Assessing whole school performance for continuous improvement
As your team relishes in the joys of being in the Performing stage, it’s important to remain committed to continuous improvement.
The best way to do so is to assess whole school performance, particularly to ensure that your school and team are emulating the characteristics of high-performing organizations and that students are learning well.
It’s also important to keep in mind that your state will provide assessment requirements with which your team must comply. However, your team can broaden its approach to assessment, as many teacher-powered schools do. For example, you could use The Hope Survey to measure students’ sense of engagement, autonomy, academic press, and belonging in order to adjust your school’s overall approach or individual students’ learning plans. You could also require students to defend their learning portfolios to ensure they can explain what they are learning.
In addition, you could use the Raised Responsibility Rubric developed by the teachers at TAGOS Leadership Academy in Janesville, Wisconsin, to assess students’ ability to take on increased responsibility and autonomy in various learning areas. This rubric gives teachers and students a means to track progress and learn in new, more self-directed ways.
Your team’s success will largely depend on its commitment to assessment and its ability to act on those findings. Engagement in this process will help your team determine how to remain in the Performing stage without unnecessary diversions back to the Storming stage. This process will also help you recognize when change is necessary (such as returning to the Storming stage).
