Evaluation for Improvement

Outline

Evaluation for Improvement in education is a process schools go through to continually

better their practices. It involves extensive data gathering and evaluating starting from
teaching activities to curriculum design to the school environment. However for
teachers, there is no other word as un-nerving as “Evaluation”. It sometimes
automatically means teachers being called to the office to be reprimanded or shown
the way out. Even if advertised as a positive process by the management, being
scrutnised often leaves the teachers vulnerable.

With the following workshops, we look at how to use school evaluations to create a
positive school culture. The topic of Evaluation for Improvement has been divided into
five. The specific topics that will be covered as individual workshops are listed below.

- Creating a positive culture of support

- What school evaluators look for in schools
- Formative self-evaluation
- Self-assessment and reflection in teaching
- Reviewing assessment in schools to improve student outcomes

Creating a positive culture of support

It is school leaders and teachers who collectively create a positive culture in the school.
There is not one person solely responsible for a school’s culture. However, it is the school
leader who sets the pace and opens up leadership opportunities for teachers to excel
in.

Within this topic, we look at elements that can be improved in a school to create a
positive culture of leadership and learning as it is only empowered teachers who
become self-reflective of their practices and become better educators.

What school evaluators look for in schools

The purpose of this workshop would be to introduce educators to the key components
of a general evaluation framework and support them in identifying key areas for
improvement for their school. Each participant will be able to take back an action plan
for their own school’s improvement, in their own capacity.
Formative self-evaluation

Schools that boast a growth mindset, take less time to become better schools. External
school evaluations can be painful if a school is unaware of it’s own strengths and
weaknesses. Self-critical schools become self-confident schools and are able to handle
external school evaluations more positively.

In this workshop we look at four elements of a growth-minded school: observation,

dialogue, feedback and investment.

Self-assessment and reflection in teaching

Aimed towards current teaching practitioners, this workshop highlights the importance
of becoming a reflective teacher. With this workshop, we will also support teachers in
identifying ways that they feel would help them best assess their own practices. Along
with that, we discuss instruments that can be used for self-assessment of teaching.

Reviewing assessment in schools to improve student outcomes

Reviewing assessment in schools will take a deeper look into how school assessment
can be made more relevant to benefit each child. Another purpose of assessment for
teachers is also to see if learning goals are met. In this workshop, we analyse some tests
for validity, reliability, impact and practicality and make plans to improve current
practice.