School accountability in the Western Australian public school sector: Perceptions of leaders in the field
Year: 2009
Type: dissertation
Abstract: School Accountability in Western Australiaaccountability policy of the Department of Education and Training.The eyes of principal educators in schools and directors enacting school accountability processes provide perspectives and points of view on accountability and the extent to which the enacted processes achieve the stated purposes of the Department of Education and Training's policy.As an employee of the Department of Education and Training in a number of schools and a district office, I noticed variation in the way district directors conducted school reviews.One district director commented on the school's self-assessment of the school's performance.Another director in another school commented on the narrow range of data available to prove the school's self-assessment but was not able to suggest appropriate tools.Yet another school review involved an employee from the district office visiting instead of the director.The stand-in district director conducted the visit efficiently with few probes to examine the school staff's reasons for its self-assessment and no reference to the level of student achievement.These experiences and the frequent changes to the Department of Education and Training accountability policy led me to question the purpose of school accountability and seek explanations for the variation in the approaches of district directors. Research Question and ApproachThrough this study, I ask how school self-assessment and school review, the two major aspects of school accountability in the Western Australian public school context, impact on the practices of educators to bring about improvements for students.The answers to this central research question are important to educators engaging in the processes and School Accountability in Western Australia School self-evaluation is discussed by various authors (Canovan, 2002;McNamara, O'Hara & Ní Aingléis, 2002;Swaffield & MacBeath, 2005) with reference to comparable processes.In some cases, the word internal replaces self to denote schoolbased judgements of performance.Typically, system authorities provide criteria or continua to assist schools in making judgements about their performance.In 1997, the Department, then known as the Education Department of Western Australia, used the term self-evaluation and referred to district directors validating schools' judgements (Western Australia.Education Department of Western Australia, 1997).Use of the word external in relation to school evaluation indicates evaluation by personnel either external to the school and school system or external to the school.The Western Australian school review and standards review are forms of external review to the extent that district directors, who conduct school reviews, are not school-based.The Department employs them, as it does school-based educators.The terms self-assessment and school review both gained currency in Western Australia public schools in 2002 with the publication of 'The School Accountability Framework' (Western Australia.Department of Education and Training, 2002).School review in the Department has been the prerogative of district directors since the creation of these positions to replace the inspectorial role and position of superintendents.The corporate governance policies and organisational structures of the Department apply to all public schools in Western Australia and provide a coordinated public school 'system'.Each public school is accountable to a district director through the principal and each district director accounts to an executive director.The executive directors and the director general perform the executive functions of the Department and form the key School Accountability in Western Australia Australia.Department of Education and Training, 2008a; Western Australia.Department of Education and Training, 2008b).The School Improvement and Accountability Framework of the Western Australia Department of Education and Training continues the tradition of school self-assessment with the statement: Schools assess using a systematic, continuous and comprehensive process that focuses on student performance and progress.This involves gathering and analysing data and other evidence and making judgments about the standards of student achievement and the effectiveness of school processes and operations (2008a, p.6).A school self-assessment guide, School Performance: A Framework for Improving and Reporting, was introduced in 1997 (Western Australia.Education Department of Western Australia, 1997).School self-assessment was one of the key processes in subsequent accountability policy documents.Schools continued to use this framework when the School Accountability Framework of 2002 (Western Australia.Department of Education and Training, 2002) and School Review Framework 2005-2007 (Western Australia.Department of Education and Training, 2005a) were introduced.The 2002 framework refers to the 1997 framework in anticipation that schools might continue to use it, although it ceased to be 'essential' (Western Australia.Department of Education and Training, 2002, p.10).The framework of 2005 provided performance indicators against which principals could prepare statements and evidence to present to the district director.The framework articulated eight outcomes, the first of which was "the school improves student performance based on the analysis of quality data gathered about standards of student achievement" (Western Australia.Department of Education and Training, 2005a, p.3).to similar schools (by relative disadvantage), and how sub groups of students, such as girls, performed in comparison to the state, similar schools or other sub groups.Department employees refer to these software applications as 'Data Club', 'EARS' and 'First Cut'.The attention to data is consistent with attempts to make interpretation valid and accurate, two enabling conditions for recipients of the data to take action towards improvement (Baker & Linn, 2004).School level measurement of student achievement was further emphasised with the introduction of The Outcomes and Standards Framework for all public schools in Western Australia in 2005 (Western Australia.Department of Education and Training, 2005b).Among the aims of this publication was "parents can have confidence that the judgements made by one teacher… are comparable to the judgements of another" (Western Australia.Department of Education and Training, 2002).The Department advocates data analysis of particular groups of students to inform school improvement planning from 2002 in the Accountability Framework (Western Australia.Department of Education and Training, 2002).The School Review Framework 2005-2007 stipulates that a school with poor processes which is not adequately improving student performance will require intervention and support to become effective (Western Australia.Department of Education and Training, 2005a).This study is set in a context of increasingly formal judgments of school and student performance and the interest in whether schools are improving student performance.The two system mechanisms of school self-assessment and school review are integral to this emphasis on measurement.Principals' responses to these mechanisms provide
Author: Mary Duggan
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W141164481