School Development

Internal Review

Building a Professional Learning Community

School Development Model

3-5 YEAR PLAN(Goals)

VALUES VI SI ON

BUI LDI NG CAPACI TY

I MPLEMENTATI ONMONI TORI NG

MI SSI ON

SchoolDevelopment

COMMUNI CATI ON

EXTERNAL REVI EW

I NTERNAL SCHOOLREVI EW

Internal School Review

The purpose is to examine the school’s current processes, practices and assessment results in order to determine its strengths and areas needing change.

The focus is on identifying opportunities to improve student learning and achievement.

Using the provincially established Criteria Statements, the school establishes baseline data that is used to measure future growth and development.

Internal Review Component

Starting point for provincial model Completed within a 2-4 month period Requires a comprehensive assessment of

the school using Criteria Statements Results in a 3-4 Year School Development

Plan Includes the full school community

Internal Review: Steps and Procedures

Establish a School Development (Leadership) Team Gather and organize relevant data according to

Criteria Statements Establish Data Recording and Analysis Teams Record and analyze the data Report on data and reach consensus on strengths

and challenges Goal Identification

Step 1: Establish a School Development (Leadership) Team

The leadership team has a general responsibility to lead, support and monitor the school development process at the school level.

4-6 members: includes the administration, teachers and representation from parents, community and students (where appropriate)

Select a chairperson Build a culture and capacity for school development Establish timelines for each phase of the internal

review

Step 2: Gather and organize relevant data according to Criteria Statements

There are 15 provincially established criteria statements designed to identify strengths and challenges in four areas:

School Organization (1 & 2)Leadership (3 & 4)Teaching and Learning (5 – 13)Culture and Climate (14 & 15)

Criteria Statements

Each criteria statement has:o “Questions to Consider” o Data Sourceso Examples

The School development team, with District support, facilitates the gathering of all data

Data Collection

Data is derived from three broad sources:o School actions and practiceso Assessmento Surveys/Focus Groups

Step 3: Establish Data Recording and Analysis Teams

All staff should be on a team Teams of 3-5 work best Where appropriate, teams should have

representation from the school community Teams, where appropriate, should be representative

of a cross section of the school’s staff A member of the school development team should

lead each data recording and analysis team

Step 4: Record and analyze the data

To facilitate the recording and analysis session, the school development team should:o Set up an electronic file systemo Ensure technology is functional

Close-out: Day 1

Provide access to digital folders and files required to answer the criteria statement questions

Enter data on the Criteria Statement Recording Template

Hyperlink all supporting evidence to its source Limit conversations during data entry After data entry, begin to analyze the data for

Strengths and Challenges using the Criteria Analysis Template

Cross reference all Strengths and Challenges statements (by number) with the data entered on the recording templates

Ensure all electronic files are named, saved, and secured

Step 5: Report on Data and Consensus on Strengths and Challenges

Data recording and analysis teams report their list of strengths and challenges for each criteria statement

The full group must reach consensus on the strengths and challenges of each criteria statement before proceeding to the next one

Step 6: Goal Identification

Purpose is to categorize the challenges into similar areas

Operational Issues are removed Each team completes the Challenges to

Goals Template One team reports to all for comparison,

discussion and consensus

Close-out: Day 2

Each Data recording and analysis team reports to the full group

Encourage analysis and discussion to facilitate clarification and appropriate changes

Reach consensus on the Challenges Complete the Challenges to Goal Areas Template Remove Operational Issues from the master

challenge list Reach consensus on the goal areas Ensure all electronic files are saved and secured

“It has often been said that an improvement process represents a journey rather than a destination, but even a journey needs ports of call along the way. Goals provide these ports of call and serve as landmarks in an improvement process.” (DuFour and Eaker, 1998)