How can school leaders identify and reduce in-school variation?

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How can school leaders identify and reduce
in-school variation? A Leadership Network
Project
Seizing Success, 8 March 2005
National College for School Leadership and
Leadership Network
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The workshop will aim to

• Briefly review What we know and Why WSV is
  important
• Say a few words about the NCSL/LN project which
  is aimed at both tackling WSV and drawing out
  lessons about what works
• Explore School experiences and findings
• Provide an opportunity for you to discuss what
  are you doing already and how you might take this
  further

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What has the project involved?

• Joint DfES/NCSL Steering Group
• 25 schools from the Leadership Network
• Main workshops in September and December, and
  other group meetings
• Support from David Reynolds and Regional
  Co-ordinators
• Commitment to taking action and sharing the
  results

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Departmental Partnership
Peter KentLawrence Sheriff School, RugbyJuly
2004
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Structure of Partnership

• English/ Science (GCSE)
• History/ Geography/ RE (GCSE)
• French / German (GCSE)
• PE/ DT/ART (GCSE)
• Media / Business Studies (A-Level)
• Music / Drama (A-Level)

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Success Measures

• AIM Reduce variation in results to no more than
• 10
• HOW MEASURED?
• Percentage gaining A/ grades at GCSE
• Value-added residuals, using ALPS (A Level
  Performance System)
• BUT
• Need to measure what we value, not value what we
  can measure

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How Partnership Developed

• Meetings on training days
• Peer observation of lessons
• Summary of good practice
• Less formal networking
• In many different directions (e.g. monitoring and
  evaluation, use of modular courses, coursework
  strategies)

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Evaluation (1) hard data

• German results now matching those in French
• Change in Science syllabus following advice from
  partner departments
• History, RE and PE also changing syllabus
  following advice from partners
• Impact not predictable (reduction in gap at KS3
  and A-Level in departments with GCSE focus)
• 2006 before see full impact slow burn, big
  bonfire

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Evaluation (2) Cultural Impact

• Partnership is one of equals
• Very positive staff response to sharing good
  practice
• Q What will we stop doing?
• A Avoid being isolated and insular with regard
  to our subjects (PE/DT)
• These scientists talk a surprising amount of
  sense (English dept.)
• Working groups developing in areas nominated by
  partnerships e.g. coursework, AFL, data,
  personalisation
• Use of student evaluation
• Partnership has a life of its own

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Improving Boys Performance at KS5
Marilyn Williams and Emma PringKingsbridge
College, Devon
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Whats the project?

• Concern that boys were underachieving in sixth
  form
• Literature on boys underachievement at Key stage
  5 difficult to find

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What we did year 1

• Formation of staff working party
• Lesson observations focused criteria
• Surveys of students, staff
• Focus groups of boys/girls/parents
• Staff/students facilitated discussion

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The Focus

• From research large number of issues arose
• Scaffolding for independence
• Sacred cow of personal tutoring slaughtered
• Targets but how do tutors / subject
  staff/students set them?
• Targets but how do students achieve them?
• Variable practice

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What we are doing year 2

• Independent learning group staff/students
• SOP framework not prescription
• Foundation laid generic targets agreed

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Generic Targets
Organise Files

• Look at a good example
• Buy folders/dividers
• Colour code
• Central storage
• Bring files to college
• Ideally organise daily/weekly
• Wordprocess lesson notes immediately
• Ensure all gaps are filled
• Create a section on assessment
• Separate file/subjects
• Highlight handouts for key words
• Back to back notes in plastic wallets
• Date notes
• Use tabs to separate work
• Enjoy being organised

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Where next?

• Promote
• Implement
• Evaluate
• Extension within the Sixth Form?
• Extend to KS3 4?

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Discussion, Next Steps

• Responses to, and questions springing from what
  we have heard so far
• Assessment of own WSV issues
• Discussion of priorities for action, with ideas
  from other case studies

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Reviewing The Project Against Current Knowledge

• Professor David Reynolds
• E-mail David.Reynolds_at_exeter.ac.uk

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The Project Overall

• aim was to let schools discover what worked
• very slow start in may schools (a slightly messy
  start is normal in school improvement)
• difficulty in being clever about exactly what was
  wanted
• difficulty in seeing how WSV initiatives differ
  from general school improvement
• there was difficulty in getting into WSV because
  of pressure of other initiatives, absence of WSV
  in 2003/4 development plans etc
• the pace quickened from Spring 2004 great
  majority of schools now doing very interesting
  things with great enthusiasm
• CONT.

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• the area of data shows the greatest volume of
  attempts the greatest sophistication of
  attempts, with middle management training
  teaching / learning being less addressed
• WSV ran into the sand where it wasnt identified
  as a programme, rather than an event

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Some Thoughts On Culture

• it is clear that in every case where WSV was
  being pursued effectively it followed cultural
  change in the school, not preceded it
• without cultural change, it is impossible to get
  responses to data etc, the sharing of practice
  that is necessary
• a culture of open-ness, collaboration, laterality
  transformative leadership needs to be
  established
• trying to do WSV without the culture would be
  highly damaging - need to audit to see if the
  culture is present?
• Holding on to collegiality at the same time as
  admitting there is WSV, learning from WSV, is
  very difficult

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Some Thoughts on Data

• need to focus on all years - yr 10 11 or yr 6
  too late
• need to include ability achievement measures to
  see gap if it exists
• need to include achievement data on all subjects
  to check variation over time for individual
  children, involving letter grading or the
  equivalent
• need to have training of Departments to ensure
  reliability in grading
• adding material at individual and class level on
  attitudes, classroom climate etc. is helpful
• need to perhaps start with softer, easier to
  handle pupil voice data before going on to
  harder achievement areas
• need to have data from feeder schools also

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Some Thoughts on Middle Management

• variation between Heads of Year is probably even
  more than between Departments / Heads of
  Departments and may be even more damaging
• methods should be appropriate to where
  Departments are - direct buddying of the worst,
  direction of the average leaving the best alone
• In most schools, relying on the self respect of
  middle managers as the motivator is better than
  punitive measures
• training should begin with data usage, move on
  to teaching learning issues

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Some Thoughts On Teaching Learning

• difficult to address without common language
• needs to include pupil open-ness voice -
  perhaps as the start point
• use of videos of own pupils much better than
  anything from outside the school
• needs a better observation system than PM
• needs to begin with learning (as an easier
  subject to address than teaching)
• needs to result in consistently applied cores
  of behaviours across staff in particular subjects

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Recommendations

• Schools need to look at all these areas of data
  systems, middle management training learning /
  teaching rather than one or two (interaction
  effects)
• the vehicle to address WSV will be different in
  every school, but should be something that is
• - new
• - practical
• - easy to train for
• - easy to check compliance with
• - has maximum possible staff agreement on its
  importance
• CONT.

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• the emphasis on using something new is
• crucial without it, it will be difficult to get
  any major change since schools cannot suddenly
  deal with their taken for granted. The new
  thing as it moves through the school will show
  the variation, and provide an opportunity to
  continue
• the phasing should be embedding culture, data
  systems, middle management training
  concentrating on teaching learning (teaching
  learning cannot be addressed without middle
  management competence) in that order
• CONT.

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• on data systems, middle management training
  teaching / learning, we place all school reports
  on the web, catalogued, with all other material
  that we can find of use
• We adopt a common plan in our different contexts
• We work with a partner school(s) 2004-5, to see
  what might work just as we did for ourselves
  for the year 2003/4

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• Please find the High Reliability Schools project
• website at
• http//www.highreliabilityschools.co.uk