Excellence in Professional Practice Conference 2016: Collaboration for school improvement

From 1 January 2017 every school in Australia will be required to have a school improvement plan. But what is a school improvement plan? Is it different from the strategic plans that most schools already have? This presentation will define school improvement as the process of changing school practices in ways that lead to better student outcomes. A school improvement plan is developed by the school community to make improvements to current school practices and thus student outcomes. It embodies a collaborative commitment to the rigorous, systematic investigation of specific improvement strategies. Key steps in the development and implementation of a school improvement plan are: knowing where you are as a school; specifying the improvements you wish to see; designing and implementing an improvement strategy; measuring and monitoring improvements in outcomes; and reflecting on what has been learnt.