Selfassessment: interpreting findings and integrating into institutional life

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Self-assessment interpreting findings and
integrating into institutional life

• Hilary Maxwell-Hyslop
• San Sebastian, June 2002

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Self-assessment an overview

• What is self-assessment?
• Self-assessment and evaluation
• Planning for self-assessment
• Self-assessmentselecting activities and tools
• Self-assessmentmanaging its implementation
• Self-assessment monitoring the process
• Self-assessment interpreting and acting on the
  findings
• Self-assessmentquality and change
• Self-assessment and school development
• Self-assessment and the future

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Using quality criteria or inspection schemes

• Staff can assess the school using
• quality criteria/inspection schemes.
• Work in pairs
• Agree on grading or met/not met
• Divide teaching and administrative criteria
• Management more than one assessment
• Compare assessments with another pair.

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Interpreting findings

• On-going findings as important as any final
  assessment.
• Allow group leaders to share information.
• Try and get overall evaluation rather than
  detailed descriptions of processes.
• Management should summarise findings and place in
  a context.

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Using the findings

• Take suggestions from different categories and
  use as basis for Action Plan
• What? Who? By when?
• Delegate where possible.

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Self-assessment and the school

• Move from a one-off event to on-going activity
  (cyclical).
• Greater awareness of individual and institutional
  performance becomes part of the life of the
  school.
• Individual staff initiatives can focus on
  specific areas of the schools work.

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Self-assessment, quality and change

• Whole school approach
• administration/welfare and teaching are
  inter-dependent - everything is important
• helps all staff feel involved, and part of a
  team. ownership that involvement promotes
• encourages awareness of stakeholders
• different perspectives are invaluable
• not just a management thing.
• Helps the implementation of change
• People are key agents of change.
• All successful change processes are
  characterized by collaboration and close
• interaction among those central to carrying out
  the changes. Fullan 1999

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Empowerment Evaluation - 1

• Empowerment evaluation is the use of evaluation
  concepts, techniques, and findings to foster
  improvement and self-determination. It employs
  both qualitative and quantitative
  methodologies.Empowerment evaluation has an
  unambiguous value orientation It is designed to
  help people help themselves and improve their
  programs using a form of self-evaluation and
  reflection.
• (Fetterman 2001)
• 3 dimensions of Empowerment evaluation
• accountability
• development
• knowledge

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Empowerment Evaluation - 2

• 3 steps
• Establishment of mission or vision statement
  about the programme.
• Taking stock
• identify and prioritise the most significant
  program activities.
• programme members/participants rate how well the
  program is doing in each of the activities (1-10)
  and discuss ratings.
• Charting a course for the future goals and
  strategies to achieve dreams.
• Evaluation becomes part of normal planning and
  management, way of institutionalizing and
  internalising evaluation.

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Self-assessment and external inspection

• Demystifies the inspection process.
• Enables staff to prepare more systematically
  focus on essentials.
• Helps staff interpret the findings of an external
  inspection.
• Helps the inspected school to debate the
  principles and practice of inspection schemes
  both internally and with those who administer
  them, and to speak with a more authoritative
  voice.
• Ownership that involvement promotes.

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Self-assessment and the future

• Role of self-assessment
• In national and international schemes
• Self-assessment
• part of inspection schemes
• informing inspection schemes
• influencing inspection schemes
• complementary to inspection schemes
• integral to school development quality
  programmes

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References

• Activities
• Aspinwall, K .et al. 1992 Managing Evaluation in
  Education. Routledge
• ILEA 1977 Keeping the School under Review. In
  McCormick, R. (ed.) 1982
• Calling Education to Account. Heinemann
  Educational.
• References
• Adelman, C. and Alexander, R.J. 1982 The
  Self-Evaluating Institution. Methuen and Co.
• Holt, M. 1981 Evaluating the Evaluators. Hodder
  and Stoughton.
• Hopkins,D. 1989 Evaluation for School
  Development. Open University Press
• Maxwell-Hyslop, H. 2001 Guidelines for School
  Self-Assessment. EAQUALS.
• .

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Websites

• EAQUALS www.eaquals.org
• OFSTED ofsted.gov.uk
• Adult Learning Inspectorate www.ali.gov.uk
• http// www.stanford.edu/davidf/empowermentevalua
  tion.html
• hmaxwellhyslop_at_clara.co.uk

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Key points

• Flexible tool - adapt to situation
• Encourage involvement of all staff
• Plan carefully - WHAT? WHY? WHAT?
• Encourage evaluation
• Respond to suggestions
• Set achievable targets

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Dont forget

• There is a lot in good teaching and learning that
  cant be captured by a checklist or calculator.
  Schools must be encouraged to identify and
  celebrate their moments of excellence.