The School Effectiveness Framework: A Collegial Process For Continued Growth In The Effectiveness Of Ontario Elementary Schools


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The School Effectiveness Framework: A Collegial Process For Continued Growth In The Effectiveness Of Ontario Elementary Schools

The School Effectiveness Framework: A Collegial Process for Continued Growth in the Effectiveness of Ontario Elementary Schools is designed to assist schools and boards in analyzing the key components that make schools effective so they can plan for improvement. The Secretariat respects the professionalism of educators and believes in their desire to bring about improvement from within the profession. As such, this framework will provide ways for teachers, as well as school and system administrators, to voluntarily accept responsibility and hold themselves accountable for ensuring that research-based, effective strategies are consistently implemented across the province. The School Effectiveness Framework is being piloted during the 2007-08 school year.

Key Components of the School Effectiveness Framework:

The framework provides guiding questions for analyzing the key components of school effectiveness so that boards and schools can become more precise, intentional and strategic in their improvement planning. The framework is designed with two key components in mind:

  1. The School Self-Assessment Process
    • review of the school improvement plan
    • familiarization with the framework
    • data collection and analysis
    • improvement planning
    • implementation and monitoring

All school self-assessments will be submitted to the board, who will select some of the schools for a district review.

  1. The District Review Process
    • review of data and progress from the School Self-Assessment Process
    • determination of the scope of the review using the framework
    • collection, data analysis and preparation of summary reports with recommendations
    • support for school planning and implementation of improvement strategies
    • capacity-building for the professional learning community
    • assistance for schools in evaluating progress and communications results, and in revising of the school improvement plan

Based on the literature of what makes schools effective, the following components that impact student achievement have been identified.

Essential components for all schools:

  • student learning and achievement
  • instructional leadership
  • assessment and evaluation
  • curriculum and instructional strategies

Components selected locally:

  • mission, vision and values
  • school culture
  • interpersonal relationships
  • home, school, business and community outreach and partnerships
  • student leadership and engagement
  • locally-identified priority

Symposiums for principals and supervisory officers were held in September 2007 to share the framework and to provide opportunities for these leaders to continue to learn with and from one another. The framework was then revised based on feedback from the field. Training sessions for School Effectiveness Leads took place on October 23 and 24, 2007. Another draft of the framework has been released since these training sessions.