Systemic School Improvement Programme (Adhyayan)
The Systemic School Improvement Programme is an initiative led by the Department of Education (DoE), Goa, implemented by the Adhyayan Quality Education Foundation, supported by the Tata Trusts and Advaith Foundation. The aim was to develop a systemic tech-enabled process to gather validated data on quality parameters for all 827 government schools in Goa.
It involves the development of a common vocabulary to understand ‘quality’ in school education in order to improve school systems through professional learning communities for teachers, meetings with government officials to discuss support for schools, etc.
The goal of this project is to ensure that regular review and improvement will lead to a focus on leadership and management of teaching and learning, with the expectation that 75% of the schools will go up by two quality markers as defined by Adhyayan in the chosen domain of improvement.
In Phase I, an internal team of assessors worked alongside external assessors from DoE and Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan to identify performance on seven domains and 46 quality markers. The seven domains include:
- Enabling school resources – availability, adequacy and usability: The focus is on the quality of infrastructure and the impact of its use.
- Teaching-learning and assessment: This domain focuses on the entire teaching-learning process, beginning with the teachers’ understanding of students’ needs to planning how to meet them, and executing the lesson plan.
- Learners’ progress, attainment and development: Analyses students’ progress and participation across various academic and co-scholastic parameters.
- Managing teacher performance and professional development: The domain addresses the progress and needs of teachers.
- School leadership and management: Measures the actions of leaders, their roles as leaders and managers of teaching and learning.
- Inclusion, health and safety: Addresses the physical and emotional health and safety of students as well as various aspects of inclusion.
- Productive community participation: Reviews the role and contribution of the community.
All assessors were trained in, and followed, the process of evidence collection, analysis and arriving at a quality standard, developed by Adhyayan. Methods of evidence collection included learning walk, classroom observation, interaction with stakeholders (teachers, parents, students, school leaders) and book or document review – norms, guidelines, charts, photographs, posters, notebooks, circulars, plans, etc. The data was analysed and presented to the state. The best practices were recorded, converted into video tutorials and uploaded on the SCERT website for use in the professional development of leaders and teachers.
In Phase II, the DoE created 104 hubs consisting of 5-15 schools each across Goa. Each school was provided with a hub leader who convened a monthly meeting for schools to share evidence of progress in their chosen standards, as well as the resources required to support each other. Six programme officers from Adhyayan supported 18 hub leaders with information and professional development. Similar exercises were conducted at zonal and state levels, where larger data sets were used to make targeted decisions.
The schools’ progress is shared across the 104 hubs on a weekly basis. Schools that demonstrated upward shifts were validated by zonal officers. The upward shift in standards in 33 schools have been confirmed. Moving forward, the aim is to enable all schools to progress towards improvement.
