Evaluating the wider outcomes of schooling: the Oasis ECHO project

Raising standards through creating learning communities

Ruth Deakin Crick, Stephen Barr, Howard Green

!  Background

•  The Education Charter

•  The Echo Project

•  Three Oasis Academies

!  What to do? "Here is Edward Bear, coming

downstairs, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it"

Alan Alexander Milne The opening paragraph of “Winnie-the-Pooh”, 1926

•  Systems thinking – managing complexity

• Developing resilience – becoming learning organisations

• Responding to emergence – unpredictable outcomes

•  Taking responsibility for our own development

•  Engaging all stakeholders in a networked improvement community

!  Key Questions

•  How can we measure the full range of what we value in schools?

•  How can collect and manage evidence to understand the big picture as well as the detail?

•  How can we lead and manage complexity?

•  How can we used data for real-time leadership decisioning as well as for evaluating performance

Macro Layers and feedback loops……

Community Learning

Leaders Learning

Teachers Learning

Students Learning

Learning is a core process at multi-levels in learning organisations

Blockley, D. (2010) The Importance of Being Process, Civil Engineering and Environmental Systems, 27(3)189-199

!  The complex problem of creating learning communities

!  Imagine ……

What sort of design should we use to model our learning communities?

A Hierarchical Model: Defined by Purpose

Outcome   1.1 Establishing and sustaining a group of high achieving learning communities that enables everyone to realise their full potential and refuses to put limits on achievement  

2. Outputs   2.1 Developing the learning of students so that they realise their full potential  

2.2 Developing the learning of teachers so that they realise their full potential  

2.3 Developing the learning of leaders so that they lead the learning of teachers and students effectively  

2.4 Engaging parents/carers effectively in the learning activities of the Academy and in supporting the learning of their children  

3. Inputs  

3.1

Feel

ing

valu

ed a

nd in

clud

ed in

our

com

mun

ity  

3.2

Feel

ing

part

of a

com

mun

ity th

at fo

cuse

s its

ac

tiviti

es o

n le

arni

ng a

nd a

chie

vem

ent  

3.3

Kno

win

g th

at I

am b

ecom

ing

an e

ffect

ive

lear

ner  

3.4

Kno

win

g th

at w

e ar

e be

ing

help

ed to

reac

h ou

r ful

l pot

entia

l  3.

5 M

aint

aini

ng a

goo

d ra

te o

f pro

gres

s at

key

tra

nsiti

ons,

for e

xam

ple,

prim

ary

to s

econ

dary

sc

hool  

3.6

Ach

ievi

ng re

sults

that

mee

t my

aspi

ratio

ns

and

expe

ctat

ions

 

3.7

Feel

ing

that

my

succ

esse

s ar

e re

cogn

ised

 3.

8 C

ontri

butin

g ac

tivel

y to

a c

omm

unity

whi

ch

focu

ses

on s

ervi

ce to

oth

ers  

3.9

Con

tribu

ting

activ

ely

to a

com

mun

ity w

here

sh

ared

lead

ersh

ip is

pro

mot

ed  

3.10

Pro

vidi

ng e

vide

nce

that

trai

ning

and

de

velo

pmen

t opp

ortu

nitie

s ha

ve h

elpe

d m

e to

im

prov

e m

y cl

assr

oom

pra

ctic

e an

d/or

my

effe

ctiv

enes

s as

a le

ader

and

man

ager  

3.11

Con

tribu

ting

activ

ely

to a

com

mun

ity th

at

lear

ns to

geth

er, s

hare

s w

hat w

orks

bes

t and

kn

ows

wha

t it n

eeds

to d

o to

impr

ove  

3.12

Fee

ling

incl

uded

and

invo

lved

with

my

child

ren’

s ed

ucat

ion

at th

e A

cade

my

and

know

ing

that

ther

e is

an

open

doo

r for

con

tact

whe

n I

need

it  

3.13

Bei

ng e

ffect

ive

role

mod

els

as le

ader

s of

le

arni

ng  

Sources of

evidence  Students   Teachers   Leaders   Parents/ carers  

PURPOSE H

ow

data

What type of data do we need to collect to measure the core processes which fulfil our purpose?

Stakeholders Type of data Focus 1 Y7 students Numerical scores per dimension Learning power 2 Y8 & 10

Students Numerical values for each question students as learners and

values & citizenship 3 Y9 students Stories rated by researchers Personal transformation 4 Y11 leavers Numerical values for each question Aspirations, trajectories

5 Parents/carers Numerical values for each question Participation

6 Teachers Numerical values for each question Impact of professional learning on student outcomes

7 Leaders Numerical values for each question Leaders as learners

8 KPI s Numerical values of performance Behavioural indicators

9 Y11 Numerical values of performance Attainment

!  The nature of uncertainty

Fuzziness Incompleteness Randomness

!   .. combined with performance measures that cope explicitly with uncertain evidence

1 0

Evidence that A is successful Lack of Evidence

Evidence that A is not successful

We don’t really know what is going on!

Performing well with little uncertainty

Performing poorly with some uncertainty

Data collected to evaluate our core processes

Means & SDs Yes Uncertain No

Perimeta model

Leadership Ownership and Decisioning

Improvement Protocols Rapid Prototyping

Harnessing collective intelligence across the system

A

P

A SD

So what does our Perimeta model tell us about Parents/carers ..…an example

!  Dashboard summary

! Perimeta model results

!  Drilling down into the evidence to understand key issues

Statement POS I was helped and supported when I struggled 0.98 My teachers taught me well 0.90 The Academy made good use of technologies 0.90 I was valued and included 0.89 I was often challenged to do better 0.89 There were great facilities 0.89 I felt part of a learning community 0.89 I developed responsibility towards others 0.89 I had a wide range of opportunities for learning 0.89 I felt safe 0.89

Outcome Establishing and sustaining learning communities Outputs Developing the learning of students so that they realise their full potential Inputs Feeling valued and

included in our community

Feeling part of a community focused on learning & achievement

Knowing that I am becoming an effective learner

Knowing that we are being helped to reach our full potential

Statement UNC I supported activities that would improve things for other people

0.38

I led activities 0.34 I am looking forward to the move to Sixth Form, FE, training or work

0.33

My parents/carers felt involved 0.15 Everyone worked very hard to make it a great place to learn and to do well

0.15

I enjoyed my time 0.15 I could not have gone to a better school 0.14 I was offered opportunities for leadership 0.14 I never felt that anyone was putting limits on what I could achieve

0.13

My teachers accurately predicted my GCSEs 0.13

Statement NEG I am looking forward to the move to Sixth Form, Further Education, training or work

0.18

I led activities during my time at the Academy 0.17 No others above 10%

!  The PerimetA toolkit supports collaborative action to improve learning

Focusing on PERFORMANCE vs broad outcomes

Understanding COMPLEX PROCESSES

Weighing up uncertainty of EVIDENCE

Informing robust CHOICES

Enabling robust & collaborative ACTION

KEY FEATURE: “Italian Flag” evidence model & rich uncertainty calculus

KEY FEATURE: Excel interface for linked data and predictive models

KEY FEATURE: Hierarchy of interactions focused on outcomes

So how do we respond to what Perimeta is telling us as a learning community?

Professional Enquiry through Rapid Prototyping to address key challenges highlighted by Perimeta….

Plan

Act Study

Do

…..within a disciplined evaluation framework

Experiential knowing, hunches, ideas

P D

SA

P D

SA

P D

SA P D

SA

P D

S A

P D

S A

P D

S A P D

S A

P D

S A

P D

S A

P D

S A P D

S A

Measurable System Improvement: New Knowledge and Know How

Bryk, A. Gomez L. Gunrow A. (2010) Getting Ideas into Action: Building Networked Improvement Communities in Education, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teacher Education, Carnegie, Stanford.

How can we use technology to enhance our ability to develop organisational learning through Perimeta

!  An academy with systemic analytics

Strategic Progress

Learner Dispositions

Teacher Dispositions

Stories of Change & Evidence

Reflective Enquiry Blogs

Academy X

!  An academy network with systemic analytics

27

Analytics Integration

Evidence Hub

Data   Data   Data   Data  

Share  and  debate  evidence…  

About…  

!   Systems Learning & Leadership Evidence Hub http://sysll.evidence-hub.net

!  Systems Learning & Leadership Evidence Hub http://sysll.evidence-hub.net

29

Replay Oasis/Univ Bristol/Open Uni event: http://learningemergence.net/2013/07/17/deed-elli-ai-ci-systemic-school-learning

Data Sets + Data Streams

!  Learning Analytics Hub (3.0)

Learning Analytics System Simulations

Recommendation Engines

Online Tools designed to measure core processes and to

stimulate self-directed change

Buckingham Shum, S. & Deakin Crick, R. (2012) Learning Dispositions and Transferable Competencies: Pedagogy, Modelling, and Learning Analytics, Proceedings of LAK12: 2nd International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge, April 29 - May 2, 2012, Vancouver, BC. ACM: New York. ISBN 978-1-4503-1111-3.

!  Conclusions •  The ECHO Project as a proof of concept: The ECHO Project has been an attempt to weave all the evaluation strands together in order to create a whole and more balanced snapshot of the school’s performance for improvement planning … initial analyses suggest that conceptually, professionally, practically and technically there is real promise in this approach … use of the Perimeta model enables links to be established between extended self-evaluation, performance management and school improvement planning.

!  Conclusions

•  Further research is needed, plus drilling down into the pilot project data, particularly the relationship between qualitative and quantitative data, e.g. what is the relationship between Year 11 leaver responses (Strand 4 questionnaire) and GCSE results (Strand 9 data)?

•  Traditional statistical analysis has shown that the questionnaires and interview schedules can be refined and reduced in length

!  Conclusions •  Evaluation of ‘teachers as learners’ and

‘leaders as learners’ is relatively new and would benefit from review and further development, e.g. addition of a 360-degree perspective to the processes

•  Approaches and processes developed through ECHO offer the potential to extend and enrich the insights of senior leadership teams (SLTs) into next steps for improvement and for the Oasis group as it seeks to identify shared issues that would benefit from coordinated resourcing

!  Conclusions •  Perimeta feedback offers an opportunity to

celebrate and share what’s going well, to address areas of weakness and, uniquely, to explore further aspects of the school where there is uncertainty from the evaluation evidence.

Perimeta is designed to draw people into exploring and managing their own data. It is essentially a decision-making tool. It measures for the purpose of stimulating positive change according to locally defined need.

!  Next steps •  Reporting to and feedback from 3 pilot

Academies •  ECHO questionnaires and interview

schedules to be refined, put online and rolled out across the group

•  New questionnaire for Academy Councillors to be piloted in 2013/14

•  Questionnaire for wider community involvement to be developed and piloted in 2013/14

!  Next steps •  Further development of Perimeta as a model

directly available to schools •  Further research on issues arising from the

ECHO Project •  SLTs encouraged to develop the rigorous and

systematic use of qualitative as well as quantitative evaluation evidence for performance review and improvement planning

•  OCL to build similar approaches into performance review and improvement planning across the group

!  Next steps and, finally, our thanks

•  Embedding of the ECHO work within Oasis, via OCL and, possibly, OCHE/CLICT

•  Wider dissemination of the ECHO results

especially, students, staff and parents/carers at the 3 ECHO Academies; staff in the Graduate School of Education at Bristol; ‘Perimeta people’; staff at OCL/Oasis Centre; Jerusalem Trust for funding

With thanks to

Students, staff and parents/carers at the ECHO

Academies

Graduate School of Education – University of Bristol

Systems Centre – University of Bristol

University of Bristol Research Committee

Oasis Community Learning /Oasis Centre

The Jerusalem Trust