This self-review tool supports boards of trustees as they work as leaders with principals and their communities to ensure schools are using the National Standards for reading, writing, and mathematics to improve students’ learning and achievement within The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC). The tool also supports boards’ self-review processes and so should help to inform strategic and annual planning. As they engage with the tool, boards will better understand how to use the National Standards and what their next steps might be to support the learning of in-school leaders, teachers, and students.
Student needs | Professional needs | Monitor implementation | Impact on students
The overall introduction to the set of self-review tools describes how the tools can support professional learning focused on improving student outcomes through the development of curriculum and assessment knowledge. Each tool describes practice in relation to effective use of the National Standards at three points on a continuum (basic, developing, and integrated) so that users can locate their practice and then set goals for their own learning. These goals may include building knowledge of the learning progressions for students described in Literacy Learning Progressions, The English Language Learning Progressions, and the Number Framework from the Numeracy Development Projects.
A critical aim of self-review is achieving a step up in the performance of the education system for and with Māori learners. Central to such an achievement and at the core of Ka Hikitia is 'an unrelenting focus on ako' (Ministry of Education, 2009, p. 20). Transforming the system will require a better understanding of the links between teaching practice and learning outcomes and of what students can contribute to learning experiences in the classroom.
Board members may use this tool on their own, but research shows that an inquiry process undertaken with others and with a clear focus on student achievement results in much deeper understanding. Similarly, self-review may be undertaken with or without support from an external expert, but working with an 'experienced other', such as a professional development provider, results in deeper learning (Timperley, Wilson, Barrar, and Fung, 2007).
It is important to remember that school self-review covers a much wider range of areas than those explored in this tool and that many schools use other self-review tools. This tool represents one important inquiry that can contribute to a school’s strategic review.
The structure of the tool is based on the key questions of the inquiry and knowledge-building cycle presented in Teacher Professional Learning and Development: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration (Timperley et al., 2007). This cycle has been used because it supports professional learning in ways that have a positive impact on student outcomes.
If you cannot view or read this diagram, select this link to open a text version.
Basic | Developing | Integrated | |
| Boards ensure that: | |||
What do our students know and what do they need to learn and do? |
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| Boards require reports in which: | |||
What levels of analysis do we need? |
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Evidence supporting our placement on the continuum | |||
What do our students know and what do they need to learn and do? | |||
What levels of analysis do we need? | |||
Basic | Developing | Integrated | |
| Boards: | |||
How have we as a board contributed to a range of outcomes for all students? |
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| Boards: | |||
How does information on student achievement inform our own learning needs and those of leaders and teachers? |
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Evidence supporting our placement on the continuum | |||
How have we as a board contributed to a range of outcomes for all students? | |||
How does information on student achievement inform our own learning needs and those of leaders and teachers? | |||
Basic | Developing | Integrated | |
| Boards: | |||
What evidence is there that agreed strategies are in place for meeting our achievement targets relating to the standards? |
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Evidence supporting our placement on the continuum | |||
What evidence is there that agreed strategies are in place for meeting our achievement targets relating to the standards? | |||
Basic | Developing | Integrated | |
| Boards: | |||
What evidence is there that students have progressed in relation to expectations from the NZC and the standards? |
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Evidence supporting our placement on the continuum | |||
What evidence is there that students have progressed in relation to expectations from the NZC and the standards? | |||
The National Administration Guidelines have been revised and republished to incorporate requirements in relation to the National Standards. These requirements are implicit in many of the descriptors at the 'basic' level of the self-review tools. Schools are required to meet the new requirements from 2010 and to report against them in their annual reports on the 2011 year onwards.
Published on: 02 Dec 2009
