CCSSO/Asia Society SymposiumInternational Perspectives on U.S. Policy and Practice:

What Can We Learn from High Performing Nations?

Hall of States, Washington, DCTuesday, 27th April 2010

Every School a Great SchoolA perspective from England

Professor David Hopkins

Being a relentless focus on improving the learning outcomes of ‘every student’ in ‘every school’ across the whole system …

PROFESSIONAL PROFESSIONAL JUDGEMENTJUDGEMENT

NATIONAL NATIONAL PRESCRIPTIONPRESCRIPTION

KNOWLEDGE KNOWLEDGE POORPOOR

KNOWLEDGE KNOWLEDGE RICHRICH

2000s Informed

professional judgement

1970s Uninformed

professional judgement

1990s Informed prescription

1980s Uninformed prescription

1950 1960

11 plus dominated"Formal"

Professional control"Informal"

Standards and accountability

NLNS

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

2004

Brief History of Standards in Primary SchoolsBrief History of Standards in Primary Schools

4

Distribution of Reading Achievement in Distribution of Reading Achievement in 9-10 year olds in 2001 9-10 year olds in 2001

300

325

350

375

400

425

450

475

500

525

550

575

Sw

eden

Net

her

lan

ds

En

gla

nd

Bu

lgar

ia

Lat

via

Can

ada

(On

tari

o,Q

ueb

ec)

Lit

hu

ania

Hu

ng

ary

Un

ited

Sta

tes

Ital

y

Ger

man

y

Cze

ch R

epu

blic

New

Zea

lan

d

Sco

tlan

d

Sin

gap

ore

Ru

ssia

n F

eder

atio

n

Ho

ng

Ko

ng

SA

R

Fra

nce

Gre

ece

Slo

vak

Rep

ub

lic

Icel

and

Ro

man

ia

Isra

el

Slo

ven

ia

Inte

rnat

ion

al A

vg.

No

rway

Cyp

rus

Mo

ldo

va, R

ep o

f

Tu

rkey

Mac

edo

nia

, Rep

of

Co

lom

bia

Arg

enti

na

Iran

, Isl

amic

Rep

of

Ku

wai

t

Mo

rocc

o

Bel

ize

Source: PIRLS 2001 International Report: IEA’s Study of Reading Literacy Achievement in Primary Schools

Ambitious Standards

Devolved

responsibility

Good data and clear targets

Access to best practice and quality professional development

Accountability

Intervention in inverse proportion to success

High High ChallengeChallenge

High High SupportSupport

New Labour Policy FrameworkNew Labour Policy Framework

Percentage of pupils achieving level 4 or above in Key Stage 2 tests 1998-2003

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

English Maths

Test changes in 2003

• Major changes to writing test/markscheme

• Significant changes to maths papers

Per

cen

tag

e

The Key Question - how do we get there?• Most agree that:

– When standards are too low and too varied– some form of direct state intervention is necessary– the impact of this top-down approach is usually to raise standards.

• But when:– progress plateaus - while a bit more might be squeezed out in some

schools , and perhaps a lot in underperforming schools, one must question whether this is still the recipe for sustained reform

– there is a growing recognition that to ensure that every student reaches their potential, schools need to lead the next phase of reform.

• The 64k dollar question is how do we get there?

Towards system wide sustainable reformTowards system wide sustainable reform

Every School a Great Every School a Great SchoolSchool

National PrescriptionNational Prescription

Schools Leading ReformSchools Leading Reform

Building Capacity PrescriptionPrescription ProfessionalismProfessionalism

System Leadership

Four key drivers to raise achievement and build capacity for the next stage of reform

i. Personalising Learning

ii. Professionalising Teaching

iii. Building Intelligent Accountability

iv. Innovation and Networking

• Learning to learn

• Curriculum choice & entitlement

• Assessment for learning

• Student voice

‘My Tutor’

Interactive web-based learning resource enabling students to tailor support and challenge to their needs and interests.

(i) Personalising Learning(i) Personalising Learning‘Joined up learning and teaching’

• Enhanced repertoire of learning & teaching strategies

• Evidence based practice with time for collective inquiry

• Collegial & coaching relationships• CPD to tackle within school

variation

‘The Edu-Lancet’

A peer-reviewed journal published for practitioners by practitioners & regularly read by the profession to keep abreast of R&D.

(ii) Professionalising Teaching(ii) Professionalising Teaching‘Teachers as researchers,

schools as learning communities’

• Moderated teacher assessment and AfL at all levels

• ‘Bottom-up’ targets for every child and use of pupil performance data

• Value added data to help identify strengths / weaknesses

• Rigorous self-evaluation linked to improvement strategies and school profile to demonstrate success

‘Charteredexaminers’

Experienced teachers gain certification to oversee rigorous internal assessment as a basis for externally awarded qualifications.

(iii) Building Intelligent Accountability(iii) Building Intelligent Accountability‘Balancing internal and external accountability and

assessment’

• Best practice captured and highly specified

• Capacity built to transfer and sustain innovation across system

• Greater responsibility taken for neighbouring schools

• Inclusion and Extended Schooling

‘Autonomous Federations’

Groups of schools opt out of LEA control but accept responsibility for all students in their area

(iv) Innovation and Networking(iv) Innovation and Networking‘Disciplined innovation, collaboration and building

social capital’

Innovation & Networking

PersonalisedLearning

ProfessionalTeaching

SYSTEM

LEADERSHIP

Intelligent Accountability

4 drivers mould to context through 4 drivers mould to context through system leadershipsystem leadership

System Leadership: A Proposition

‘System leaders’ care about and work for the success of other schools as well as their own. They measure their

success in terms of improving student learning and increasing achievement, and strive to both raise the bar and narrow the gap(s) through establishing professional

learning communities. Crucially they are willing to shoulder system leadership roles in the belief that in

order to change the larger system you have to engage with it in a meaningful way.’

• Greater responsibility taken for neighbouring schools

• All ‘failing schools’ in Federations

• Significantly enhanced funding for students most at risk

• Rationalisation of national and local agency functions

‘Autonomous Federations’

Groups of schools opt out of Local control but accept responsibility for all students in their area

AAnd (vi) Governance and Segmentationnd (vi) Governance and Segmentation‘System transformation is both complicated and facilitated by the high degree of

segmentation within the secondary school system’.

Governance and

Segmentation

Innovation and Networking

System Leadership

Professionalised Teaching

Intelligent

Accountability

Every Every School a School a

Great Great SchoolSchool

Personalised Learning

Every School a Great School FrameworkEvery School a Great School Framework

Coherent System Design

Leadership and School ethos

Teaching quality

High quality personalised learning for every student

Personalised Learning andProfessionalised Teaching

Intelligent accountability,Governance and Segmentation

Innovation, Networkingand System Leadership

U N I V E R S A L H I G H

Recurrent funding

Physical capital

Human capital

Knowledge creation and management

Qualifications framework

Curriculum

S T A N D A R D S

Hardware

Infrastructure

Software

Teaching and learning

Operating system

Reform model

Complementary Policy Framework for System Reform

Ambitious

Standards

Devolved

responsibility

Good data and

clear targets

Access to best

practice and quality

professional

development

Accountability

Intervention

in inverse proportion

to success

High High

ChallengeChallenge

High High

SupportSupport

Governance and

Segmentation

Innovation and Networking

System Leadership

Professionalised Teaching

Intelligent Accountability

Every Every School a School a Great Great SchoolSchool

Personalised Learning

23

England’s school system has been fundamentally reformed over the past decade

Source: DCSF, Ofsted, Literacy Trust, NCSL, TDA, expert interviews and team analysis

Phase 1 – (1997-2001)Driving the standards agenda

Phase 2 – (2001-2005)Broadening the scope and seeking sustainability

Phase 3 – (2005-now)Increasing personalisation and system integration

• Centrally driven agenda• Accountability through Ofsted, target

and league tables• National Strategies for literacy and

numeracy• Single-minded focus on results• Targeted support for deprived areas• Intervention in underperforming

schools and LAs• Local Authorities as intermediaries

within a centralised system• Sense of urgency

• Rapid rise in standards at primary level and some narrowing of attainment gap

• Significant reduction in the number of failing schools at primary and secondary levels

• Incremental gains at GCSE and A-level

• 94.5% of 16 year olds left school with at least one qualification (2001)

• Intense focus on literacy and numeracy criticised as too narrow

• System not self-sustaining• Teacher shortages

• Lighter touch inspections• Single Primary Strategy and

Secondary Strategy• Specialist schools programme• Choice and flexibility of curriculum

pathways in 14-19 agenda• National College for School

Leadership• School workforce modernisation• Significant increase in investment• Development of Academy concept• Social partnership

• Standards improved incrementally or plateaued

• Fewer under-performing schools• Schools increasingly well

resourced, with more staff (both teaching and support staff)

• Teacher shortage solved• 95.5% of 16 year olds left school

with at least one qualification (2005)

• Pace of improvement slowed significantly (early gains were easier to achieve)

• Achievement gaps remained large• Role of local authorities unclear

• Every Child Matters• Fewer targets / more bottom-up

responsibility• New role for Local Authorities

– Commissioners of services– Strategic leadership– New powers to tackle poor

performing schools

• School Improvement Partners• Increased diversity of provision• Implementation of

Academies/other new policies• Best ever results at both primary

and secondary but progress still slow

• Gender gaps narrowed with boys catching up

• Smallest number of failing schools ever

• 97.3% of 16 year olds left school with at least one qualification

• Academies programme takes off

• Plateauing results – some targets missed; school targets lack ambition

• Slippage on international league tables

• Securing pipeline of high quality leaders

• Implementation weaknesses; levers unclear

Key

feat

ures

of r

efor

mRe

sults

Chal

leng

es

(1988-1997)Setting the foundations

• Introduction of GCSE (1986-88) Education Reform Act (1988)

– National Curriculum (NC)– National Assessments– Grant maintained schools– LMS (locally managed

schools)• Education Act (1992)

– Ofsted– League tables

• Increased transparency • Parental choice• More autonomy for schools• National assessment system• 92.3% of 16 year olds left

school with at least one qualification (1997)

• Improvement in secondary school results

• Problems with the implementation of LMS and grant maintained schools

• Criticism of heavily assessment oriented reform and excessively prescriptive first version of NC

• Funding shortages

24

Overall England has many world-class policies, some interesting and innovative but not yet proven and others that are major question marks

Source: Team analysis

• Innovative and often cutting edge policy framework• Clear accountability framework and national standards• Literacy and numeracy strategies up to 2001• Rigorous independent inspection regime• Devolution of resources to schools and three year budgets• A focus on turning round or closing failing schools with some replaced by academies• Intervening in poor local authorities • Reform of teacher training and best practice marketing of teaching as a profession• Sustained increase in education resources over last decade led to improvement in recruitment pay and school infrastructure• Targeting resources to support the improvement of weaker school• Improvement in the quality of school leadership and management in schools

• England is at the forefront of integrating children's services and must capture synergies• Allowing good leaders to manage multiple schools• Implementing a conscious strategy for the whole school workforce rather than just teachers• Supply side reforms including trusts• New role of local authorities as commissioners of children’s services and school places has potential but this is yet to be exploited• Availability of a wide range of performance data at pupil, school & LEA level and for different pupil groups (eg by FSM & Ethnicity)

but this data is not being used to support improvements in teaching & learning and target setting widely throughout the system

• The implementation of policy is highly variable across the system• Variation of outcomes both between and within schools remains high• Inconsistent quality of teaching• Insufficient quality and consistency of classroom-focused professional development• A variety of policy initiatives hasn’t proved able to codify and scale up best practice• There has been a major focus on improving the performance of the lowest performing schools but more focus on middle range

required• Academic content and standards are not meeting the demands of 21st century employers and universities• Recent reforms have led to complex interactions between schools and other bodies

Plus +

Minus -

Interesting ?

25

England is seen as an innovator of education policy around the globe. In fact, several of those systems that are now considered

world class adopted certain policies as a direct result of the experience in England

Source: Expert interviews and team analysis

World leading policy developed in England… …has influenced policy around the world

Clear accountability framework and national standards…

…was taken into consideration in the development of Singapore’s accountability framework

Literacy and numeracy strategies… …shaped the literacy and numeracy strategy in Ontario, Canada

Rigorous independent inspection regime… …was adopted by New York

Devolution of resources to schools and three year budgets…

A focus on turning round or closing failing schools and intervening in poor local authorities…

…was used as a case-study by Ohio’s State Education Department

Reform of teacher training and best practice marketing of teaching as a profession…

…influenced the New York City Department of Education “Children First” reforms and are admired around the world

…is widely admired, but proving hard to replicate

David Hopkins is Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Education, University of London, where until recently, he held the inaugural HSBC iNet Chair in International Leadership. He is a Trustee of Outward Bound and is Executive Director of the new charity ‘Adventure Learning Schools’. David Iholds visiting professorships at the Catholic University of Santiago, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Universities of Edinburgh, Melbourne and Wales and consults internationally on school reform. Between 2002 and 2005 he served three Secretary of States as the Chief Adviser on School Standards at the Department for Education and Skills. Previously, he was Chair of the Leicester City Partnership Board and Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Nottingham. Before that again he was a Tutor at the University of Cambridge Institute of Education, a Secondary School teacher and Outward Bound Instructor. David is also an International Mountain Guide who still climbs regularly in the Alps and Himalayas. His recent books Every School a Great School and System Leadership in Practice are published by The Open University Press.

Website: www.davidhopkins.co.uk

Professor David Hopkins Professor David Hopkins