School case-study
(Self) evaluation at the Stedelijk Dalton Lyceum in Dordrecht, The Netherlands
School context
Our school is situated in one of the outskirts of the city of Dordrecht, which is 28 km south of Rotterdam. Dordrecht has about 130.000 inhabitants and it is the oldest city in our country as it was the first city to receive the so-called city-rights and the first National Convention was held here in 1618-1619. Our pupils are aged from 12 to 18, they come from a wide social and racial mixture, including immigrants and refugees from all over the world. At present the school has 250 teachers and 2,300 pupils in the different departments.
The origins of self-evaluation at SDL before the merger
Until a few years ago evaluation was not a hot item at our school. This means that it was not given any priority. Without realising it, however, we did some evaluating at regular intervals.
About 10 years ago - two mergers before the one we are facing right now - we had to evaluate our school and how it was functioning, because the number of pupils was dropping dramatically. We wanted to offer something special as regards a specific education plan. So we studied some options, stated which criteria we found most important and discussed all this at numerous meetings. Our suggestions and ideas were evaluated in discussions and questionnaires, and so it was decided to choose the Dalton education plan for our school.
From this point the process of introducing this Dalton plan had to be evaluated, including the way the teachers used it in their classes. Most important of course was the evaluation of the so-called Dalton assignments. How good is my assignment? Does it challenge the pupils? Does it appeal to them? Can they finish it within the set period of time? and so on. It speaks for itself that this evaluation has to be done regularly by both the teachers and the pupils. We mostly do this through group or class discussions, questionnaires and, if a test is given on the subject covered in the assignment, the results are also evaluated by the teachers involved.
In our previous Comenius project we had used the MICE materials that were developed in this period. In this Comenius project, 'One Europe, various territories', we evaluated the project work by checking if it met the criteria we had agreed on at our coordinators' meeting. We selected the subjects we wanted to focus on in the next project year. Some of the subjects we had chosen: Our school and school life, The natural environment of our city, Local recipes, Songs and dance, Famous historical people, Traditional sports. However, after evaluating the communication within our network we decided that this was not satisfactory to all of us, and so some action had to be taken. After the final project year the entire project was evaluated during a meeting, again in discussions about the project itself and the final report to the respective National Agencies. Two pupils of each participating school also wrote their own report during the final meeting which they attended. One outcome of this evaluation was that all the partner schools within this network wished to start a new project as soon as possible.
Innovation : Culture and Art Education self-evaluation
Two years ago a new subject was introduced to our third year pupils: CKV – Culture and Art Education. The aim of this subject is to introduce young people to culture and art by taking them to the theatre, exhibitions, museums, the cinema, dance or music festivals. They are also given a short introduction to architecture and photography. They then have to write a report on what they have seen and experienced. It is also possible to give a presentation or a kind of performance to which the parents and other pupils can be invited. At the end of the first year this was evaluated in group discussions and questionnaires, and of course the reports provided a very good idea of the way the pupils had experienced their immersion into culture. The art and crafts teachers were interviewed. The evaluation showed that some pupils really appreciated these activities. So the objective was met in some way. We also learned that our pupils need a lot of guidance They often tend to wait too long to finish their reports or project work and then find it hard to remember what it was about. Next year we will try a different approach, due to the fact that we will have new colleagues with different ideas. It speaks for itself that we will evaluate this in due course
Innovation – study schedules
This year we introduced 'study schedules' in all years. These describe the content which will be studied in the coming weeks. The first and second year pupils got one for a period of three or four weeks from each teacher. The exam pupils (3rd and 4th year) got one for a period of 7 or 8 weeks, so one for each half term. Teachers have to plan their lessons very precisely and pupils are supposed to study their schedules regularly.
It is not surprising that the first evaluation during a meeting of form teachers showed that the teachers found it very difficult to stick to these schedules. They complained that a lot of pupils lost their schedules or hardly consulted them. From the discussion among the teachers it already became clear that such schedules can be very useful, but put a lot of strain on the teachers in particular. Some are very much in favour of these schedules and they advise their colleagues to discuss them with the pupils regularly.
In the questionnaire given to the teachers the same answers were given. Some teachers came to the conclusion that their schedules were too tight, so some individual self-evaluation was done as well.
The Inspectors’ verdict
Last year our school was evaluated by external inspectors of the Ministry of Education. The inspectors attended some classes and had discussions with school managers, teachers, pupils and parents. We got a very good report. Our exam results have been very good for many years and yet the number of pupils is dropping gradually. This is partly due to the negative image of the school building which we were unable to change after moving into it. We sent the parents of our pupils a questionnaire and their reactions were quite positive, too.
Audit to support the merger of the two schools
Another comprehensive school in our city is facing the same problem of falling numbers. In consequence there will be a merger between our schools and of course a lot of work had to be done to get to this point. Working parties from both teams were given specific tasks to develop the profile and approach of new school.
The combined school will adopt the Dalton education plan and though the new Stedelijk Dalton Lyceum will be a non-denominational school, attention will be given to the philosophy of life and some world religions. One of the main issues at the moment is the introduction of longer teaching periods, from 40 or 50 minutes each to 70 minutes. Another issue is the introduction of a special, supervised period at the end of the school day when pupils can do their homework or get extra instruction from a teacher.
Self-evaluation at our new partner school
Our new partner school has done some evaluation as well. Indeed they introduced a new subject – lifestyle – which covers a lot of social skills and there is now a big evaluation report on this introduction. The pupils and the form teachers were given a questionnaire. A list of conclusions and suggestions was drawn up by teachers and pupils. One of the conclusions is that this subject will be part of the curriculum again next year. They also evaluated a 'test week' which was new to the teachers and the pupils. One teacher was interviewed about a specific subject. The pupils were asked about the use of a schedule. From the evaluation became clear that this way of giving a test for most subjects in one week was a positive experience. The pupils found the study schedule very useful.
Conclusion
From all the afore-mentioned examples it will be clear that self evaluation takes place continuously. Without realising it a teacher is always evaluating lessons, tests, projects etcetera, and the managers of a school are also doing a lot of evaluation. In short, we are all evaluating without even realising that we are evaluating. It is such a natural element of our (school) life!
Next school year we will evaluate the effects of the merger, including the introduction of the Dalton plan to our new colleagues, the extended instruction periods, the 'homework-free' school, Dalton assignments and hopefully a new Comenius project.
Dordrecht, June 2003
Marjolijn Smith
Stedelijk Dalton Lyceum Dordrecht.