Disadvantage and outcomes

1
Disadvantage and outcomes

• SFO serves as a proxy for socio-economic
  circumstances
• SFO correlates with AIM and VCE outcomes
• Decreasing disadvantage by 100 leads to a 54
  increase in AIM reading outcomes

2
Disadvantage is not destiny
3
The selected schools

• The schools selected add value similar to School
  A
• Albion North Primary School
• Braybrook College
• Coomoora Primary School
• Dandenong North Primary School
• Kings Park Primary School
• St. Albans Meadows Primary School
• St. Albans Secondary College
• Springvale South Primary School

4
Ten lessons for improvement

• Structure teaching to ensure all students succeed
• Strong leadership that is shared
• Using data to drive improvement
• A focus on what matters most
• A culture of sharing and responsibility
• Engendering pride in the school
• Building teaching and leadership expertise
• High levels of expectation and teacher efficacy
• Tailoring initiatives to the overall direction of
  the school
• Ensuring an orderly learning environment

5
10 Lessons Two sorts

• While 10 lessons were identified, these
  lessonswere of two different sorts
• Those which constitute preconditions for
  substantial improvement
• Those which enable the schools to sustain
  improvement over time
• Which were the four preconditions?

6
Ten lessons for improvement

• Structure teaching to ensure all students succeed
• Strong leadership that is shared
• Using data to drive improvement
• A focus on what matters most
• A culture of sharing and responsibility
• Engendering pride in the school
• Building teaching and leadership expertis
• High levels of expectation and teacher efficacy
• Tailoring initiatives to the overall direction of
  the school
• Ensuring an orderly learning environment

6
7
Preconditions for improvement

• Strategies which must be in place for improvement
  to take hold
• Generally the starting point for improvement
  efforts in the schools
• Where they do not exist, they may require
  Department intervention or support

8
The preconditions

• Strong leadership that is shared
• High levels of expectation and teacher efficacy
• Ensuring an orderly learning environment
• A focus on what matters most

9
Sustaining factors

• Building teaching and leadership expertise
• Structure teaching to ensure all students succeed
• Using data to drive improvement
• A culture of sharing and responsibility
• Tailoring initiatives to the direction of the
  school
• Engender pride in the school

10
Size does matter

• All are comparatively large government schools
  though some have grown as a result of improvement
• Size contributes to program range and further
  success
• It underpins a vibrant professional learning
  culture
• The leadership load can be spread
• It contributes to sustainability
• There are economies of scale that can be used to
  create structures for ensuring all students are
  known well

11
So too does how the resources are used

• All the schools carefully target staff and other
  resources to where they will have the greatest
  effect
• Equity funding is used to directly impact on
  student learning

12
Conclusion

• Many of the lessons are no surprise and reflect
  the findings of research
• The distinction between preconditions for
  improvement and other factors related to
  sustaining momentum is new. This has implications
  for how the Department and schools approach
  improvement
• Two factors related to preconditions are either
  new or demonstrated in more significant ways
  the extent to which success relates to
  leadership and the central importance of an
  orderly learning environment
• The successes of these schools were not achieved
  overnight. A stable and consistent leadership
  team worked on their strategic approach for a
  significant number of years