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Leadership of Strategic Improvement Planning

and Self-evaluationThis guidance is for senior leaders, governors and trustees in

individual schools and colleges, multi academy trusts and federations. It is a general guide, not a comprehensive list.

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Overview

• Section one: Setting the strategic direction

• Section two: Improvement planning processes

• Section three: Purpose of self-evaluation

• Section four: Effective written self-evaluation

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Section one

Setting the strategic direction

This section outlines the strategic role of leadership in schools and colleges, whether individually or in groups.

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Strategy

• sets the direction to achieve your core purpose, values and vision

• looks forward to a new way of operating and plans a journey to get there

• takes a long-term view

• aligns the organisation and its resources

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Strategy

Long term Sustainability

Direction setting

Strategic thinking & strategic

perspective

Template for current actions

Medium to longer term

Broad trends and actions

The Route

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Developing a strategic focus

Developing and sustaining an institution-wide strategic focus requires:

• Strategic processes (conceptualising, engaging the people, articulating the strategy and implementing the strategy

• Strategic approaches (planning and target setting)

• Strategic leadership (leading and managing the changes)

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Section two

Processes involved in improvement planning

This section outlines the processes required in strategically focussed improvement planning.

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The strategic process

Conceptualising

Engaging the people

Articulating the strategy

Implementing the strategy

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Conceptualising• Reflecting

• Strategic thinking

• Analysing and synthesising

• Constructing a mental model

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Engaging the people1 Engage the wider community in strategic discussions about

the core issues driving the organisation

2 Ensure strategic participation by involving and sharing ideas with everyone

3 Develop the strategic capability of staff through the culture you create – a ‘learning focussed culture’

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Articulating the strategy1 Oral articulation - to staff, governors and parents to reinforce

the main strands of the strategy

2 Written articulation – a written strategic document separate from the short-term development or improvement plan

3 Structural articulation – have a strategic group that considers the longer-term development, separate from operational planning and monitoring

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Implementing the strategy1 Focus – a limited number of strategic objectives

2 Delivery – translate the overall broader aims into the shorter-term activities; make strategy everyone’s job

3 Leading by example – demonstrate commitment by reinforcing key factors

4 A continual process – ongoing review and development

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Strategic planning approachesStrategic plans:

• are proactive in that they shape the future

• cover broad themes not disaggregated detail

• deal with core developments and not every development

Devolved strategy allows leaders to determine a limited number of key strategic parameters and delegate or decentralise the details to others in the organisation.

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Operational / short term planningThe purpose of the short term plan is to focus energy on the key improvements to student outcomes (or groups of specific students).

Ensure the improvement plan is in continuous use by:

• regularly reviewing milestones in governors' meetings

• linking performance management objectives – individual and whole staff – to its priorities and action plans

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Focus everyone’s energy• A small number of headline priorities

• A one-page summary displayed everywhere, backed by more detailed action plans for those who need them

• Written in clear, simple English – not to patronise but to engage governors, support staff, parents and perhaps pupils

• Clear rationale – an explanation of why these must be the priorities

• Clear success criteria that make monitoring simple

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Setting success criteria• What evidence can we produce that we are succeeding and

how do we get this evidence?

• Refer to the aim rather than the actions to achieve it: “How will we know we’ve been successful?”

• Performance indicators against which the governing board can monitor and review the strategy as part of key activities and agenda setting.

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Monitoring and evaluation

Monitoring is checking that things are going as planned.

Evaluation is the deeper study of the impact and outcomes of the actions.

Constantly check for impact and have a schedule for review by departments, senior team and governors. Impact must be evidence based.

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Five things strategic leaders do

1 Set the direction

2 Translate strategy into action

3 Align the people, the organisation and the strategy

4 Determine effective strategic intervention points

5 Develop strategic capabilities in the organisation

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Characteristics of strategic leaders

They challenge and question

They prioritise their own strategic thinking

They display strategic wisdom based on a clear value system

They have powerful personal and professional networks

They have high quality personal and interpersonal skills

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Section three

Purpose of self-evaluation

Self-evaluation should be central in any approach to organisation-wide improvement.

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The journey of self-evaluation

Self-evaluation is important part of strategic planning. It is fundamental to where you are, what you are achieving and where to move forward.

The purpose of self-evaluation is to develop and improve through critical self-reflection.

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• Gather information to help decision-making

• Critically review the quality of performance and provision, using known criteria and a set of standards

• Equip teachers with the ability evaluate the quality of learning in their classrooms

• Inform and support the inspection process

Why undertake self-evaluation?

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Before beginning the process consider: To what extent do structures and processes allow for an internally driven, bottom-up approach to self-evaluation that promotes student and professional learning?

To what extent does the leadership have the appetite for this approach?

To what extent are the relationships and politics across the group, institution and classroom secure and trusting enough to promote this approach?

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Before beginning the process consider:To what extent is there capacity for improvement to ignite and sustain this approach?

To what extent does the organisation engage in self-evaluation?

How do different members of the school community experience the process?

Where would you locate your institution’s self-evaluation process in terms of internally or externally driven – for accountability for improvement?

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Steps to effective self-evaluation• Collect evidence through self-evaluation processes, including:

learner performance data, lesson observation, work scrutiny, learning walks, and questionnaires to pupils, parents/carers, staff

• Analyse the evidence – look for patterns and meaning

• Collate (putting together in logical order) and synthesise the evidence (bringing the parts of this complex mass of evidence together into a coherent whole)

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The resultA set of judgements that are:

• clear

• well-reasoned (justified by the evidence)

• coherent (a logical and consistent view of performance)

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Data to inform self-evaluation

Self-evaluative organisations regularly use data to learn about practice.

Systematic data collection and analysis need to take place alongside more spontaneous enquiry.

Coordinating strands of activity allow for a range of evidence gathered over time.

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Types of data and information• Views of learners, parents, teachers and other stakeholders

about the quality of provision• Outcomes of groups• Evidence of the impact of professional development on the

quality of teaching as reflected in student outcomes • Local and national comparative data on finance, staffing,

attendance, exclusions • Impact of extended services• Monitoring undertaken by governors, including the impact of

performance management

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Section four

Effective written self-evaluation

This section outlines what good written self-evaluation looks like.

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Effective written self-evaluation

• Is evaluative rather than descriptive.

• Ensures judgements are evidence-based – every sentence as an impact statement.

• Includes evidence that shows the impact/outcomes for learners.

• Has a clear judgement at the start of each section linked to the grade awarded.

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Effective written self-evaluation• Uses the “so what” test rigorously: what has been the impact?

• Is rigorous, faces up to weaknesses and is honest and analytical

• Is precise – often involving quantification

• Talks about trends, because these show improvement and systematic procedures for monitoring

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Effective written self-evaluation• Uses judgements of a previous external report (e.g. inspection

report) to form a baseline

• Includes the contribution made by extended services or effective partnerships and trusts

• Uses feedback from learners, staff and parents frequently

• Shows aspiration and a bias towards action

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Effective written self-evaluation

• Illustrates with a few significant and varied examples (not exhaustive lists)

• Makes links to evidence kept elsewhere

• Is written in a structured way

• Ensures areas of weakness appear as priorities at the end of each section and in the improvement plan

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Effective written self-evaluation

• Ensures a coherence of grades (and includes an explanation where there is a clear rationale for a variance in grades)

• Uses the same terminology throughout

• Makes reference to current work

• Focuses on outcomes rather than input (provision)

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Creating a culture of self-reviewSelf-review is a vital component of a learning ethos.

Learners are taught how to evaluate their own and others’ work, learn independently and play a part in the development of others’ learning and the organisation as a whole.

Staff are given opportunities to take responsibility beyond their own areas, evaluate their own and others’ performance and contribute to area and overall evaluations.

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Resources• Joint Wellcome Trust and NGA guidance: A Framework for

Governance: A flexible guide to strategic planning http://www.nga.org.uk/getattachment/1af9e9b3-e599-409a-8b19-e067c671b0ce/FINAL-Framework-for-Governance.pdf.aspx

• ASCL’s self-evaluation writing framework http://www.ascl.org.uk/professional-development/other-services/ascl-self-evaluation-tool.html

• ASCL guidance paper Leadership of Strategic Improvement Planning and Self-evaluation http://www.ascl.org.uk/resources/ascl-guidance-papers-leadership-of-strategic-improvement-planning-and-selfevaluation.html