Programme Self-Evaluation St. Leo’s College, Carlow SDPI Summer School DCU 20 th August 2008 Sheila Coady.

Programme Self-EvaluationSt. Leo’s College, Carlow

SDPI Summer School

DCU

20th August 2008

Sheila Coady

Outline of presentation

Introduction Overview of St. Leo’s College’s TY

Curriculum Evaluation of Transition Year St. Leo’s College’s experience Evaluation templates (handout) Conclusion

Transition

Year

Curriculum

School based

DES Support

InspectorateMonitor

Student focused

School context

All girls Voluntary Secondary School Founded by Sisters of Mercy in 1839 Carlow Town Comprehensive intake 900 students 77 teaching staff Senior Cycle Programmes

– TYP, LCAP, LCVP, established LC

St. Leo’s College TY programme

Introduced in 1979 as a response to students’ needs

2 class groups in 1985 5 class groups in 2008/mixed ability 137 participating students Optional Approximately 80-85% uptake annually External Evaluation in April 2002.

Programme Co-ordination

Programme Co-ordinator T.Y. Co-ordinators Activities Co-ordinators T.Y. Year Head

Evaluation of Transition YearTransition Year Guidelines 1994-95 Department of Education

"The programme should be regularly reviewed and evaluated internally by the co-ordinating team in close co-operation with school management, staff, students, parents, work providers and community interests. As part of this process, schools should attempt to develop appropriate quantitative and qualitative indicators as the means of raising and assuring the overall quality of the programme provided in the school. Regular monitoring and external evaluation of Transition Year will be a responsibility of the Department's inspectorate and psychological service."

Evaluating the Transition Year Programme

What is evaluation ? The process of determining the quality of

the service offered to students and charting ways to improve that service.

Transition News No. 7 1997

Why should a school evaluate its Transition Year programme ?

Mandatory part of “Writing the TY Programme” Affirmation of staff Data for co-ordinator and core team Transition Year programme improvement Diagnosis of student problems Diagnosis of staff difficulties Planning for the year ahead Support for administrative decision-making Public relations Data available for external evaluation by the Inspectorate

What might be evaluated ?

Overall effectiveness of the programme Relevance of original goals of the TYP Breadth and balance within the programme Teachers' levels of satisfaction with their modules/subjects

Application of active learning approaches Learning resources Student induction programme Allocation of resources Communication flows

What might be evaluated ? Cont’d

Students' progress and motivation Communication with parents Assessment procedures Image of the programme Use of external learning environments Links with employers Community connections Staff co-operation and teamwork Decision making procedures

Who might be involved ?

Co-ordinator and core team Teachers of Transition Year students The whole staff Employers providing work experience Other ‘community' interests

Students Parents

When might it take place?

Weekly End of Module/Course During/after Work Experience Following a specific event End of term Parents Night Towards end of school year

St. Leo’s College Evaluation of TY

Whole staff programme evaluation– External evaluation report 2002– Re-writing of TY programme in line with “Writing

the Transition Year Programme” (SDP 2003-2004). Carried out by subject departments with internal facilitation

– Meeting of all TY teachers chaired by TY co-ordinators

Outcomes of TY programme evaluation

Updated written Transition Year Programme– Introduction to programme– Discrete subject programmes

Improved effectiveness of the programme Assessment procedures further developed

– Project work, Student self-assessment Wider certification Community links and external learning environments Formal and frequent communication with parents TY graduation night (format developed) Ongoing TY curriculum evaluation

Ongoing TY curriculum evaluation

Subject departments, teachers, students, external partners

Calendar layer– Evaluation of musical, work experience

TY specific/modular layer– Evaluation of Social Skills programme/KAS, Young Social

Innovator

Subject sampling layer– Evaluation of French, German, Art & Heritage

Core subject layer– Evaluation of RE and Maths

Evaluation Instruments

Students– Specific event evaluation– Individual subject evaluation– Mid-year self-evaluation– End of year evaluation

Teachers– Evaluation of teaching styles– Subject/module evaluation– Self-evaluation

Parents– End of year evaluation

Developed by TYCSS and adapted by subject departments and individual teachers

Role of co-ordination team in programme evaluation

Initiates and manages the evaluation process Selects areas of programme to be evaluated Defines success criteria Assists in the provision of evaluation templates Collation, analysis and interpretation of data Extracting recommendations Negotiating and implementing changes

Benefits of TY programme self-evaluation

School culture of self-improvement Further promotion of collaboration/collegiality Whole school ownership of and commitment

to the Transition Year Programme Improvement in aspects of programme

planning, delivery and management Enhanced teaching and learning

Benefits of TY programme self-evaluation

Increased programme coherence and clarity of purpose

Utilisation of in-school expertise Provision of structures for listening to staff,

pupil and parent needs Generates confidence in relation to external

evaluation/WSE