Developing and implementing an explicit school improvement agenda

School improvement is a high-stakes enterprise, as difficult as it is important. While the broad agenda of school improvement is unassailable, the concept has become entangled with debates about the use of standardised assessment data for the purposes of public accountability. The risk of this is that data per se are devalued in the eyes of teachers. Effective use of data by teachers is, however, the crux of school improvement. For student outcomes to improve, teachers need an accurate understanding of individual students’ strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, they need the capacity to translate this understanding into improved conditions for teaching and learning through high-quality pedagogic decisions. While positive steps have been taken to strengthen evidence-based teaching, the research literature shows this is not universal. This paper proposes three systemic actions to improve pedagogic decision-making and practice, and thus engender school improvement: (1) support ongoing improvement in teachers’ data literacy, including by fostering a culture of inquiry and trust that facilitates teachers’ use of data to evaluate their own practices; (2) ensure that the evidence base for effective teaching practice is readily accessible and understood by teachers, including through evidence-based professional development; (3) support teachers to expand their understanding of effective teaching practice through a collaborative approach to professionalism, including again through the development of a culture of trust that will facilitate genuinely collaborative planning and reflection.