose of which is
to bring about change in all areas of school life. Self-evaluation
should be a continuous process, taking each part of school
life in turn. Such an incremental approach to school development
is likely to lead to more self-reliance, more accountability
and a more confident, more motivated and higher achieving
school. Sometimes, however, evaluation findings are not used
for reasons which we will explore in the next
unit.
Self-evaluation exercise
You should identify a particular problem(s) or issue(s) in
your own school which could be evaluated and then plan a programme
of evaluation following the processes described in this unit.
Using Evaluation
Findings
Introduction
As you will now appreciate from your study of Units 1-4 evaluation
is a systematic planned enquiry undertaken in order to enable
decision-makers to make judgements concerning the worth of an
educational policy, project or programme and to achieve certain
aims and purposes. Evaluation can be a costly waste of time
and effort, but when done efficiently, vigorously and with the
intention of improving educational provision, it is likely to
be worthwhile, for the new knowledge gained can be fed back
into the system to improve what goes on in the name of education.
But, quite often, the findings of evaluation are not implemented.
In this unit you will be asked to consider how evaluation
findings can be disseminated and to examine how we can ensure
that the evaluation findings are used by all concerned to
enhance school effectiveness.
Individual study time: 2 hours
Learning outcomes
By the end of this unit you should be able to:
• state the importance of reporting the results of monitoring
and evaluation programmes to those who need to know
• integrate the analysis of evaluation findings into
the school decision-making process
• relate the quality of evaluation findings to the level
of effectiveness of the school management.
The importance of evaluation findings
The host of educational problems besetting schools today,
such as pupil wastage in terms of drop-outs, and the low standard
of education, all point to the need to overhaul our educational
systems and programmes. But before this can be done, we need
reliable and objective data about their current status. Through
regular monitoring, evaluation and reporting we will know
much better where we are and thus be able to decide what changes
are needed to bring about improvement.
As we have seen in the previous units, monitoring is the
regular collection of information about ongoing projects and
programmes within the school system with a view to determining
the nature and level of their performance. A report from a
monitoring team should be an objective account of progress
in carrying out plans, which provide a baseline against which
to judge the impact of inputs into the system under study.
Monitoring should be done mainly by school heads and inspectors,
but also by district or local government officials, and by
officials of the Ministry of Education.
Evaluation also concerns judgements made for the purpose
of improvement or accountability. It is also a formal process
which may be formative or summative in nature, but it is designed
for a particular educational purpose.
Activity 5.1
(1) List down some reasons why you think that reports from monitoring
or evaluation exercises are not always made widely available.
(2) What steps might be taken to rectify the situation?
Comments
There are a number of reasons you may have listed, including:
• lack of a requirement to document and report findings
• inadequate mechanisms to disseminate findings
• need for secrecy when the findings are critical
• paucity or unreliability of data which makes the evaluation
report worthless
• 'knowledge is power', so the fewer people who know
the better.
The steps which need to be taken to rectify the situation
include:
• writing reports which can be read (that is, they are
brief and to the point and use intelligible language)
• improving the means of production and reproduction
(which could include word-processing)
• recognising that knowledge and power are for sharing
• ensuring accuracy and reliability in our reports, through
setting and demanding high standards.
Evaluation reports
In order to appreciate how to improve the dissemination and
use of evaluation findings, it will be helpful to recall the
steps which lead up to the planning and implementation of
an evaluation project, and the preparation of the report.
We have seen (in Unit 3) that before embarking on evaluation
there are certain points that we need to clarify, including:
• for what purpose is an evaluation required?
• who will organise the evaluation and who will participate
and in what ways?
• what are the possible modes of evaluation?
• what are the appropriate tools of evaluation?
• how will the data be recorded and analysed?
• who will use the information?
• what are the best ways of bringing the information
to them?
The information gathered should be seen as relevant to the
purpose of the evaluation. The credibility of an evaluation
process and its findings can be established in relation to
the following:
1 It has to pass scrutiny amongst all those concerned with
the overall quality of schooling.
2 It needs to be seen to be credible in the school, for example,
in respect of what is being evaluated.
3 Finally, it has to satisfy people that any conclusions drawn
derive from good quality information and are valid and reliable.
Activity 5.2
Identify the qualities of a good evaluation report. Use your
school experience and knowledge of reports by inspectors to
answer this question.
Comments
You will probably have included in your list qualities such
as: systematic, comprehensive, relevant, usable, valid, reliable.
It must also be readable!
If the purpose of an evaluation is absolutely clear it is
more likely that the correct information will be gathered
to enable conclusions to be drawn and recommendations made
as a basis for decision-making. It is therefore very important
that after an evaluation is done one or more meetings between
the evaluation team and the rest of the staff are held, during
which the findings can be discussed before the release of
the evaluation report. Results could also be disseminated,
for example to parents, through other means, such as a newsletter
or a briefing at one of the PTA meetings.
Evaluation findings by external agents, such as inspectors
or researchers, can help to justify the huge amounts of money
spent on education every year, as well as to clarify the progress
of major innovations in education such as the introduction
of a new curriculum. This highlights how important it is for
school heads to be able to analyse evaluation findings and
decide whether, for example, the advantages claimed for a
particular innovation which formed the focus of an evaluation,
are valid enough for them to continue to use it or perhaps
to adapt it more precisely to the school's needs.
The relationship between evaluation and effective management
We can illustrate the relationship between evaluation and
the use of evaluation data or findings for effective school
management by considering a number of examples.
Pupils' enrolment
Often school enrolments fluctuate from year to year; many
factors may account for this. It might be difficult for a
head to explain such a phenomenon, let alone suggest solutions,
unless some evaluation is conducted and the findings disseminated.
Such an evaluation might enable factors like school performance
in public examinations, distance of school from the village,
safety and security of pupils, availability and quality of
transport, movement or transfer of parents, etc., to be taken
into account in an analysis of the situation. There are also
the issues of drop-outs, early leavers, and drop-ins in schools,
particularly in towns and cities, which result in erratic
fluctuations and movements. A school may wish to evaluate
the influence of some of these factors to try to rectify the
situation. On the other hand, the government might decide
to evaluate the situation in a sample of primary schools,
the results of which may provide useful conclusions and solutions
which may be applied to all schools.
Activity 5.3
(1) Using your school experiences, show in a table the enrolment
of pupils for the last two years by class. Indicate the following
as a percentage of the total:
- drop-outs or early leavers;
- drop-ins or repeaters;
- pass-out rate;
- drop-out rate.
(2) How do these figures compare with those for other schools
in your locality? To what extent would you say your problems
are common or unique?
Comments
You may have difficulty in completing this activity in the
suggested time given, if your school records and data are
not well kept or up-to-date. You may not have been aware of
the importance of such records nor how to keep them correctly
maintained, in which case it could be that you and your staff
should try to obtain more training in record-keeping. You
may also feel that training is required in the use of evaluation
instruments and in the interpretation of data and in the use
of evaluation findings.
Leadership effectiveness
Evaluation can be used to assess leadership effectiveness
in a school. Firstly, you may need to consider what leadership
effectiveness is, and the extent to which it is determined
by:
• personal characteristics of the leader
• nature of the situation
• personal characteristics of subordinates.
Next you would need to develop evaluation criteria in order
to assess your own leadership effectiveness together with
that of your other promoted staff. The chart opposite suggests
five criteria for judging leadership and you might like to
develop this by adding more evaluation criteria. If you were
to undertake such a self-evaluation exercise, how might such
findings be useful to you as a school head in improving your
management practice?
Fig 7 Assessing leadership effectiveness
1 Readiness for responsibility
2 Ability to delegate
3 Maturity
4 Interest and motivation
5 Knowledge and expertise in education |
Evaluating staff performance
A school head is also likely to be involved in assessing the
performance of staff and using the evaluation findings to
help improve school effectiveness.
Activity 5.4
Use the assessment tool presented below in Fig 8 to assess the
performance of staff in your school. You may wish to add additional
performance criteria as appropriate.
Fig 8 Assessing staff performance
| Performance criteria |
Excellent |
Good |
Fair |
Poor |
1 Relationship with other academic staff
2 Relationship with administrative staff
3 Relationship with pupils
4 Superior-subordinate relationship
5 Oriented to the goals of the school
6 Acceptance of responsibility
7 Allocation of time
8 Communication skills
9 Ability to motivate others
10 Participation in co-curricular activities |
Monitoring school effectiveness
Your studies of this unit, and of others in this module, will,
we hope, have convinced you of the importance of monitoring
and evaluating and of using the findings to bring about school
improvement. We have provided only a few examples.
There are of course many areas where an evaluation exercise
is likely to produce findings which could inform the school
decision-making process and contribute towards school effectiveness,
for example in:
•financial management
•classroom teaching
• school-community relations.
Summary
In this unit, you should have noted that monitoring school
effectiveness involves the regular review of all the facilities
of your school. Through the collection and analysis of relevant
information and the setting of appropriate criteria, you may
draw conclusions about the extent to which the mission, objectives
and targets of your school are being achieved.
Fig 9 relates monitoring and evaluation to
decision-making, which is the essence of any effective managerial
activity.
Fig 9 Monitoring, evaluating and decision-making
Self-evaluation exercise
Prepare a one page proposal for an evaluation of one specific
area of concern in your school. Include in your proposal the
following:
- title (this should indicate the purpose);
- key questions;
- identification of evaluators;
- methods of data collection;
- time-frame;   |
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Hakuna maoni:
Chapisha Maoni