Update
Following further feedback and amendments from many people, this checklist was last updated on 16 June 2010. We also invite you to provide your feedback about this latest draft.
During 2010, the checklist will be illustrated via video interviews with parents, teachers, principals, students and education support personnel together with links to local school initiatives.
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank the many principals, teachers, parents, students and community members together with personnel in Victoria's DEECD for commenting on earlier drafts of this checklist.
Introduction
A good school has several key features. These areas are always, of course, a 'work in progress' for schools tackling the challenges of continuous improvement and developing 21st century learning.
As well, many of these things are not done consistently or are longer-term goals due to a lack of time and resources (and the huge workloads faced by principals and teachers) that make it difficult for schools to do everything that they would like to do.
Indeed, school improvement initiatives should be fully funded and appropriately supported, not simply reliant on the goodwill of teachers and staff to bring about their successful implementation.
Nonetheless, for a systematic, objective way of assessing a school (to evaluate what it is doing well now and the extent to which it is proactively seeking to shape the future of education), this ten-part checklist may be of use to you and your friends.
Who created this checklist?
Our checklist is the product of hundreds of individuals who shared their knowledge and experience with us. Specifically, it is:
- Informed by the ideas and experiences of many parents and students of diverse backgrounds - from across the government, independent and Catholic education sectors
- Based on the views of many principals and teachers who provided us with criteria for what comprises a good school and also helped us to understand the challenges and constraints.
the value for you of this checklist
Why is such a comprehensive ten-part checklist needed?
Assessing a school takes time. We need to see beyond surface appearances to realities, beyond immediate impressions to future possibilities, beyond assumptions to truths.
As well, the marketing campaigns of some schools together with media created league tables may present parents with a narrow focus on some aspects of a good school and obscure other features of a good school and the challenges facing all schools!
A checklist can support parents in thinking holistically about their child's education as well as assist all school community members to consider the many school and community factors that serve to make up a good school. It can also help to look beyond a one-point-in-time snapshot of a school to a school in the making.
Leadership teams, staff committees, school councils and boards, parents and friends groups and SRCs can all use the checklist to identify areas for improvement and monitor progress over time.
Ten Key Issues
Bringing together an extraordinarily wide range of views about a good school (and notwithstanding the fundamental issue of adequate resources and support for schools to work on the many things that they would like to do), the ten issues are:
- Leadership
- Shared decision making
- Management, values and behaviour
- Teaching and learning
- Curriculum
- Technology
- Communication and dialogue
- Diversity, partnerships and community
- Performance and value-adding
- Resources and facilities.
Examples of key questions that can be asked to gain information about each of these areas are as follows.
1. Leadership
Is there a strong sense of really focusing on the future? A clear vision and direction which the school needs to move toward?
Do the school's leaders convey a strong sense of new beginnings in education? Do they openly and objectively discuss not only the school's achievements but also the challenges in developing a truly 21st century education for all students?
Is there broad agreement that leadership is dispersed within schools, not just confined to formal leadership positions? How are teachers involved in system leadership?
Are parents encouraged and supported to play leadership roles in the school? For example, in helping to develop school policies or contributing to school council sub-committees?
As a very good test of a school's leadership level, are just some students (i.e., an old, unrepresentative, prefect model of leadership) or are many students of all backgrounds routinely involved in some form of substantive leadership? For example:
- Within the classroom as learning technology or team leaders
- As peer tutors, mentors, supporters and mediators
- As sustainability, biodiversity or community garden leaders
- As school and community workers and problem-solvers (e.g., student action teams involve groups of students who identify and work on issues of school and community interest, undertake real research and develop practical solutions)
- As members of the SRC/JSC and school policy making teams
- As editors and contributors to student publications and wikis
- As sports, fitness or performing arts coaches and leaders.
Are these diverse student leadership roles formally recognised?
2. Shared decision making
How are the principal and leadership team, teachers, parents and students involved in shared decision-making?
Do parents and students indicate that they are treated as valued partners on the school council and its sub-committees?
Does the school's governing body (school council or board) have a high profile? How does it add value to the school and students?
Does the school's newsletter and website promote the work of the council and provide access to council members as well as to policies, financial reports and minutes? (For an example of this good governance practice, see the Fitzroy High School website).
Does the school council reflect the school's demographics?
Does the school have a written policy and strategy for building real family participation in the life of the school? How is the impact of this strategy monitored?
Does the school provide training for families to participate in the school council?
Is there a high level of transparency and accountability to the school community (that goes beyond an annual report)?
Does the school have a clear and coherent plan for the future that includes shared school-family-community goals?
Does the plan reflect staff and community thinking and input as well as the education department's priorities?
Does the school publicly display its shared vision and goals in understandable, explicit terms to its community in a variety of ways (e.g., on its website and posters on classroom walls)?
3. Management, Values and Behaviour
Is the school well-managed? Are school events well-organised?
Do key school leaders have good people management skills?
Is there genuine warmth between students and teachers? Is the school a safe, respectful place?
Does the school greet visitors in a friendly and helpful way? Is the reception area comfortable?
Are office staff able to handle inquiries efficiently?
Is there a good-sized, up-to-date noticeboard in a prominent position with relevant information (including school councillors and their photos, staff and their photos, latest news, etc.)?
Are there hard copies of the latest newsletter readily available?
Is there a well-publicised policy about values, behaviour and relationships? Does it apply to all school community members? How is the success of the policy monitored - and by whom?
Are conflicts and complaints managed well? Is a proper process for handling any concerns or complaints made clear in a leaflet?
4. Teaching and learning
Do school documents and the school's leaders convey a strong sense of continuous improvement and innovation in teaching and learning? Is this communicated well to parents and students?
Do school leaders draw attention to their use of the best available educational research?
Are there positive, strongly collaborative relationships between teachers and students?
Are teachers given the time and resources to plan and work together to develop the most effective teaching and learning?
Do articles in the school's newsletter and on its website discuss what students are doing in class and include tips on helping with learning at home?
Do newsletter and website articles use school data to discuss key issues and describe how the school is working to make improvements?
Do families and teachers have opportunities to learn together as to how to best collaborate to improve student achievement?
How does the school assist all students to have powerful learning experiences such as an optimum mix of both academic and applied/practical learning in classroom and community settings?
Does the school have a shared policy framework and strategy for powerful or high quality learning developed from the outset by staff and all school community stakeholders?
Does the school really cater for a student’s individual interests, differences and needs?
What are the steps toward really ‘personalised learning’ that does not shoehorn students into pigeon-holes (such as 'academic' and 'applied' learning, 'high' and 'low' achievement, etc.)?
Is the school promoting new kinds of learning and life pathways that challenge social class and other constraints on students' educational options, learning outcomes and life chances?
5. Curriculum
How is the school addressing a fundamental challenge: the right of all students to curriculum breadth, depth and balance, and to high standards in all learning areas, not just some of them?
Or - given the external pressures on schools and limited resources - is there an overly narrow focus on literacy and numeracy that can create a divided curriculum between the so-called ‘basics’ and key learning areas such as science, the arts and languages?
Does the curriculum provide sufficient time for student talk (oracy)?
Does the curriculum value all aspects of education - academic, vocational, physical and social?
For a secondary school, what is the curriculum range? It may be:
- Very broad - 49 or more Year 12 studies
- Broad - 41 to 49 studies
- Average - 24 to 41 studies
- Selective - up to 24 studies.
What co-curricular activities are available? These may include:
- Excursions, trips and camps
- Voluntary community work and work experience
- Student action teams
- Sister schools overseas/interstate.
Does the school provide clear guidelines about the curriculum and the expectations for students at each year level?
Does the curriculum provide plentiful opportunities for students to seamlessly combine academic concepts, theories and principles with applied learning and real world community problem solving?
Is the school moving beyond the old academic-applied learning divide that can constrain achievement for many students?
6. Technology
What is the level of school and classroom use of information and communication technology?
Does the school have a technology policy and plan (created, ideally, by a team involving teachers, parents and students)?
Based on the work of schools, such a policy and plan (embracing the ideas of the whole school community) may include:
- Our shared vision, goal and objectives for information and communication technology (ICT)
- Learning, curriculum and ICT links
- Family and community partnerships
- Home-school communication
- On-line protocols and turn-around times
- Professional learning for all stakeholders
- Students' roles as technology leaders at school and at home.
How well are technologies (e.g., students co-creating wikis) used to build the home-school educational partnership?
Are e-mail and other technologies used to facilitate fast, effective communication between teachers and families to:
- Let parents know immediately when students are absent?
- Offer practical tips on learning?
- Provide other information?
Are teachers and other staff provided with adequate time for supporting this?
7. Communication and dialogue
What are the specific kinds of content-rich, two-way communication between the school and families?
What is the school's policy for teacher and family communication?
Is there a practical plan to improve school communication over time?
Does the school have an answering machine on which to leave messages after hours?
Does the school's website enable students, parents and staff to access lesson plans, reports on student progress and homework?
Are parents informed at the beginning of each year about what will be covered in subjects and the expectations about student attendance, homework and participation?
Does the school use homework diaries that are seen and signed by parents and teachers?
What is the policy for telephone contact with individual teachers so that contact can be handled efficiently and effectively? To ensure that teachers are not overloaded, how is this handled?
Does the school promote information in its newsletter or on its website about what volunteer help is needed?
When was the last time the school held a forum in which teachers, parents and students were involved in developing school values or a strategic plan or exploring key questions such as:
- In examining the future of learning, what fundamental problems are we trying to solve?
- What can be done to further build the school-family-community partnership?
- What does learning of the future and what does schooling of the future look and sound like?
8. Diversity, Partnerships and Community
Is the school a melting pot of different races, cultures, religions and social class backgrounds? How is this celebrated and promoted? How are positive, respectful relations among students supported?
Will your child thus have a personal life story of mixing broadly with students from diverse social, cultural and religious backgrounds?
Or is the school not representative of the broader community? If this is the case, how does the school support students to have a mix of cultural and social experiences?
How is the school working toward culturally and socially inclusive teaching and learning? Does the school have a cultural and social inclusion policy and plan?
Does the school have strong teams and partnerships? Is it, for example, part of a learning community or cluster of primary and secondary schools (to share ideas and resources and develop a P-12 model of schooling)?
Is there strong mutual professional learning and support through a cluster or network and the pooling of expertise across schools?
Does the school have strong links with a kindergarten and a college or university? With local government or external agencies such as health services?
Does the school have access to high-quality after-school and holiday programs?
Is the school an integral part of the local community? Do students take part in a variety of activities including after school community-based sports and other local community activities? Are these local community links listed on the school website?
Is it involved in local community renewal (e.g., in replanting local areas and promoting biodiversity)?
Are students able to walk and bike to and from school? Or do students need to be driven to a school away from their local community (possibly harming the environment due to increased car use and student health due to decreased physical activity)?
9. Performance and value-adding
How is the school’s performance monitored and evaluated? How is this communicated to the school community?
Are families able to readily access up-to-date records of student performance? Is clear and informative feedback routinely provided to students? Are teachers and other staff provided with adequate time and support to enable this to happen?
Is the school adding educational value to student achievement beyond that which may be predicted given the social class backgrounds and prior attainments of students?
What is the evidence for this? Or is the school largely dependent on seeking to attract the most ‘desirable’ students as the main strategy to boost its results?
(School performance data systems include student outcome data, opinion data and demographic data that take into account the impact of student background. Such assessments can obviously help to reveal the real added value).
10. RESOURCES AND Facilities
These issues are obviously not just matters for any one school but may reflect, of course, broader inequities in school funding.
Are there adequate resources and support for the efforts of staff (in partnership with families and the community) to improve the opportunities and outcomes of students?
Are key school improvement initiatives fully funded and appropriately supported and not simply reliant on the goodwill of teachers and staff to bring about their successful implementation?
Are the buildings modern and well-maintained? Are the grounds neat and safe? Are the toilets modern and well cared for?
Does the school have clear, friendly directional signs?
Is there a good mix of large and small spaces for learning? Are there facilities for music, sport, technology, art and science?
Does the school feel warm and inviting? Are there displays of student work and obvious signs of student participation?
Conclusion
These ten areas all obviously interrelate and depend upon one another. This is what creates a good school over time.
This also means that a good school has a shared framework so as to plan for real educational change and improvement.
As well, it means that a school has adequate resources and support to plan for, and deliver, the things that it wants to do.
