What Makes A School Effective?

AARYAVEER CAMPUS AARYAVEER VIDYAPEETH AARYAVEER VIDYAMANDIR Dr Heeteshkumar Joshi

School effectiveness

Effective school is one which enhances learning achievement of every student Reasonable infrastructure, sufficient number of teachers and learning resources are necessary but not sufficient to make a school effective Factors beyond these which make a school effective has been an area of intense research Here is one such proposal from AARYAVEER and its criti ue and relevance to !ndian schools

A "it of "ack#$o%n&

A framework is based on hundreds of researches done by others"that is, it is a meta#research categori$es the factors contributing to school effectiveness into three%
&chool level factors 'eacher level factors &tudent level factors

School Effectiveness 'acto$s

&chool level factors
(uaranteed and viable curriculum )hallenging goals and effective feedback *arent and community involvement &afe and orderly environment )ollegiality and professionalism

'eacher level factors

!nstructional strategies )lassroom management )lassroom curriculum design

&tudent level factors

Home environment +earned intelligence , background knowledge -otivation

( School )evel 'acto$s

!n order of the impact they have on student achievement%
(uaranteed and viable curriculum )hallenging goals and effective feedback *arent and community involvement &afe and orderly environment )ollegiality and professionalism

*%a$antee& + Via"le C%$$ic%l%,

&imply, whether students had ade uate time to learn what we want them to learn Attempt is to minimi$e the gap between intended curriculum and implemented curriculum .o we have ade uate time for instruction/ How much time is available theoretically, and how much actually gets utili$ed/ (Highest estimates are around 70%)

Challen#in# *oals + Effective 'ee&"ack

Establish challenging goals for students 0 set high e1pectations # and track the e1tent to which goals are being achieved (ive timely feedback to students # which is formative and specific to the content being learnt

Pa$ent + Co,,%nit- Involve,ent

E1tent to which parents and community are both supportive of, and involved in school suggest three features of this involvement%
)ommunication between school and parents *articipation in day to day working of the school *articipation in governance of the school F!R&' '!-E )A-2R!.(E 23AR. !4 RE(!34A+ +A4(5A(E AFF!+!A'!34 6!'H 54!'E. 4A'!34 3R(A4!7A'!34 HAV!4( E4(+!&H )5RR!)5+5- FR3- 4)ER'

Safe + Clean Envi$on,ent

Refers to school climate and disciplined environment conducive to learning Establish clear school#wide rules and procedures for general behavior, and enforce appropriate conse uences for violations of rules and procedures

Colle#ialit- + P$ofessionalis,
-anner in which school staff interacts and e1tent to which they approach their colleagues as professionals How supportive they are to one another8 openly sharing their failures and mistakes8 demonstrating respect for each other8 constructively analy$ing and critici$ing practices and procedures8 *rofessionalism 0 a sense of efficacy 0 that they can effect changes in their schools Valued and critical part of school9s policy setting Reasonable level of sub:ect knowledge and pedagogical knowledge

. Teache$ )evel 'acto$s

!nstructional strategies )lassroom management )lassroom curriculum design

Inst$%ctional St$ate#ies
-ore effective teachers use more effective instructional strategies -ar$ano lists following nine strategies as being found to be most effective%
!dentifying similarities , differences i;e; compare, classify, metaphor , analogies &ummari$ing , note taking 0 verbal<written summaries, taking notes Reinforcing effort , providing recognition Homework , practice 0 specific feedback on homework8 homework for practicing 4on#linguistic representation 0 mental images, pictures, graphic organi$er, acting out the content, physical models etc;

Inst$%ctional St$ate#ies /cont&!0

3ther effective strategies%
)ooperative learning &etting ob:ectives and providing feedback (enerating and testing hypothesis =uestions, cues and advance organi$ers 0 prior to presenting new content, getting students to recall, provide links and represent previous knowledge

Class$oo, Mana#e,ent
!n order that instruction and learning can take place% Establishing and enforcing rules and procedures )arrying out disciplinary actions -aintaining effective teacher#student relationship -aintaining an appropriate mental set for management

Class$oo, C%$$ic%l%, Desi#n

&e uencing and pacing of content in the classroom 0 three principles suggested by -ar$ano% +earning is enhanced when a teacher identifies specific types of knowledge that are the focus of a unit or lesson +earning re uires engagement in tasks that are structured or are sufficiently similar to allow for effective transfer of knowledge +earning re uires multiple e1posure to and comple1 interaction with knowledge

. St%&ent )evel 'acto$s

Home environment +earned intelligence , background knowledge -otivation Regularity Vision (oal &etting for 2etter Result *ractice and .eveloping 6riting skills Assessment and Evaluation

Ho,e Envi$on,ent
As per -ar$ano, home atmosphere comprises three elements% )ommunication about school i;e; parent discussing with children about school work8 encouraging children regarding school work8 and providing resources to help children do their school work &upervision i;e; e1tent of parent monitoring and controlling child9s behavior to optimi$e academic achievement *arental e1pectations and parenting style 0 high e1pectations and high achievement are correlated8 parenting style 0 authoritarian, permissive , authoritative

)ea$ne& Intelli#ence + 1ack#$o%n& 2no3le&#e

!ntelligence has two aspects 0 as knowledge >crystalli$ed intelligence?, and as cognitive process >fluid intelligence? )rystalli$ed intelligence is learned while the other is largely innate8 Fluid intelligence is instrumental in developing crystalli$ed intelligence )rystalli$ed intelligence is same as background knowledge for all practical purposes E1perience#rich environment helps in enhancing background knowledge E1perience#rich environment has a direct correlation with vocabulary

Motivation
Refers to student motivation to learn the content in a given sub:ect &tudents are motivated when there is autonomy, mastery and purpose

A C$iti4%e
-ar$ano9s framework is silent on what is a good curriculum >or syllabus?8 perhaps because there are learning standards in place in most of the states of the 5& Framework is similar in spirit as 2alance &corecard and uality models which attempt to discover input parameters, controlling which will ensure uality outcomes Framework can possibly be enhanced by using the idea of levels from )apability -aturity -odels >)--? used in software business

5%$ e67e$ience 3ith In&ian schools

Factors which re uire ma:or pulling up%
(uaranteed , viable curriculum )ollegiality , professionalism All three teacher level factors +earned intelligence , background knowledge

The quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers

Thank You hitra:@AByahoo;com CAD@E@#FEGHG