Developing robust monitoring systems for assessment data across your schools can be complicated and time-consuming. Here, Sue Macgregor and Jevon Hirst from Alps share some of the advantages to developing a trust-wide monitoring system.
In his keynote
session at the CST School Improvement Conference last summer, Professor Rob Coe
(Director of Research and Development, Evidence Based Education) said:
"Without good assessment and monitoring systems, there is no quality assurance - which is a mainstay of effective leadership and school improvement.”
There are many benefits to developing a single data tracking system which is embedded across all schools in a trust, here are some of the key gains that our trusts have discovered.
One system, one language
A common data
system will support the development of a common language across all schools in a
trust, creating a uniform approach to many aspects of the raising standards
agenda, from target setting to interventions. This can have an immediate and striking
impact on the quality of conversations, better understanding and the creation
of a shared culture for performance improvement.
Common assessment cycles
Understanding outcomes from
examination results is essential in allowing MAT leaders to establish
priorities across the trust. In addition, an effective data system can also
support the implementation of a robust trust-wide assessment framework,
enabling the proactive use of internal summative assessment data as part of
on-going quality assurance processes.
Synchronising assessment cycles across
numerous schools, can present many challenges, including the timely collection
of aligned, accurate and complete data from multiple different sources. Importantly, any centralised data system must
be flexible enough to allow schools some autonomy over when they collect and
track data, alongside the needs of the trust to analyse data across all schools
within a defined time window for effective and fair review.
A common
system can strike the balance between a school leader’s requirement for a
flexible data tracking system, which can be tailored to their specific setting,
and their responsibility to the trust to provide data analysis which allows MAT
leaders to compare strengths and weaknesses across all schools quickly, and
facilitate them in asking the right questions at the right time, to hold each
school to account.
Culture of collaboration
Outstanding
data systems can also be used as a key tool to enable MAT leaders to drive
effective learning and teaching strategy across the trust so that their
students are given a consistent and equal opportunity to thrive.
Within their paper ‘Knowledge
Building – School Improvement at Scale’ Buckham and Cruddas (2021) say that
successful school improvement across a trust is centred on developing teachers
to be "as good as they can be in what they teach (curriculum) and in how
they teach (pedagogy) ”. In order to achieve this goal, the authors identify
a clear need for practice informed by evidence and strong structures that
facilitate professional development.
A centralised
data system can make a significant contribution to the development of
structures which support professional development. Utilising assessment data at
a trust level means that leaders with responsibility for driving schools'
improvement can identify best practice using examination and internal
summative data. This can then be used to support the development of
evidence-based collaborative networks focused on facilitating professional
development where there is a keen focus on sharing and developing next and best
practice across schools.
In summary, the trusts with whom we work have all found significant
benefits in using a single, effective data system across all their schools; saving
time for all stakeholders, creating a greater collective understanding and fostering
better collaboration to support the drive to performance improvement for
students.
Sue Macgregor is the Director of Education at Alps and Dr Jevon
Hirst is the Director of Training. Both work closely and successfully with trusts
using the Alps Summit platform to strategically analyse and review performance
across multiple schools in a simple, easy, and effective way. This allows trusts
to identify areas for celebration and those that require strategies for
improvement.
If you would like to find out more, visit us on our website or book a demo with us today.
The CST Blog welcomes perspectives from a diverse range
of guest contributors. The opinions expressed in blogs are the views of the
author(s), and should not be read as CST guidance or CST’s position.
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