Evaluating progress Evaluating progress and impactand impact

Evaluating progress Evaluating progress and impactand impact

John MacBeathUniversity of Cambridge

John MacBeathUniversity of Cambridge

A third spaceA third space

The aim of teaching is not produce learning but to provide the conditions for learning to take place (James Bradburne)

Painting outside the frame (Ger Graus)

‘New skills’ – communication and teamwork (Megan and Taylor)

Having the tools to figure it out

The aim of teaching is not produce learning but to provide the conditions for learning to take place (James Bradburne)

Painting outside the frame (Ger Graus)

‘New skills’ – communication and teamwork (Megan and Taylor)

Having the tools to figure it out

When fleas are captured for the flea circus they are placed in jars and the lids are screwed on. When the fleas jumped in the jars, they would hit their heads on the lids. They still wanted to jump so they learned to jump just high enough so that they wouldn't hit their heads. The trainer then comes back and takes the fleas out of the jars and puts them in the circus. Even though the fleas now have the whole sky above them, they still do not jump past their now self-imposed limits. Even though the fleas are now free, they have made the limits truly theirs by refusing to go beyond them.

The definition of insanity

To go on doing the To go on doing the same thing and same thing and expecting different expecting different resultsresults

‘You can take the child out of the neighborhood but much more difficult to take the neighbourhood out of the child’. 

‘Neighbourhood, peer effect and its associated values are hard to eradicate, but for children and their families ‘locked in neighborhoods of corrosive, concentrated poverty expanding opportunities, enhancing social networks and peer groups are all essential aspect of substantive improvement in academic and social environments and their inter-relationship. (Smaker and Betey, 2011)

The peer and neighbourhood effect

A world of learningA world of learning

Ten to eleven years olds:

• HHoours in schoolurs in school 900 900• Hours at homeHours at home 1,277 1,277• Hours in the virtual world 1,934Hours in the virtual world 1,934

Ten to eleven years olds:

• HHoours in schoolurs in school 900 900• Hours at homeHours at home 1,277 1,277• Hours in the virtual world 1,934Hours in the virtual world 1,934

((Baroness Susan Greenfield, Baroness Susan Greenfield, 20102010))

Inside the black boxInside the black box

The effectiveness perspective The effectiveness perspective

Attainment in Attainment out

What knowledge is of most worth?What knowledge is of most worth?

We couldn’t find a mechanism to show we valued the things we didn’t test. That was the problem. We always valued the other things but we couldn’t find a way of showing it, that’s the problem. We need to get to a situation where there’s a way of showing how much we value dancing, music, sport and PE; how much we value how much improvement children make in the widest sense and that really gets into the public consciousness. (Estelle Morris, Education Minister)

We couldn’t find a mechanism to show we valued the things we didn’t test. That was the problem. We always valued the other things but we couldn’t find a way of showing it, that’s the problem. We need to get to a situation where there’s a way of showing how much we value dancing, music, sport and PE; how much we value how much improvement children make in the widest sense and that really gets into the public consciousness. (Estelle Morris, Education Minister)

Children and young people live nested lives, so that when classrooms do not function as we want them to, we go to work on improving them. Those classrooms are in schools, so when we decide that those schools are not performing appropriately, we go to work on improving them, as well. But those young people are also situated in families, in neighbourhoods, in peer groups who shape attitudes and aspirations often more powerfully than their parents or teachers.

(David Berliner, 2005)

Children and young people live nested lives, so that when classrooms do not function as we want them to, we go to work on improving them. Those classrooms are in schools, so when we decide that those schools are not performing appropriately, we go to work on improving them, as well. But those young people are also situated in families, in neighbourhoods, in peer groups who shape attitudes and aspirations often more powerfully than their parents or teachers.

(David Berliner, 2005)

NESTED LIVES NESTED LIVES

My thinking [was] that if you were really interested in development of the education of the child then you had to think of schools being a kind of anchor but an anchor orchestrating sets of experiences beyond school.(Sir Tim Brighouse, in Bangs, MacBeath & Galton, 2010)

School as an anchor

Home (s)

neighbourhood

Peer group

Parents(s)

School

Teacher(s)

classroom

Construction sites

media

internet

Learning destinations

Extra curricular activities

Four big questionsFour big questions

Does the Children’s University make a difference?

In what way?How do we know?What do we do about it?

Does the Children’s University make a difference?

In what way?How do we know?What do we do about it?

Attendance Achievement

Attitudes

AttendanceAttendance

329 measures between 2007and 2010, comparing C.U. and non-C.U. pupils,

On only 23 of these measures is there no difference (or a difference in favour of non-CU pupils).

KS1

KS2

KS3

Data is for dialogueData is for dialogue

Professional accountability is based on data, not as a final judgment but as part of the toolkit for understanding current performance and formulating plans for reasonable action…. not as a static numerical accounting but as a conversation, using data to stimulate discussion, challenge ideas, rethink directions, and monitor progress, providing an ongoing image of [learning] as it changes, progresses, stalls, regroups, and moves forward again. (Earl and Katz, 2006: 13).

Professional accountability is based on data, not as a final judgment but as part of the toolkit for understanding current performance and formulating plans for reasonable action…. not as a static numerical accounting but as a conversation, using data to stimulate discussion, challenge ideas, rethink directions, and monitor progress, providing an ongoing image of [learning] as it changes, progresses, stalls, regroups, and moves forward again. (Earl and Katz, 2006: 13).

“Numbers are like people. Torture them enough and they will tell you anything” (Stephen Gorard)

Case stories

Interviews

Focus groups

Observation and participation

Travellers’ tales

Partners , patrons and products

CONNECT

EXTEND

CHALLENGE

CONNECT

EXTEND

CHALLENGE

What do I already know or can do?

How does this extend my knowledge or skill?

How does this challenge my knowledge or skill?

What are the connections?connections?

Who makes them?Who makes them? How are they made?How are they made? How How do we know?

What are the connections?connections?

Who makes them?Who makes them? How are they made?How are they made? How How do we know?

Curriculum and assessment

Beyond curriculum and Assessment smart