ERO School Evaluation Indicators (Part I)

Effective Practice At Waihi College

The Education Review Office have recently published a trial document called "School Evaluation Indicators: Effective Practice for Improvement and Learner Success".  As the name suggests this is the office's concise guide to what things they want to see happening in our school to produce effective results.  

The guide has an express purpose of providing a "common language for the interaction and dialogue between a school and ERO about development since the last review."  These are effectively the a-b-c's of effective management and running of a NZ school.  This is the first of two publications (the second companion resource is due out in September this year) that schools can use to confirm their progression and development.  

A common observation I've been able to make in my time in teaching is that when ERO announce their dates for review schools are ready (they had in their last review an indication of how many years until the next review).  At Waihi College our 2014 report indicated that three years would be the time for the next review.  In my experience teachers sharpen up their paperwork and a generally geared up for a review, but there is always an unknown element.  Teachers would say "what wheelbarrow will ERO come pushing this time around?" - that there are things that the review team would 'spring' on schools.  The School Evaluation Indicators  is a document which will take away any surprise element for an ERO visit - it effectively spells out, in great detail, what things they'll be be asking.  

This document is an easily digestible 42 pages which begins in theory.  They base their indicators on several things;  25 years of reviews, modern education research, the NZ Curriculum document, legislation, National Administration Guidelines (NAG's), best evidence synthesis, OECD reports and input from Helen Timperley and Viviane Robinson.  Personally I feel comfortable with the indicators themselves, and feel that they're grounded in sound educational theory.  

I've ordered several extra copies for staff (three for the Learning Leaders), there is one available in Alistair's office and one from mine.  

I've been able to link blog posts to the Registered Teacher Criteria, I will from here on attempt to link (where appropriate) future posts to the appropriate School Evaluation Indicators.  

This post relates to RTC #5. show leadership that contributes to effective teaching and learning

and School Evaluation Indicator - Domain Two : Leadership conditions for equity and excellence and Domain Five : Professional Capability & Collective Capacity.  

 

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent Teacher Interviews

Next Wednesday we will have our annual parent teacher interview day.  Administratively this day has been made much easier with the invention of online booking through www.schoolinterviews.co.nz (which is good for parents and staff admin).  But the time old tradition of interviews have continued with the same old barriers.

• Parental Reluctance.  There exists a tendency for parents who were themselves struggling at school to avoid interaction with the institution (especially us teachers).  How can we best encourage/invite these types of parents in to school to talk education?
• Students Painting A Different Story.  The realities of modern parenting is that often the messages from the students are taken as canon by the parents.  

Good Guidelines for Running An Interview.

1.  Know your students.  This sounds obvious but being ahead of the curve is very important.  Are you able to pin point their progression in their learning?  Where are they excelling/struggling?  What interest levels do they have?  What things increase their engagement?
2.  Know who's coming.  Look at your bookings and organise all your information for interviews.  It pays to have assessment results and classroom work handy.  Being able to speak to parents with reference to the students work is powerful.  It adds greatly to your perception of credibility if you're organised.
3.  Listen first.  It's a good thing to begin "thanks for coming in today/tonight you've had a chance to read X's report, before we begin were there any issues that you'd like me to cover?"  Some parents will have a bee in their bonnet and it's important that you listen and process their issue (this doesn't mean getting bombed upon - see point #6 below).  
4.  Talk about time factors.  Have a clock handy acknowledge the booked time, how long you've got available, check that you've got their contact details should the interview go too long.  
5.  Ask about their observations/hopes/plans.  The parents are potentially very powerful drivers of learning for the student.  It is important to know where they're at and build upon this.  A parent that says X is a bit bored is probably asking for extension material.  A parent that says X is not enjoying this subject this year is probably saying that your not X's preferred teacher.   
6.  Keeping it professional.  There are parents out there that will be unreasonable and cross boundaries.  Be prepared to finish up an interview early.  Saying "I don't think that we're getting ahead here, lets reschedule this meeting for later when we've got more time".  Standing up is a non aggressive way of finishing an interview.  Do communicate with your colleagues/management about your interviews... have someone to support you.  
7.  Thank the parents for their time.  

This post relates to RTC # 1. "Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of ākonga i)  engage in ethical, respectful, positive and collaborative professional relationships with: whānau and other carers of ākonga" 

Ohinemuri Schools' Festival of Education

Mind Frames of Change

Yesterday the Learning Leaders and I were lucky enough to head over to the inaugural Education Festival held at Paeroa College.  Our intent was to go and see the keynote address by Lynda Shanks from Cognition Education in Auckland.  Cognition are the educational providers for John Hattie's Visible Learning Plus.

Here is a summary of the key messages I took away from Lynda's presentation...

There are three main messages of change presented; 1.  What are visible learners?  2.  What are the mind frames of the teachers (are we change agents in education)?  3.  What system reform is required in schools?

The notion of building up a shared language of learning was key.  The question - when your students are asked "what was learning like today?" would they say "fun" or "busy" or would they be able to describe their learning?  This question was supplemented with video of students verbalising their experiences in the classroom.  

How is it that we collectively as Waihi College staff are going about embedding the language of learning within our students?  Do we have a 'way' of learning that is uniform, do our students know it, and is it best practice?

Lynda went through Stephen Covey (recommended author or the The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) basic change model.  How is it that we as educators know that we've actually made an impact on the learning of our students?

• See - School Culture, personal beliefs, and traditions.  
• Do - School structure/policies/rules/programmes.
• Behave - the results and effects (e.g. achievement results).

Lynda then moved into the purpose of the workshops on the day.  She encouraged all of us to see ourselves as the change agents for our schools.  To begin this through a series of self reflective questioning.  

1. How am I doing with my students?
2. Where am I going to next in my practice?
3. How am I going to get there?
4. What can I control as a teacher?
5. Do we challenge all of our students in our classes?
6. Do we plan lessons from different points of view (the most able or those struggling)?
7. Do we fall into the habit of labeling students? 

Overall the presentation was great.  Lynda is clearly a communicator who is grounded in the experiences of the the classroom.  

This post relates to  RTC#8. "Demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn." and RTC#7. "Promote a collaborative, inclusive and supportive learning environment.

Mini Visits (Post # 2)

Professional Conversations

Part of the movement towards having closer professional learning relationships here at Waihi College has seen some new innovations to our systems.  A new approach that we're going to bring in here is the practice of 'mini-visits'.  Here is a link to my recent post on this idea (click here).  

Here is the presentation that I made at staff meeting on Monday...




The plan is to cover your classes (unless non-contacts work for you) for ten mins to allow you to be able to visit another teacher's classroom.  Obviously good to plan these in advance (a heads up for admin).  Please jump onto these asap rather than letting them linger on.

This post relates to RTC #  1. "Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of ākonga - i. engage in ethical, respectful, positive and collaborative professional relationships with: teaching colleagues."

Book Review

David & Goliath : Underdogs, Misfits and the Art of Battling Giants.  By Malcolm Gladwell.

This is the latest in the line of excellent books by Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers and Blink I would highly recommend).  David & Goliath is one of the rare books where an international bestseller writes so clearly on educational ideas.

Gladwell's style is very good - he takes complex notions and illustrates them well in real life narrative.  He takes you as a reader to Paris in the Impressionist art movement, to the ancient biblical setting of Judea, back into modern settings.  Each new story bringing out his ideas of overcoming adversity.

Malcolm Gladwell

As an educator I was most impressed by chapter four where Gladwell works through an explanation of the science of dyslexia.  This complex medical term has grown and grown in educational circles - but remains to most teachers something of a mystery.  The beginning pages of this chapter was a concise/clear summary of what is happening inside the head of a young person with dyslexia.
 
 Another great chapter for teachers to read is chapter two where the majority of the material is focused on the best class size (a controversial and political  subject).  Gladwell takes a scientific approach to calculating what is the best size class for learning.  He works well through the balance of work loads, class engagement, teacher one on one time and classroom management.  FYI Gladwell concludes that too smaller classes (which are major selling points for private schooling) are not the best.  Rather he settles on 24 or 18 as these can be assigned into groups easily.  It is interesting to see he's constantly looking at the underdogs so considers greatly those introverted/shy students in classes.

I related well to the sections devoted to the 'size of the pond'.  Here Gladwell contrasts the effects of being the big fish - small pond vs being a big fish - great big pond.  For us here at Waihi College (with cohorts around 100 students) has many tangible positives.

I would definitely recommend this book.  Teachers that would get additional benefit from reading David & Goliath are career counselors, teachers with dyslexic students, teachers from the STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths classes), and those interested in the big picture around education.

Finally here is a quick YouTube clip of Gladwell discussing his latest book...

This post relates to RTC#8. "Demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn." and RTC#7. "Promote a collaborative, inclusive and supportive learning environment."

Self Reporting Grades Part ii)

Empowering Student's Learning

One of the most exciting presentations from the Visible Learning Summit from term one this year was the presentation by the Selwyn College leadership team.  

Selwise

Please take some time to have a look at the following video of Selwyn College.  It is a summary of their journey over the last six year (new Principal in 2008) with some dramatic improvements in their outcomes.  One of the things that was presented at the conference was the benefits of explicitly presenting the language of learning - as you watch take note of the ways visually that Selwyn College has deliberately presented this.  

They have formulated a shared level of learning 'advertising' that is the standard across the school.  Students are re-enforced this values and methods in all their class.  Selwyn College is deliberately teaching meta-cognitive strategies to students with the goal of making them better learners.  

Selwyn College was a finalist in the annual Prime Minister's Education Excellence Awards in: Excellence in Leading - Atakura Award in 2014.  Their NCEA results progressed from pass rates below 50% of students to consistently in the 90%.   

One of the major changes that Selwyn College went through was to try to empower their students to chart their own way through their learning.  The way that they did this was to supply the students a detailed (in student language) descriptor of what each level of the learning was.  That is they'd take the NZ Curriculum's Achievement Objectives (click here) and drill down to what that would mean in the classroom - with exemplar illustrations.  That way the student is empowered to know exactly where they are in their learning and what the next steps in their learning would/should be.  

This was identified by ERO here at Waihi College when they highlighted a next step in our journey being "Quality Assurance... monitoring student's progress with agreed parameters."

The idea here being that the student would be able to understand what it is that they know (where they are in the curriculum) and that they'd be able to see the next steps in their learning to move themselves forward.  This relates very well to John Hatties most influential (biggest effect size) factor in student achievement - 'Self Reported Grades' (click here for evidence).  

Here is John Hattie briefly presenting a summary of his meta study (about five mins)...

This leads us to consider the norms of practice here at Waihi College.  How is it that we're focussing our collective efforts to making learning more visible?   What habits and systems do we share as teachers here at school that empower our students to progress in their learning?  

This post relates to RTC #6  "Conceptualise, plan and implement an appropriate learning programme." And RTC #8. "Demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn- i) enable ākonga to make connections between their prior experiences and learning and their current learning activities & iii) encourage ākonga to take responsibility for their own learning and behaviour."

Mini Visits

Classroom Visits

I can remember way back to when I was first training as a teacher.  I had three practicums, with three associate teachers.  I remember them fondly and appreciated at the time the step learning curve I was on.  There was however one associate who stood out - his strategy was to farm me out.  Each day he would point me off to another teacher "go see Jones teach - she's great with year 10's" or "go see Smithy teach - he's super organised".  So there I was training to be a Mathematics teacher with an associate putting me in Art and PE and Science etc.  But actually this was the most beneficial time in my training - you see each new class, each new teacher I picked up one more strategy or one more approach or one more management style. 

Last year when I had the opportunity to come along and see many of you teach reminded me of that experience.  I could see that Waihi College has very high standards of teaching across the board with pockets of excellence.  Again I found myself thinking "I like that method" or "that's a great resource" and thinking about how this could be adapted to my practice.  

ERO in there 2014 visit pointed to one of the College's 'Quality Assurance's Next Steps' "is to ensure good/effective practice is far more consistent across the school".

This term one of the things that we (myself and the Learning Leaders) will endeavour to do is to provide all the staff with an opportunity for you to get around to your colleagues classes.  That is to come to your classes and free you up for 10 - 15 mins to go see your colleagues and students.  

Who could you visit?

1. Colleagues from your curriculum area - picking up tips within your subject.
2. Colleagues that share a class - seeing how teachers operate with the same students you teach.
3. Colleagues from elsewhere - don't underestimate the quality that exists in other areas.

The hope here is that you'll be able to pick up some ideas, skills and new habits from your colleagues.  That the conversations you have about your teaching with your colleagues will be more meaningful as you can specifically talk about the dynamic in the classrooms.  

So from here we'd like for you to consider talking with your colleagues, those staff you respect (or have heard good things about) and gauge their availability to a visit.  If you have not class (non contact) you can use that time - or alternatively if you want cover please let me know.  I'm very happy to free you up to get this happening.  I'm hoping that in this year you will be able to visit at least three different teachers.  

This post is in relationship to RTC #  1. "Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of ākonga - i. engage in ethical, respectful, positive and collaborative professional relationships with: teaching colleagues."

Secondary Teacher Study Awards

The Annual Study Awards


One of the key parts to the 'Vision' of the New Zealand Curriculum document is that our young people are "Lifelong learners" that they'll be "active seekers, users, and creators of knowledge".  This same challenge sits will us as teachers.

I have always thought that one of the very positive parts of working in the education sector is the opportunities we have in furthering our learning.  Every year the Ministry of Education (TeachNZ) offers three different types of study awards.  From now until the 8th of June applications are invited from teachers at NZ schools to consider taking on some individual study.  

The three study awards are...

1. 75 Secondary Teachers' Study Award - this is study leave opportunity to study a qualification, undertake research, or obtain practical knowledge in an area related to your subject.
2. 40 Sabbaticals - 10 weeks of full paid leave.  To be eligible you need to have 20 years teaching experience in NZ (including the last seven years), and intend on returning to teaching.  
3. 100 Study Support Grants - these are for one year and provide cover for one class (0.16 FTTE) to study an area related to education/subject.  There is also $500 contribution to course costs.  

If you are considering applying for one of these three study awards you can find more information at the following web address (click here).

Karen Bryant was able to access one of these study grants to complete her recent study.  Speaking with Karen she is very grateful for that opportunity and would recommend this to those considering the option.  

This post relates to RTC #4. demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice - iii. initiate learning opportunities to advance personal professional knowledge and skills. 

Book Review

Changing on the Job : Developing Leaders for a Complex World. By Jennifer Garvey Berger

This was a most excellent read.  Jennifer Garvey Berger is a kiwi educational theorist from the Wellington region.  She has written this book about managing change as professionals.  Although this book is not specifically about secondary education or teachers it is a valid and engaging read for anyone serious about professional development.  I found that in my role of facilitating some of the professional development here at school that Changing on the Job caused me to be very introspective and reconsider many of my assumptions on how teachers progress in their development.

Jennifer uses a pragmatic style of writing where she presents hypothetical situations and exams a series of ways you could potentially approach them.  I found that she accurately described the traits I have with problems (i.e. seeking immediate solutions) and works coherently through the subtle distinctions in what constitutes the various 'forms of mind' (I've discovered that I'm a 'self authored' form of mind).


Garvey Berger makes use of some powerful imagery in her writing.  If found that her metaphor of growing in skills and knowledge like the rings of a tree as particularly useful.
"From our earliest days, each of us has been engaged in an ongoing journey to learn and to grow.  These two human forces are often connected, but they are not the same.  Learning can be about acquiring a new skill or knowledge base.  If I master PowerPoint in order to put together a slide show for a client, I have learnt something.  I have new information in my head.  But have I really grown?  From a developmental perspective, real growth requires some quantitative shift, not just in knowledge, but in perspective or way of thinking.  Growing is when the form or our understanding changes; we often call this "transformation."... Each moment of our development, then, is a potentially term form of mind that, with the right support, can be more expansive.  As we grow, the previous form is overtaken by the new form, leaving traces of less-mature form behind like rings in a tree trunk."

Overall Changing on the Job is a very engaging book with a global appreciation of what it means to develop as a leader.  I found that chapters 3 and 4 were the most theoretical (and therefore personally the harder parts to read), but that there were immensely power chapters towards the end - especially 'transformational habits of mind'.

I would recommend this book to teachers who, in a mentoring capacity, have students of leadership potential.  I found Changing on the Job made me better aware of the spectrum of leadership and how differently the student leaders may view the world to me.  I would also recommend this book to any teacher that is looking at the option of taking position of management.

Here is a YouTube clip which has Jennifer Garvey Berger presenting her own book.

This post relates to RTC#8. "Demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn." and RTC#7. "Promote a collaborative, inclusive and supportive learning environment."

Improving NCEA Results

James Cook High School

James Cook High School in Manukau South Auckland is a larger school than Waihi College (1200 students year 9-13 as opposed to our 500).  They have had a very remarkable story of turning around their qualification results for their students.

The were featured in the New Zealand Herald in the school holidays (click here for that article).  Some of the interesting comments in that article was what their Principal Vaugh Couillault had to say;

Mr Couillault, who joined the school in 2012, says the results are indicative of serious amounts of work from teaching and support staff, who deal with kids who come to the school usually well below standard.

"At year nine, our kids are up to four years below where they should be," he says. "And it takes a lot of hard yakka to help them from there."

He hints at some of the interventions that James Cook High teachers put into place for their students;

It's about making a real effort to know our learners. Not about just standing up the front. But any teacher worth their salt will be doing that."

They also collect "hard core" data, and can make changes on almost a daily basis around what is and isn't working, he says.

Last night there was a report on TVNZ's One News on the increased results (up from 42% of students in year 11 getting Level One 2014 up to 95% in 2015).

Here is a copy of that report (intellectual property of TVNZ)...[takes a min to load]

James Cook High School is a good example of how a school can work towards a collective goal of increasing the qualification results of their students.  I find myself interested in the finer details around the changes they have put in place.  Here is a summary of the main points...

1. Perseverance - teachers not giving up on the kids (further opportunities) and kids not giving up (coming in in their holidays).
2. Re-looking at the middle management - splitting up teachers into smaller groups to increase accountability around results.  
3. Sense of Pride - looking at giving the student more pride in the community (including uniform etc).  Modernising the look of the school.  
4. Face lift - The school had new building programme (Waihi College is due new block to replace P Block).  
5. Student Centered Learning - getting personalised in the learning.  Identifying the needs of each individual student and getting the learning individualised.  

"I want every student that walks out the gate to simply be in charge of what happens to them next." - Vaugh Couillault

This post relates to RTC #6. "Conceptualise, plan and implement an appropriate learning programme i. articulate clearly the aims of their teaching, give sound professional reasons for adopting these aims, and implement them in their practice." And RTC #11. "Analyse and appropriately use assessment information, which has been gathered formally and informally i. analyse assessment information to identify progress and ongoing learning needs of ākonga 
ii. use assessment information to give regular and ongoing feedback to, guide and support further learning, iii. analyse assessment information to reflect on and evaluate the effectiveness of the teaching." 

Mentoring Year 12 Art Students

The Three N's
Firstly a big thank you to those staff who have put their name next to a student (or two) that we've identified as being on the margin for getting their NCEA level one qualification.  My intention/hope here is that you as the teacher will be able to facilitate some open conversations with the student about their progress in their learning.  Ideally this is about having a chance for students to identify what factors are 'blocking' their learning (if any).   

With the start of term two it is an ideal time for mentor teachers to meet with the year 12 student mentee's.  There will be a strong indication of where they're progressing in their learning from the first term (there will be grades and students will be aware of how they're going).  

The ART initiative (Achievement - Retention - Transition) is very specific about targeting the individual student rather than the cohort.  The acronym that they use is NNN - "names, numbers, needs".  So far we have worked through the 'names' we have identified a subset of the cohort (28 students in year 12).  We have access to the 'numbers' - #'s of credits available, #'s of credits needed - these can be found on the students kamar page (see below).  I can see that this student has six classes and is enrolled in only one end of year exam (in media studies).  He has numeracy and literacy and currently has 38 credits towards his Level Two qualification.  

So now I need to have a conversation with him about his 'needs'.  That is what are the specifics of his academic year.  

• Is he on the right pathway (is his year taking to the places he wants/needs to go)?  
• Are there classes/standards that are an issue for him (I want to find out if he's drowning in any particular areas)?  
• Are there issues around attitude/energy levels/home/work/sport (anything that is getting in the way of his progress)?
• Are there things that we as a school can do to help his progress?

The intent here is that you as the mentor will be able to engender a positive trusting relationship so that important learning issues can be processed through.  The next steps...

1. Ideally the student is on track and finding good levels of success that indicate that he/she are progressing towards NCEA Level Two.  
2. Possible communication with SLT (JHA) if there are issues - then interventions can be put in place (these could be as easy as sorting new stationery or as far as moving class).  
3. One of the common things that I'm expecting is students that have missed standards and not looking at resit opportunities (or not contemplating what things went wrong).  
4. Possible communication with teachers - there may be a case for you as mentor to approach the students teachers directly and raise an issue (student can follow teaching or needs extra help etc). 
5. Possible communication with home - all the parents want their children to do well and would appreciate the contact.  
6. Planning another contact time.  Please don't let the relationship go cold - If you can meet regularly (say monthly) that would be ideal.  By the time this term is over the majority of internal assessment would have happened.  

At this stage I have set up an interview questionaire on kamar for all 28 students on the ART initative.  But I'm of two minds in this regard - the ideal thing here is not a set list to check off but a genuine open dialogue for progressing these guys through to a practical high school qualifications.

Here are some instructions on how to find that questionnaire on kamar.  

Final Thoughts...

• Do keep the exit strategy for students in mind.  For a lot of our senior students that struggle with the academic nature of NCEA they experience great anxiety and even depression.  They can see that their peers are progressing academically.  Many of our students that don't get level two just drift off out of school.  There are better ways to manage this.
• You are a teacher and ultimately students that struggle with school may have a negative association with teachers.  Thank them for their time and their honesty in their conversations with you.

Thanks again for your contribution to these students.

This post is related to RTC #1. "Establish and maintain effective professional relationships focused on the learning and well-being of ākonga." And RTC #7. "Promote a collaborative, inclusive and supportive learning environment part ii. foster trust, respect and cooperation with and among ākonga."

  

Term Two Planning

The Calendar Ahead

Here is a copy of the events and trips for Waihi College for next term.  It looks to be another very busy time here at school.  At eleven weeks this is the largest of the terms this year.  We've scheduled our time to have something of a mid term break - we've put a teacher only day on the Friday before the long weekend of  Queens Birthday.  The other "day zero's" are Anzac day (which is significant this year as this is the centenary of the Battle for Gallipoli) and our Parent Teacher Interview day).  

Of course we have our focus here in Waihi on Matariki in week nine.  The focus of the big questions for this term are...

• Year 7 & 8 - Why do we have stories?
• Year 9 - How has technology changed youth culture?
• Year 10 - What does it take to make a healthy community?

There are several major cultural events happening this term.  The junior school production in week seven, spirit days in week ten and the rugnet tour in week eleven.  

The SLT are aware that staff were feeling the pressure on learning last term with the amount of 'EOTC' happening.  Hopefully this information can better inform your planning.  




This post is just for your information and planning.