Identifying High Performing Schools

1
Identifying High Performing Schools

• Linking Victorian government school data sets
• ICSEI 2009 Vancouver, BC

2
The Linkages Map Project - Aims

• To map the relationships between school
  performance data sets
• To build an empirical model of what drives
  what, based on the strength and direction of
  relationships
• To enable schools and the Department to better
  target school improvement efforts what to focus
  on to drive high performance
• To identify candidate schools for further study

3
The Linkages Map Project - Methodology

• Structural Equation Modelling of 2006 survey and
  outcomes data from approximately 1,400 Victorian
  government schools
• Re-test validation of the model using 2007 data
  little change over the two year period
• The short-term outcome

4
Some findings
5
Linking leadership with school climate

• A positive organisational climate is anchored in
  a supportive leadership culture and ultimately
  underpinned by quality principal leadership

.16
School Climate
Leadership Culture
Principal Leadership
.82
.58
6
Linking organisational climate and student
wellbeing

• School climate has a strong impact on teacher
  perceptions of students motivation (and vice
  versa) feedback loop evident.
• Teacher perceptions of students motivation
  influence students experience of the quality of
  teaching and learning
• Student wellbeing (morale and distress) strongly
  influenced by the quality of the teacher-learner
  relationship

7
Linking teacher expectations with learning
outcomes

• SES exhibits the strongest link to learning
  outcomes
• Teachers positive views of students motivation
  and behaviour can act to combat the adverse
  effects of low SES.

8
School selection
9
Low SES schools with high teacher expectations

• A primary school with SES around the 9th
  percentile relative to all other schools in
  Victoria
• Years 3 and 5 standardised mean test scores
  around the 60th to 70th percentiles
• Teachers judgements of literacy outcomes more
  conservative.

10
Low SES schools with high teacher expectations

• A Secondary College with SES around the 7th
  percentile relative to all other schools in
  Victoria
• Years 10 numeracy scores around the 70th
  percentiles