Building Performance and Global Excellence in Independent and International Schools

Building Performance: Developing a culture of deliberate,

targeted and intentional school improvement

Dr Philip SA Cummins

January 2015

Context: About Dr Phil


Teaching and working in and with schools since 1988

Presenter, Thought Leader, Consultant, Author, Textbook Writer, Syllabus

Writer, PhD in Australian History

Managing Director: CIRCLE – The Centre for Innovation, Research,

Creativity and Leadership in Education – supporting over 1,750 schools and

other organisations nationally and internationally

Adjunct Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, University of Tasmania

[email protected]

www.circle.education

@CIRCLEcentral

+61 410 439 130

Is this me?

• "I know how to teach - I've been doing it for years”

• "Student results are in the hands of the students themselves - I just

can't control all of the variables and I don't really have that much

influence”

• "I like to focus on the craft of my teaching - I love PDs where I can get

something new I can use in my teaching tomorrow”

• "Good assessment tasks help us to mark and rank students accurately”

• "I like a nice orderly classroom where the rules are clear and I've got

enough time to cover all of the syllabus content”

• "I know what's best for my students and I break it down for them to help

them so they can work towards a goal”

• "I like to build strong, caring relationships that just focus on the

positives”

• "I find it best to keep the parents away from the classroom because ..."

In this workshop …

Building Performance – Culture

A leader… has to engage people in confronting the challenge, adjusting

their values, changing perspectives, and learning new habits.

RA Heifetz & DL Laurie, “The work of leadership”, HBR, 1997

1. Defining Performance: Context, Concepts, Frameworks and

Processes

2. Understanding Individual Performance: Appraisal, Evaluation,

Feedback and Goal-Setting

Part 1:

Defining School Performance

Context, Concepts,

Frameworks and Processes


January 2015

In This Part …





1. Building Performance: Concepts and Context

2. The CIRCLE School Improvement Framework

3. The 5 Ds: Identifying and Managing Performance

1. Building Performance:

Concepts and Context

Your views

What does performance mean?

How can we build performance?

What does building

performance mean?

Performance

Productivity?

Autonomy?

Results?

National Testing?

Processes?

Goals achieved?

The International Educational

Landscape

Data-informed research & practice

Teacher performance & professional development

Literacy & numeracy benchmarking

Continuous improvement

ICT in learning benchmarking

Standards-referenced curriculum

Formative assessment

Performance culture needs

National School Improvement Tool (Australian Commonwealth

Government 2013) provides 9 clear benchmark areas for all Australian

schools in pursuit of improved performance:

• An explicit improvement agenda

• Analysis and discussion of data

• A culture that promotes learning

• Targeted use of school data

• An expert teaching team

• Systematic curriculum delivery

• Differentiated teaching and learning

• Effective pedagogical practices

• School-community partnerships

Learning culture needs• Student engagement: Promote student engagement with a focus on attendance, motivation, self-

belief, a disposition to learning, perseverance, problem-solving and performance, enhanced by

positive student-teacher relationships, equitable distribution of resources and less stratification of

students

• Teacher partnership in reform: Enable a relentless, practical focus on learning, and a strong culture of

teacher openness, research and learning

• Professional learning: Implement formal induction, feedback, professional development and mentoring

systems for all levels of teachers with systems that are primarily focused on improving student

outcomes

• Positive teaching climate: Promote teacher involvement in decision-making, the use of active teaching

practice, teacher cooperation and collaboration, and opportunities to improve teachers’ classroom

management

• Value-added educational measures: Track educational performance and provide the technology that

empowers this as a key focus of strategies to improve instruction and programs

• Distributed instructional leadership: Prepare teachers to enter school leadership through formal

training programs and support distributed school leadership and instructional leadership, especially in

building school professional learning plans, identifying and implementing essential outcomes for all

students, holding students, staff and parents accountable for outcomes, encouraging and coaching

teachers to use teaching strategies that improve educational outcomes for all students and assessing

student progress in important areas

• Improved accountability: Augment cultural change with increasing trend towards regulation in terms of

teacher qualifications, professional standards, conduct and behaviour

Grattan Institute (2012 ff), TALIS (2013), PISA (2013)

Technology-driven educational needs

• Education paradigms are shifting internationally to include online learning, hybrid learning

and collaborative models, social media is increasing its presence in all aspects of society

• The abundance of resources and relationships available because of new technologies is

compelling a fundamental rethink of the role of educators, while openness as a concept

and an expectation is changing perceptions of how education should function.

• Significant challenges to education include the increasing importance of ongoing

professional learning of staff, the constraining impact of institutional culture on adoption

of new technologies, the challenge to traditional educational modes and institutions

offered through technology as alternative sources of education, the requirement to blend

formal and informal modes of learning K-12 and the inadequacy of current technologies

to meet expectations relating to personalisation of learning

• Specific technologies include cloud computing, mobile technology and the use of

student-specific data to customise curricula and resources as a near horizon focus,

learning analytics and open content as a mid-horizon focus, and 3D printing and virtual

laboratories as far-term horizons, while Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is fast becoming

the preferred model for facilitation of devices and therefore requiring shifts in attitudes to

access and permissibility of smartphone technology

NMC Horizons (2014)

Independent school parent needs

• Good teachers and facilities

• Supportive, safe, stable, caring and disciplined

environment

• Educational excellence

• Reinforcement of moral values/faith basis/school

philosophy

• Smaller class sizes/individual attention

• Good principal/leadership

• Broad curriculum and co-curriculum

ISCA (2008)

Effective Teachers

What We’re Learning So Far:

• In every grade and subject, a teacher’s past track record of value-added is

among the strongest predictors of their students’ achievements in other classes

and academic years.

• Teachers with higher value-added on state tests tend to promote deeper

conceptual understanding as well.

• Teachers have higher effects on math achievement than on achievement in

reading or English Language Arts, at least as measured on state assessments.

• Student perceptions of a given teacher’s strengths and weaknesses are

consistent across the different groups of students they teach. Moreover,

students seem to know effective teaching when they see it … Most important

are students’ perceptions of a teacher’s ability to control a classroom and to

challenge students with rigorous work.

Gates Foundation, Initial Findings from the

Measures of Effective Teaching Project (2014)

Effective Teachers

7 C’s Assessment of Teachers by Students:

1. CARE: My teacher in this class makes me feel that he/she really cares about

me.

2. CONTROL: Our class stays busy and does not waste time

3. CLARITY: My teacher explains difficult things clearly

4. CHALLENGE: My teacher wants me to explain my answers—why I think what I

think.

5. CAPTIVATE: My teacher makes learning enjoyable.

6. CONFER: My teacher wants us to share our thoughts

7. CONSOLIDATE: My teacher takes the time to have the students summarize

what we learn each day.

Ron Ferguson, Harvard University from the

Measures of Effective Teaching Project (2014)

Highly Accomplished Teachers• Highly Accomplished teachers are recognised as highly effective, skilled classroom

practitioners and routinely work independently and collaboratively to improve their own

practice and the practice of colleagues. They are knowledgeable and active members of

the school.

• Highly Accomplished teachers contribute to their colleagues' learning. They may also

take on roles that guide, advise or lead others. They regularly initiate and engage in

educational discussions about effective teaching to improve the educational outcomes

for their students.

• They maximise learning opportunities for their students by understanding their

backgrounds and diverse individual characteristics and the impact of those factors on

their learning. They provide colleagues, including pre-service teachers, with support and

strategies to create positive and productive learning environments.

• Highly Accomplished teachers have in-depth knowledge of subjects and curriculum

content within their sphere of responsibility. They model sound teaching practices in their

teaching areas. They work with colleagues to plan, evaluate and modify teaching

programs to improve student learning. They keep abreast of the latest developments in

their specialist content area or across a range of content areas for generalist teachers.

AITSL Standards 2014

Highly Accomplished Teachers

• Highly Accomplished teachers are skilled in analysing student assessment

data and use it to improve teaching and learning.

• They are active in establishing an environment that maximises professional

learning and practice opportunities for colleagues. They monitor their own

professional learning needs and align them to the learning needs of students.

• They behave ethically at all times. Their interpersonal and presentation skills

are highly developed. They communicate effectively and respectfully with

students, colleagues, parents/carers and community members.

AITSL Standards 2014

Expert teachers

1. Expert teachers can identify essential representations of their subject

• Expert teachers have deeper representations about teaching and learning.

• Expert teachers adopt a problem-solving stance to their work.

• Expert teachers can anticipate, plan, and improvise as required by the

situation.

• Expert teachers are better decision-makers and can identify what decisions are

important and which are less important decisions.

2. Expert teachers can guide learning through classroom interactions

• Expert teachers are proficient at creating an optimal classroom climate for

learning.

• Expert teachers have a multi-dimensionally complex perception of classroom

situations.

• Expert teachers are more context-dependent and have high situation cognition.

John Hattie, Teachers Make a Difference (2003)

Expert teachers3. Expert teachers can monitor learning and provide feedback

• Expert teachers are more adept at monitoring student problems and assessing their level

of understanding and progress, and they provide much more relevant, useful feedback.

• Expert teachers are more adept at developing and testing hypotheses about learning

difficulties or instructional strategies.

• Expert teachers are more automatic.

4. Expert teachers can attend to affective attributes

• Expert teachers have high respect for students.

• Expert teachers are passionate about teaching and learning.

5. Expert teachers can influence student outcomes

• Expert teachers are passionate about teaching and learning.

• Expert teachers provide appropriate challenging tasks and goals for students.

• Expert teachers have positive influences on students’ achievement.

• Expert teachers enhance surface and deep learning.

John Hattie, Teachers Make a Difference (2003)

Hattie’s mindframes for expertise

• My fundamental task is to evaluate the effect of my teaching on

students’ learning and achievement.

• The success and failure of my students’ learning is about what I do or

don’t do. I am a change agent.

• I want to talk more about learning than teaching.

• Assessment is about my impact.

• I teach through dialogue not monologue.

• I enjoy the challenge and never retreat to “doing my best”.

• It’s my role to develop positive relationships in class and staffrooms.

I inform all about the language of learning.

http://visible-learning.org/2014/08/john-hattie-mind-frames-teachers/

http://visible-learning.org/2014/08/john-hattie-mind-frames-teachers/

Professional Development is about acquiring and testing the knowledge base for teaching

doing

understanding

competent

incompetent

consciousunconscious

conscious competence

unconsious incompetence

From „unconscious incompetence“ to „conscious competence“

Towards conscious competence

Dr Michael Day, TDA, 2011

Developing and deepening the teacher’s body of

knowledge through working with others, research

and enquiry

Tacit knowledge derived from school context

Detailed, concrete, integrated context specific knowledge - ‘craft of teaching’,

mentoring, diagnostic skills including AfL

ITT

Core knowledge

and

basic teaching skills

Induction

Deepening teaching skills

through testing knowledge

in classroom context and

peer group reflection

Continuing Professional development

Deepening body of

knowledge through study of

research on professional

areas, and participation in

research projects

Researching impact of

CPD on pupil performance

QTS

Induction

standards

Research derived professional knowledge

Public, sharable, storable and accessible, generalisable, verifiable

and improvable knowledge

Dr Michael Day, TDA, 2011

Is this us?

“As professionals, teachers need to engage in reflective practice to critically think

about their skills and knowledge, access professional development for

improvement and become an active member of learning communities to meet their

professional needs.”

Teacher Educator, New South Wales AITSL Validation Survey 2,

8 October to 5 November 2010

Is this us?

“There is now little or no doubt that schooling is improved when teachers

collectively examine new conceptions about teaching, question ineffective

practices and actively support each other’s professional growth.”

J Fleming & E Kleinhenz, Towards a moving school,

Developing a professional learning and performance culture (2007)

Aligning systems of

trust and research

School leaders’ strategies and personal characteristics

contribute significantly to their sense of empowerment and

success:

1. Trust in teachers is the most important factor, especially

when built through encouraging teacher autonomy, input

and innovation

2. Action research projects and shared governance and

decision-making build relationships, motivation and trust

and enhances outcomes

J Blase & J Blase, The Micropolitical Orientation of

Facilitative School Principals and its Effects on Teachers’

Sense of Empowerment (1997)

Find your champions:

Your school’s own knowledge laboratory

Epochal historical events have determined that the laboratory, not the

monastery, will continue to dominate the life of learning. Other late-

twentieth century trends, like the democratization and commercialization

of knowledge, are now pressuring existing institutions to meet the

demands of a knowledge society. Above all, the ascendancy of the

laboratory is reshaping the basic mission of other institutions, pushing

some towards obsolescence, giving others a new lease on life.

Ian F McNeely with Lisa Wolverton, Reinventing Knowledge, From

Alexandra to the Internet, WW Norton & Co, 2008

The CIRCLE

Leadership

Capability

Framework

Leadership through values &

relationships, authenticity,

transformation, sustainability, service

Leadership in action

Leadership style

Team culture

Discipline

VisionCommunication

skills

Problem-solving and

decision-making

Resolving conflict

Understanding and managing

change

Leadership for expertise• Be an active leader. Demonstrate the character, competence, drive and passion for

responsibility to lead by example. Enact suitable, practical and sustainable leadership

principles to meet team, task and individual needs and goals.

• Develop a range of leadership styles. Use a variety of appropriate and personal styles to

support the achievement of desired outcomes. Motivate and engage team members

effectively.

• Build the right team culture. Demonstrate team values and cultivate the right team

attitude. Create a team culture that supports the desired ethos and enables the preferred

strategy.

• Be disciplined. Model high standards of personal and professional discipline, especially

in the face of adversity. Enhance team members’ self-discipline and collective discipline

to achieve high standards.

• Use far-sighted vision and clear goals. Set direction, build the team and design its

supporting structures. Translate vision into action through positive leadership that

continually interpreting, reviewing and reinforcing the team vision.

Leadership for expertise• Communicate well and often. Use a wide variety of effective communication to motivate,

influence and direct the team. Align the team and community to the desired vision,

promote the team’s credibility, and enhance the viability of achieving the team’s goals.

• Solve problems and make decisions. Equip yourself with a range of appropriate decision-

making models that help you to make timely decisions that meet the desired object and

successfully manage the stress and risk associated with the decision. Ensure that you

consult team members appropriately in making decisions.

• Resolve conflict. Develop expertise in using different methods to resolve conflict. Use

suitable techniques to bring individuals and groups to short-term agreement and improve

long-term working relationships.

• Understand and harness change. Bring about change in an intentional, goal-oriented and

purposeful way. Employ effective processes and strategies to overcome resistance,

enhance learning and maintain team cohesiveness.

Motivation and engagement

Dan Pink, Drive, 2009 – 3 aspects for engaging and motivating people:

• Mastery: a feeling of control over the content and competencies of your

role

• Autonomy: a feeling that you are equipped, empowered and enabled to

make the key decisions that affect the nature and outcomes of your

work

• Purpose: a feeling that you are engaged in a noble pursuit that is

contributing to a greater good

MUST HAVE ALL 3 OF THESE IN PLACE

TO ENSURE HIGH LEVELS OF

ENGAGEMENT AND PERFORMANCE

Daniel Goleman on

motivation and leadership

Almost all effective leaders have motivation, a variety of self-management they

mobilize their positive emotions to drive them towards their goals and achieving

beyond expectations. They key word here is “achieve”. People who are motivated

to achieve like to be stretched yet balance external self-awareness with internal

motivation effectively. They have a passion for the work, seek out creative

challenges, love to learn and take great pride in a job well done. They have great

energy, often seem restless with the status quo and are eager to explore new

approaches to their work, especially with identifying better ways to track progress.

They are forever raising the performance bar, like to keep score, especially by

using clear, hard measures. They remain optimistic even when the score is against

them and their self-regulation combines with achievement motivation to overcome

the frustration and depression that come after a setback or failure.Adapted from http://www.danielgoleman.info/daniel-goleman-traits-of-a-motivated-leader-2/

http://www.danielgoleman.info/daniel-goleman-traits-of-a-motivated-leader-2/

Your views

How can data help improve performance in

the school setting?

Why?

Provocation: Are we confident in the

evidence basis of our own leadership?

• The ability of school leaders and administrators to use data to inform

practice has become a requirement of such positions.

• Several studies suggest that leaders and administrators often do not

feel confident in using data, or often use it inefficiently or incorrectly.

Marsh et al, ‘Making Sense of Data Based

Decision Making in Education’ 2006

Wolstetter et al ‘Creating a System for Data-Driven Decision-Making:

Applying the Principal-Agent Framework’ 2008;

Spillain ‘Conceptualising the Data-Based

Decision-Making Phenomena’ 2012)

Why use data?

• The research says that data can best be used in schools and systems:

• To lessen achievement gaps by targeting groups with the greatest need

• To highlight the professional learning needs of teachers

• To allow a ‘proactive approach’ to curriculum design and development

• To measure parent, student, staff and community satisfaction, especially with

the learning environment

• To give authority to decisions made by leaders and diminish perceptions that

such decisions are made based on emotions or assumptions

• To share best practices within and across schools

• To promote individual and groups accountability

• To enable schools to communicate more effectively with the media and with the

public

• To motivate students by identifying a student’s specific weakness in a particular

subject area, promote greater involvement and report back to parents

Marsh et al 2006; White Paper, Data-Driven Decision Making: A Powerful

Tool for School Improvement, Minneapolis. Sagebrush Corporation, 2004

CIRCLE’s 7 principles of evidence-

based leadership in schools

1. Mission alignment: Understand your purpose and concentrate your

activity on this goal; don’t spread your resources too widely.

2. Open inquiry: Ask good questions; don’t expect a particular outcome.

3. Dynamic explication and experimentation: Define your processes, test

and iterate; don’t lock things down too soon.

4. Wise measurement: Use grand school averages and value-added

models; avoid benchmarks where possible.

5. Contextualised interpretation: Analyse data by finding patterns that tell

the real story; don’t let data speak for itself.

6. Balanced judgment: Temper data with intuition.

7. Collaborative improvement: Use the findings to help engage all

members of the community to construct better outcomes for more

learners.

Planning Performance

Planning school performance

Setting operational goals and KPIs

Planning individual performance

Monitoring and measuring school and individual performance

What are the barriers to improving

performance and implementing performance

building activities in schools you are familiar

with?

Your take-aways

One thing:

• You know more about

• You feel more confident about

• You might use at your school tomorrow

• You might think about carefully for a long time before using

at your school

Your questions

2. The CIRCLE School

Improvement Framework

Your views

How can we use frameworks to help us to

build performance in the school setting?

Why?

Do we understand the importance of

frameworks in analysing how schools

work?

Theoretical, conceptual and practical frameworks are like the scaffolding

builders use to repair buildings which allow the builder to focus on those

aspects of the building most in need of work.

Lester, ‘On the Theoretical, Conceptual and Philosophical Foundations for

Research in Mathematics Education’ 1995

Having a framework helps to build a structure of ‘justification’ rather than

a structure of ‘explanation’.

Eisenhart, ‘Conceptual Frameworks for Research’ 1991

The CIRCLE

School

Framework

School leadership:

For others, for change, for life, for

real

Achievement: Leadership in

action, leadership style

Relationships: Team culture,

Conflict resolution

Communications: Communication,

Vision

Initiatives: Understanding &

managing change, Problem-solving & decision-making

Reputation: Team culture, Discipline

Our shared educational mission

Students should:

• Become expert independent learners who set and achieve relevant,

progressive and attainable goals

• Work in relationships of interdependent collaboration with their peers,

teachers, families and communities

• Communicate effectively within and about their learning and leadership

• Participate in initiatives and programs that enable them to rehearse for

a life of meaningful contribution, learning and service others

• Earn a reputation for being passionately engaged in challenging,

substantive and rewarding learning


Staff should:

• Set and achieve goals as part of a professional growth plan

• Work through relationships in teams and in community as part of our

professional learning and development programs

• Promote a meaningful Communication CHARTER – constructive,

honest, accountable, responsible, transparent, engaging, relevant

• Contribute to deliberate, targeted and intentional initiatives that

enhance their career trajectories

• Earn a professional reputation for mastery of curriculum, competency

of pedagogy, professional growth, leadership of learning and

commitment to a shared school culture


Leaders should:

• Lead the achievement of good results through effective leadership in

action and a contextualised personal leadership style

• Promote good relationships through their management of team culture

and conflict resolution

• Demonstrate leadership vision and articulate this through superior

communication

• Plan for, implement and evaluate initiatives through change

management, problem-solving and decision-making capabilities

• Build good reputations that enhance our shared reputation through

team discipline

School Improvement Domains

Improved culture and practice should be reflected in tangible evidence of

change in:

• Achievement: How we will improve achievement across all areas of the

school community, especially for our students – learning, leadership,

service, sport and co-curricular.

• Relationships in our community: How we will build and nurture our

important relationships – students, staff, parents, Board, alumni,

broader community members.

• Communication: How we will communicate among our community

members and to others about what we are doing and how we are

going.

• School initiatives: How we will implement what we see as the most

important programs that will benefit our community.

• The school’s reputation: How we will care for and promote the school’s

identity within and external to our community.

Key Questions for the CIRCLE School

Improvement Domains5 simple questions to ask of anything in a school – a person,

a program, a community:

1. Achievement: Do we achieve good results?

2. Relationships in our community: Do we have good

relationships?

3. Communication: Do we communicate well?

4. School initiatives: Do we plan for, conduct and evaluate

initiatives well?

5. The school’s reputation: Do we have a good reputation?

Evaluation Criteria

5 simple questions to ask of CIRCLE’s 5 School Improvement

Domains:

1. Outcomes: Do we achieve what we set out to achieve with

our performance?

2. Processes: Do we use the best teaching and learning,

research and development, information recording and

tracking, evaluation and decision-making, and resourcing

and other business processes in our operations?

3. Community Engagement: Do we engage with and satisfy

our community’s expectations?

4. Ethos: Do we enhance our school’s ethos and values?

5. Strategic Intent: Are we aligned with and contributing to

our strategic intent?

CIRCLE’s 5 School Improvement Framework:

how we make sense of who we are

and what we do in schools

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WH

AT

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ACHIEVEMENT

RELATIONSHIP

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COMMUNICATIONS

INITIATIVES

REPUTATION

Your take-aways

One thing:





at your school

Your questions

3. The 5Ds: Identifying

and Managing Performance

Your views

What type of process can help us to improve

performance across a whole school?

Why?

How Can We Best Identify and Manage

Our School’s Performance?

Key Questions

The CIRCLE Discovery Process:

– Discover: What do we know about our performance and

culture?

– Diagnose: What key patterns and trends can we

observe from the data?

– Decide: What should we do?

– Direct: What strategies can we use to do this well?

– Deploy: How are we going to get there?

Discovery

• Achievement: Do we achieve good results?

– Focus on our learning, leadership, service, sport and co-curricular.

• Relationships in our community: Do we have good relationships:

– Focus on students, staff, parents, Board, alumni, broader community members.

• Communication: Do we communicate well?

– Focus on how we communicate among our community members and to others

about what we are doing, why we are doing this and how well we are doing.

• School initiatives: Do we plan for implement and evaluate our initiatives

well?

– Focus on how well we implement what we see as the most important programs that

will benefit our community.

• Reputation: Do we have a good reputation?

– Focus on how we as individuals and a community will care for and promote the

school’s identity internally and externally, aligning individual and collective

reputation.

Discovery

• Outcomes: Do we do what we set out to do?

– Focus on our learning, leadership, service, sport and co-curricular results in

particular, as well as key financial and business outcomes.

• Processes: Do use the best available processes?

– Focus on teaching and learning, research and development, information recording

and tracking, evaluation and decision-making, and resourcing and other business

processes .

• Community Engagement: Have we engaged with and satisfied our

community’s expectations?

– Focus on testing assumptions and anecdote against key data.

• Ethos: Have we enhanced our school’s ethos and values?

– Focus on alignment of stated and unstated culture.

• Strategic Intent: Are we aligned with and contributing to our strategic

intent?

– Focus on relationship of action to strategic planning.

Discovery

When we ask questions, we use …

• A 5 question tool (for the whole community)

• A 10 question tool (for staff and other stakeholders)

• A 25 question tool (for Executive and Board)

• A 125 question tool (for data junkies and specific review)

These are organised by domains and criteria of the

CIRCLE School Framework.

We try to keep it very, very simple.

The CIRCLE School Discovery

Report Card

Achievement Relationships Comms Initiatives Reputation

Outcomes 3.6 4.5 2.4 3.6 4.1

Processes 4 4 2.5 3.2 4.5

Community

Engagement

3.5 4.2 2.3 3.8 3.9

Ethos 3.8 4.3 2.0 3.5 3.4

Strategic Intent 3.9 4.1 2.8 3.7 3.6

Standards-Referenced Evaluation

• We use a series of established standards to describe desirable

attainment across the 5 domains and the 5 criteria of the CIRCLE

Educational Framework.

• These standards can be used in full or in a selected fashion to identify

holistic or targeted performance.

• Each of the questions of the 125 question Discovery tool is linked to a

specific standard and stakeholders are asked to indicate a level of

agreement on a 6 point Likert scale:

1. Well below expectation

2. Below expectation

3. Sometimes meets expectation

4. Meets expectation

5. Above expectation

6. Well above expectation

Standards:

Outcomes

Standards:

Processes

Standards:

Community

Engagement

Standards:

Ethos

Standards:

Strategic Intent

Culture Capture

• What characterises us?

– Focus on identity

• What do we want to become?

– Focus on aspiration

• What’s the best way to get there?

– Focus on broad agency and strategy

• What works for us?

– Focus on cultural strengths

• What doesn’t work for us?

– Focus on cultural weaknesses

• How will we know when we get there?

– Focus on standards, milestones and benchmarks

Framing + Focusing

For each key concept identified from Culture Capture:

• How do we connect to this concept?

– Focus on context, current relationships and strategies

• How might we nurture this concept?

– Focus on potential methods for strengthening these connections

• What challenges do we face in connecting to this concept?

– Focus on opportunities, threats, targets and barriers that we need to prepare for

• What might we do differently in relation to this concept?

– Focus on change, change management and building a learning community to help

with the necessary transitions

3 Things to Take Away about the Data

Gathering Process

1. Honour the process: Ask the same questions every time

and build them in to the processes of the whole school.

2. Keep it simple: Complicated dashboards work for a

handful of us; just about anyone in your school can

understand a simple matrix that is used again and again.

3. Framework = alignment: Linking everything to a common

framework provides the alignment we need.

Your take-aways

One thing:





at your school

Your questions

In This Part …





1. Building Performance: Concepts and Context

2. The CIRCLE School Improvement Framework

3. The 5 Ds: Identifying and Managing Performance

Next steps?

Part 2:

Understanding Individual Performance

Appraisal, Evaluation, Feedback

and Goal-Setting


January 2015

In this Part …





1. Models of Appraisal

2. CIRCLE’s Evaluation and Goal-Setting Process


The school leader’s learning journey

Teacher evaluation is essential for improving both individual

performance and collective school outcomes.

Asia Society Partnership for Global Learning,

2011 Conference Report

Common Reactions to Appraisal

The Appraisal Process

Performing: Actioning

agreed goals

Reviewing: Assessing actual

performance against standard

Planning:

Agreeing on performance

required

Your views

How effective do you think appraisal systems

are in the school setting?

Why?

How might we characterise

appraisal?

How others think we might we

characterise appraisal

• Fear: appraisal = getting sacked,

being found wanting

• Performance

• Review

• Evaluation

• Development

• Affirmation of good practice

• Action research

• Goals

• Future orientation

• Yuck

• Hidden agenda

• Summative or formative?

• Fixed mindset or growth

mindset?

• Improvement

• Enrichment

• Supportive

• Empowering

• Growth

• Cookie-cutter

Successful appraisal means …

• Framing appraisal in the context of established practices, educational

objectives and culture

• Defining specific purposes for appraisal

• Clarifying the responsibilities of all involved in the process

• Situating teacher appraisal within a whole-school approach to

evaluation and review

• Establishing meaningful standards and evaluation criteria

• Training evaluators to appraise and teachers to be appraised

Paulo Santiago and Francisco Benavides, Teacher Evaluation: A

Conceptual Framework and Examples of Country Practices,

OECD, 2009

What are we trying to achieve

with appraisal?

• Better student outcomes

• Marks

• Improvement

• Develop collegiality

• Student and staff engagement

• Own satisfaction

• Better at our jobs

• Whole school improvement

• Better learning

• Growth

What others think we might be

trying to achieve with appraisal

What others think we might be

trying to achieve with appraisal• Continuous improvement aligned with the organisational

goals

• Outcomes based on this

• Affirmation of good practice

• Clarification of individual goals

• Facilitating people’s PD directions and opportunities

• Remuneration and status

• Promotional opportunities

Improving student outcomes

The over-arching policy objective is to ensure that

teacher evaluation contributes to the improvement of

student outcomes through enhanced teaching

performance and improved teaching practices

Paulo Santiago and Francisco Benavides, Teacher

Evaluation: A Conceptual Framework and Examples

of Country Practices,

OECD, 2009

Building teacher performance by

building capacityThe greatest impact on improving school and teacher

performance comes from measures that are designed to build

capacity as well as increase accountability. Of these two

qualities, it is capacity-building that is more likely to lead to

outstanding performance. Accountability is necessary but it is

not of the highest importance

Michael Fullan, Strong Performers and Successful

Reformers: Lessons from PISA, 2011

What’s the best way to get there with

appraisal?

• Cycle of reflective practice

• Need to revisit strategic plan; clearly defined goals and

vision/foundation

• Clear markers along the way

• Equip people to do I – develop people’s capacity

• Promote conversations in departments

• Build key agents for change – the 25% and the next group

• Build a continual positive discourse and associated relationships

• Be positive, market it and build trust

• Work on getting staff on board – get alongside and tweak culture not

wholesale change at once

What others think might be the best

way to get there with appraisal

What others think might be the best

way to get there with appraisal

• Action research programs: Self-assessment and peer

review; Self-directed goals affirmed by Head of School;

Improvement criteria; Presented back to peers; mid-year to

end of year cycle over 18 months; generate enthusiasm to

renew

• Regular chats; relation to PD goals; formative in approach;

little public relationship

• Process: Focus on internal motivation; conversation about

formative; summative outcomes not punitive outcomes;

transparency

Appraisal System Design

What works best is a decentralized approach

– individual schools rather than systems are

best placed to design and administer

meaningful and effective appraisal for

teachers

Ben Jensen, Better Teacher Appraisal and

Feedback: Improving Performance (Grattan

Institute, 2011)

Integration into the whole-school

context• Professional development should aim to move teachers on

a continuum from incompetence to competence and from

unconscious to conscious practice.

• The ideal of conscious competence can be achieved by a

deepening of the teacher’s body of knowledge through

working with others, research and enquiry

• Importance of rich, meaningful data

Michael Day, TDA Approaches to

Improving Teacher Training,

OECD, 2011

What works with appraisal?

What others think works with

appraisal

• Small, often planned, achieveable, transparent

• Work from strengths and pre-existing achievements – 5:1

ratio

• Observing an expert

• Having a range of criteria that you are assessing

• Having a valid instrument that people take seriously

• Having a written record to work from

• Working through with people we trust

• Setting goals to enhance strengths and address

weaknesses

Balanced design

Designing effective teacher-evaluation systems requires

careful balancing of the objectives of improvement and

accountability, discriminating selection of criteria, and the

training of evaluators. Whatever approach is taken, the

criteria against which teachers are evaluated need to be very

clear and perceived as fair.

Report from the Asia Society

Partnership for Global Learning’s 2011 conference

Improving Teacher Quality Around the World:

The International Summit on the Teaching Profession

Instruments to achieve

meaningful feedback

• Student performance and assessments

• Peer observation and collaboration

• Direct observation of classroom teaching and learning

• Student surveys and feedback

• 360-degree assessment and feedback

• Self-assessment

• Parent surveys and feedback

• External observation

Ben Jensen, Better Teacher Appraisal and Feedback: Improving

Performance (Grattan Institute, 2011)

What doesn’t work with

appraisal?

What other think doesn’t work

with appraisal• Narrow view point of what you are being appraised in

• Public feedback – lack of confidentiality

• Assessor walking in with a preconceived idea

• Using a tool for purposes for which it was not designed

• When teachers are not motivated for growth

• Ignoring people’s individuality and context

• Culture of shame or culture of ego

• Appraisal without dialogue

• The word appraisal

• One hit per year and nothing in between – “annual review”

• Using the wrong tool

What the research shows about

current approaches to appraisal

• Teacher effectiveness is not identified in schools

• Teacher quality is not recognised in schools

• Teacher innovation is not recognised in schools

• Teacher evaluation has few consequences

• Teacher evaluation does not develop teaching in

classrooms

• Teacher evaluation is largely just an administrative

exercise

Ben Jensen, Better Teacher Appraisal and Feedback:

Improving Performance (Grattan Institute, 2011)

What Australian teachers say

about current appraisal systems

• 63% of teachers report that appraisals of their work are done purely to

meet administrative requirements

• 91% say the best teachers do not receive the most recognition and

reward

• 71% say that poor-performing teachers in their school will not be

dismissed.

• Instead, assessment and feedback are largely tick-a-box exercises not

linked to better classroom teaching, teacher development or improved

student results

Ben Jensen, Better Teacher Appraisal and Feedback: Improving

Performance (Grattan Institute, 2011)

How will you know when you’ve

got there with appraisal?

How other think you will know when you’ve

got there with appraisal

• People aren’t afraid of the word “appraisal”

• Staff are inspired by the process, engage with it and “get it”

• Quantitative improvement can be identified

• When conversations are more about teaching and pedagogy than

funny stories about kids

• When the students notice improvement

• When you have confident staff who have mastery over their subject

and are able to do their job – when teachers thrive and their wellbeing

improves and they collaborate more effectively

• When staff seek appraisal to help them work through problems in a

coaching situation to become more effective

• When goals are met

• When students and parents change their perception of teachers in the

College and its academic reputation as evidenced by feedback

Successful Appraisal Means …

Embedded & whole school approach

Clear purpose, structure & roles

Meaningful criteria

Constructive approach – regular feedback

Common models of appraisal

Management by Objectives

Balanced Scorecard

360° Feedback

Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales

Ranking methods

Your take-aways

One thing:





at your school

Your questions

2. CIRCLE’s Evaluation and

Goal-Setting Process

The school leader’s learning journey

A process of becoming better instructional leaders through

the right processes for development of our capacity, that is,

initial training, induction and continuing professional

development, including mentoring and cluster professional

development support structures.

Philip SA Cummins, Autonomous schools in

Australia: Not ‘if’ but ‘how’, 2012

Professional Evaluation, Goal-Setting

and Growth Planning

Initiation

Gathering Data: Self-Reflection,

Observation, Students

Shared Reflection

and Evaluation

Professional Growth Plan

Ongoing Review and Reflection

THE PROCESS PHASE

1. Meeting One: Agreeing The Process

Teacher and coach meet to agree on process.

The teacher then completes and forwards to

the coach:

Teacher Self-Reflection Statement

Assessment of Teacher Professional

Standards

Both the coach and the supervisor complete

the ratings section of the Assessment of

Teacher Professional Standards.

Initiation

• Simple and clear

• Focused on process

• Clear on time frames – 2 weeks

• Careful not to go beyond the “snapshot”

• Introduces roles

Topics

Purpose

Structure of the Process

Who will be involved

What each person does in the process

What are the desired outcomes

Roles

• The teacher

• The coach

• The supervisor

• The students

• The principal

The Coach

In the evaluation and goal setting process,

plays an important role of assisting participants

to realise potential and amplify performance for

the benefit of all involved.

In the evaluation and goal setting relationship,

the Coach plays the role of the critical and

constructive friend with the intention of

developing specific skills and knowledge that

over time will enhance personal growth.

The Appraisee and the Coach

both have an opportunity to develop their

professional practice through this process

The Coach

Is another school leader

The Supervisor

Is a staff member’s direct line manager

Gathering data

• Self-reflection based on domains –

importance of using evidence to turn

assertions into reality

• Student survey and lesson observation

based on attributes

• Shared teacher, coach and supervisor

evaluation of performance based on AITSL

standards

Analysing data

• Seek to gain baseline data

• Identify clear patterns and trends

• Beware the harsh or soft assessor!

• Focus on areas of strength first and

foremost

• Don’t duck the obvious areas for

development

• Separate analysis from solution in the

process

CIRCLE’s School Framework

LEADERSHIP:

For real,

For change,

For life,

For others

ACHIEVEMENT: Knowledge and

understanding, leading teaching and learning, leading improvement

innovation and change; leadership in

action, leadership style

RELATIONSHIPS:

Personal qualities –social and

interpersonal skills, developing self and

others; team culture, conflict resolution

COMMUNICATIONS: Personal qualities –

social and interpersonal skills,

engaging and working with the community; leadership vision and

communication

INITIATIVES:

Vision and values, leading improvement,

innovation and change; understanding and managing change, problem solving and

decision-making

REPUTATION:

Personal qualities –social and

interpersonal skills, developing self and others; team culture

and discipline

CIRCLE’s Non Teaching Staff

Competency Framework

DATA COLLECTION PHASE

2. Student Surveys & Lesson Observations

Lesson observations take place within the

next week, during which:

The students complete Student Survey –

ideally in the last five minutes of the

lesson.

The coach is the only person to complete

Observation Notes for each lesson

(except in the case of non-teaching staff).

3. Review of Data

The coach collates and reviews:

Teacher Self-Reflection Statement

Assessment of Teacher Professional

Standards

Student Surveys

Observation Notes

GOAL SETTING PHASE

4. Meeting Two: Review & Goal Setting

The teacher and coach meet face to face to

review collated data and documentation.

The teacher then considers the goals arising

and takes away the Teacher Goal Setting

Statement to complete.

5. Meeting Three: Goal Setting Sign Off

Teacher and coach meet to agree on

collated data and Teacher Goal Setting

Statement.

Smart Goals

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Time bound

Smart Goals

Specific – clear and unambiguous

Measurable – quantifiable

Attainable – possible to accomplish

Relevant – to your role within the school

Time bound – when will this be done

REVIEW & COMPLETION PHASE

6. Termly Goal Review Meetings

The teacher and coach meet once per term

to review progress of Teacher Goal Setting

Statement.

7. Completion

The process is completed when teacher and

coach have met to sign off on collated data

and have created a mutually agreed goal

setting review.

The supervisor and the Principal or their

Nominee review the completed

documentation and write to the teacher and

coach to sign off on review.

And for Non-Teaching Staff

Members …

CIRCLE’s Non Teaching Staff

Competency Framework

Processes

• Meetings

• Setting goals

• Reviews

• “Difficult” conversations

Your take-aways

One thing:





at your school

Your questions

In this part …






2. CIRCLE’s Evaluation and Goal-Setting Process

Next steps?

Remember that when you leave this earth, you can take with

you nothing that you have received…only what you have

given: a full heart enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice,

and courage.

Francis of Assisi

Bye bye!

Dr Phil Cummins

[email protected]

www.circle.education

@CIRCLEcentral

+61 410 439 130

Date post:	18-Jul-2015
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