Six Factors Contributing to Improving Schools
- Improving schools have clear sense of direction.
They place a premium on effective leadership and on a management approach that can generate both to vision of the future and commitment to the schools direction.
- Once the vision has been established improving schools practice fearlessness and recognise they cannot do all things perfectly that external organisations ask of them.
They make choices. They take risks.
- Improving schools know what they intend to do (and what they are not going to do) they also get clear targets for themselves.
They identify time scales, success criteria, resources, and the staff necessary to achieve them. Monitoring the implementation of agreed targets is vital and the focus of these targets should be on improving student achievement in identified areas of concern.
- Openness about performance data within the school is vital.
Discussion about approaches to learning is an important feature of successful schools. Effective schools engage in 'restless' self-examination.
- Successful schools require a learning staff and this requires a planned professional development strategy related to the schools development plan and performance appraisal.
Successful staff learns form a culture which vales continually improving everyday events and processes. Classroom observations have been shown to be the greatest benefit of teacher appraisal systems.
- It is good practice for a school to regard all it staff, not just the teachers, as members of the learning community.
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