School Improvement

Obstacle or Opportunity?

“In the rush to return to normal, use this time to consider which parts of normal are worth rushing back to.”

Read article AISNSW School Support

The start of the 2020 school year has been like no other in living memory. In Australia, bushfires, floods and the spread of COVID-19 have impacted significantly. We know that the impact of COVID-19 will be far-reaching, what might it mean in the longer term for your school?

AIS School Improvement Consultants work daily in assisting schools to navigate change and grow from every experience. In response to COVID-19 we are offering tailored facilitation, advice and support to help your school leadership team act on opportunities created by new ways of working.

If you would like more information about accessing tailored support for your school to grow from your experience of responding to COVID-19 then please contact Douglas Melrose-Rae, Head: Regulations & Programs. 

School Improvement Service

The AISNSW School Improvement Service is an evidence-based tailored service that supports participating independent schools to identify and then build capacity across critical elements that constitute effective school improvement within their own context.

Participating schools are supported to engage in and embed rigorous school improvement processes with a focus on building teacher capacity and enhancing student academic, wellbeing and life outcomes.

Interested in learning more?

If you are interested in learning more or participating in the service please contact Douglas Melrose-Rae.

School Improvement Team

Overview

The AISNSW School Improvement Service offers participating schools the opportunity to form a professional partnership with an experienced AISNSW consultant, one that will be fluid and responsive to the strengths and needs of each school when reviewing, refining or developing their school improvement strategies. Leadership teams are supported over an extended period of time to implement evidence-based cycles of school improvement, flexibly incorporating the elements described in the framework of engage, implement and evaluate as they progress their school improvement priorities.

Features

The AISNSW School Improvement Service approach includes:

  • Refining or developing a shared articulation of school culture
  • Implementing Systems to collect, analyse and leverage data to inform decision-making
  • Enhancing capacity to lead and manage school based change

Features Con't

  • Designing processes to build sustainable school improvement cycles
  • Refining and building quality teaching and learning pedagogies and practices
  • Aligning professional learning to support the growth of individual and collective capacity
  • Measuring impact through utilising evidence based evaluation strategies

The AISNSW School Improvement Service operates under a generous co-contribution model where participating schools are able to access a wide range of support, services and resources from the AISNSW at no cost. AISNSW contributes:

  • Regular consultancy support on site at your school
  • Access to a comprehensive range of analysis, planning and monitoring tools and resources
  • Opportunities to connect to additional AISNSW services where appropriate

Participating schools purposefully engage over the extended time frame of the service partnership. Typically, a school’s commitment would include resourcing:

  • Release of a dedicated leadership team to drive the partnership
  • Time and capacity to enable successful implementation
  • Relevant professional learning opportunities for school staff
Read: From School Improvement to High Results

School Improvement Case Studies Series

This Case Studies series presents the school improvement journey of five NSW independent schools.
Learn more

External Evaluation Findings

Erebus International are contracted to undertake an external evaluation of the School Improvement Service, providing feedback to AISNSW from participating schools about the impact of the service and suggestions for the further evolution of the School Improvement Service to meet the needs of the diverse range of schools in the independent sector.


Key evaluation findings:

  • The strength of the SIS is its capacity to enable schools to develop a very tailored approach to school improvement reflecting each school’s individual context

  • Participating schools now use a range of data more effectively to inform their decision-making

  • 94% of participating schools reported that thy were employing a more systematic approach to their school improvement planning than previously
  • The great majority of principals reported that there have been significant changes in both the processes used for identifying teacher professional learning needs as well as the alignment between the school improvement plan and priorities and teacher professional learning needs.

  • Principals in each of the case study schools who had been involved in previous government-funded programs believed that SIS had delivered better return on investment and had achieved more lasting change than previous approaches.

Testaments from school leaders in NSW independent schools:

"Until we got involved in this program we just didn’t know how to make whole school change happen."

"I know of no better initiative that has built the commitment of my staff so quickly."

"We have been on a cultural change journey for three years. SIS has given us both a shape and purpose to our work."

"A key lesson for my school executive and myself has been the importance of professional development supporting the change process at every step of the way."

"We have made lots of mistakes along the way but the AISNSW consultants have ensured that every mistake became a valuable learning experience."

"The SIS initiative has really built the camaraderie among our staff and many are choosing to stay on rather than leave the school. Staff mobility is so much less than three years ago."