Title: Understanding the Low SES School Communities National Partnership Presentation for School Communitie
1 Understanding the Low SES School Communities
National Partnership Presentation for School
Communities A joint initiative of the
Australian and NSW Governments
NSW Department of Education Training NSW
Public Schools Leading the Way
www.det.nsw.edu.au
2Education National Partnerships
Teacher Quality
Low SES School Communities
Literacy and Numeracy
www.nationalpartnerships.nsw.edu.au
3Low SES School Communities National Partnership
- The aims of the Low SES School Communities
National Partnership are to - transform the way that schooling takes place in
participating schools and to address the complex
and interconnected challenges facing students in
disadvantaged communities - improve the educational outcomes of students,
including literacy and numeracy outcomes, in
targeted schools as well as to improve students
transition rates to further education and
employment.
4What are the links to the other National
Partnerships?
- Teacher Quality National Partnership
-
- There is compelling evidence that high quality
teaching is the most effective method of
improving results for students in low SES school
communities. This is why the Low SES School
Communities National Partnership mandates reforms
drawn from the Teacher Quality National
Partnership. - Specific related initiatives include
- Highly Accomplished Teachers (HATs)
- Paraprofessionals
- Centres for excellence
5What are the links to the other National
Partnerships?
- Literacy and Numeracy National Partnership
- In recognition of the aim to improve literacy
and numeracy results, schools will be able to
implement evidence-based reforms, such as
specific literacy and numeracy interventions,
from the Literacy and Numeracy National
Partnership. - The Information Package for the Literacy and
Numeracy National Partnership along with
associated resources can be found at
http//www.curriculumsupport.education.nsw.gov.au/
national/index.htm
6A focus on Aboriginal Education
- All of the partnerships and in particular the
Low SES School Communities National Partnership
include specific reforms and strategies to
accelerate progress in - improving outcomes for Aboriginal students
- increasing the number of Aboriginal teachers and
Aboriginal school leaders - strengthening sustainable partnerships between
schools and their local Aboriginal communities.
7Low SES School Communities National Partnership
in NSW
- More than 550 government schools in NSW
- Four rounds of schools with commencement dates
staggered between 2009 and 2012 - 7 years in total implementation
- Identified schools will be funded for a period of
4 years
8Two methods of identification
- A list created by the Australian Government to a
national methodology. The methodology was based
on the Australian Bureau of Statistics Index of
Relative Socio-economic Disadvantage (IRSD),
constructed from the 2006 Census. - Additional Government schools using State based
criteria
9What is IRSED data?
- IRSED is obtained using Socio-Economic Index for
Area (SEIFA). - The SES variables for all the households within
an area are averaged to produce the measure for
the area. Because families associated with any
specific public school may reside in more than
one census area, SEIFA can only approximate the
SES of a school community. - IRSED summarises 17 different variables
including those relating to housing, income,
education, employment and occupation, LBOTE,
access to transport and the Internet. -
-
10State based criteria
- Any new or continuing school supported by the
Priority Action Schools Program not already
included in the Commonwealth list - The 30 next most disadvantaged schools identified
by the Priority Schools Programs survey 2008 as
meeting the criteria for the Priority Action
Schools Program - Any school not covered by the above criteria that
had a greater than 25 percent enrolment of
Aboriginal students (averaged over a three year
period).
11Low SES School Communities National Partnership
in DET
- 18,300 Aboriginal students, representing 46.6
per cent of the total Aboriginal students in
government schools in New South Wales - 69 primary schools, 18 secondary, 8 central
schools, 5 Schools for Specific Purposes (SSPs) - Enrolments in these schools are divided into 55
primary, 39 secondary schools, 5 central
schools and 1 in SSPs - 21 of the schools are small schools with an
enrolment of less than 52 - 6 of schools are considered remote or very
remote - 68 of all government schools participating in
this National Partnership also receive Priority
Schools Programs resources.
12Key messages
- Innovation not compensation transform schooling
- High expectations of significant and sustainable
improvements in student learning outcomes
lasting value - Build capacity
- Change outcomes not experiences
- Maximise the use of the schools total resource
and where appropriate the total resource
available across a community of schools. - Summarised from Professor Richard Teese, The
University of Melbourne, Address at the NSW DET
Low SES Symposium May 2009
13Priorities
-
- To improve outcomes for students, the absolute
priority in this National Partnership will be on
steps that directly lift the availability of high
quality teaching. - While schools have the flexibility to try new
and innovative approaches, and to engage closely
with their community, this should be done within
a framework where teacher quality interventions
are the building-blocks for reform in each
school.
14Mandatory actions
- To ensure that resources are directed to the
highest priority teacher quality reforms, schools
are required to, as a first priority, undertake
the following two mandatory elements within the
school plan - Actions to improve the availability of high
quality teaching. These actions connect to Low
SES Reform 1 - Professional development for school executives
and teachers to help them use and analyse data to
cater to student needs. These actions connect to
Low SES Reform 4 - Aspects of these elements are also reflected in
Reforms 2 and 5. -
15Six Reforms
-
- Schools should ensure that the mandatory
elements are evident in the school plan along
with strategies to address each of the following
six Low SES School Communities Reforms
16(No Transcript)
17Reform 1
- Incentives to attract high-performing teachers
and principals - Options are aimed at both attracting and
retaining high quality staff and improving the
capacity of existing staff. -
- Sample strategies
- Highly Accomplished Teachers (HATs), mentoring
programs for Principals, cross sectoral
professional networks, site-based professional
learning, working with academic partners
18Reform 2
- Adoption of best-practice performance measurement
and staffing arrangements that articulate a clear
role for principals -
- These reforms acknowledge the role of school
leadership from school executives to teachers. - Sample strategies
- experienced teachers and mentors supporting
early career teachers, shared executive across
sites eg. middle years.
19Reform 3
- 3. School operational arrangements that encourage
innovation and flexibility - The success of the Partnership will rely on the
ability of schools to put in place clear
strategies that will have a direct impact on
student outcomes. These reforms promote
innovation in school organisation. - Sample strategies
- employ paraprofessional staff, flexible
organisation practices including timetabling and
extended school hours, working in local
communities of schools, expanding curriculum
using technology, teaching teams working across
schools with Aboriginal, ESL and refugee
students, shared timetables
20Reform 4
- Provision of innovative and tailored learning
opportunities - Identifying and targeting specific student needs
will be essential if schools are to make
measurable improvements. The ability to use
student assessment and other data to identify
individual, class and school needs will be
critical to the success of the reforms. - Sample strategies
- implement evidence-based and focused
interventions, transition plans for students,
individualised learning plans for particular
students, Personalised Learning Plans for
Aboriginal students, professional development for
school executives and teachers on data analysis
21Reform 5
- 5. Strengthen school accountability
- Transparent planning and reporting mechanisms
that clearly outline the goals to be achieved,
the strategies to be implemented and the methods
to be used for assessing outcomes against the
plan. - Sample strategies
- interviews with the whole school community,
strengthened assessment of teachers and school
leaders, develop teams across sites to evaluate
outcomes of school plans, external evaluation,
case studies of students and cohorts, publicly
available annual reports
22Reform 6
- 6. External partnerships with parents, other
schools, businesses and communities and the
provision of access to extended services
(including through brokering arrangements) - This reform direction will strengthen schools
ability to address identified needs through
ongoing engagement with the broader community. -
- Sample strategies
- extension of schools as community centres,
parents participate in school planning, workshops
with parents to help children with learning,
transition programs, partnerships with key
community organisations eg. AECG, transition to
school programs, allied health services,
employment of partnership officers to build
parent and community partnerships
23Implementation
- In implementing the Reforms, schools will focus
on - identifying the outcomes that need to be achieved
in each school - putting in place new strategies that can effect
measurable change, with teacher quality,
improvement in student outcomes and strengthened
community engagement as the priorities - identifying and addressing individual needs of
students - accountability for achieving improvement in
student outcomes with transparent planning and
reporting - ongoing evaluation to refine implementation.
24How do schools get started?
- Conduct a situational analysis
- Participate in joint planning
- Revise School Plan
- School Education Director approves revised School
Plan
25Support for schools
- Advice for schools is located at
- www.lowsesschools.nsw.edu.au
-
-
26Support for schools
- Regular newsletter will be available at
www.lowsesschools.nsw.edu.au
27Support and resourceswww.lowsesschools.nsw.edu.a
u