Education and Manpower Bureau Circular Memorandum No. 269/2003 From: Secretary for Education and Manpower
Ref.: EMB/QAD/ID/PROG/PI/1 Date: 16 October 2003
To: Supervisors/Heads of all government and aided primary, secondary and special schools (including caput schools and schools under the Direct Subsidy Scheme)
Enhancing School Development and Accountability through School Self-evaluation and External School Review – The Use and Reporting of Key Performance Measures
[Note: This circular memorandum should be read in conjunction with the letter by the Permanent Secretary for Education and Manpower issued on 9 May 2003 and the EMB Circular No. 23/2003 dated 12 June 2003 on the same subject.]
Summary
The purpose of this circular memorandum is to provide further details on the use of key performance measures in supporting school development and accountability, including the reporting requirements and data collection tools. It also announces details of seminars on the subject for schools, the uploading of reference materials on school self-evaluation, the release of the new set of academic value-added data for 2003, as well as other support measures for schools.
School Self-evaluation and Development
2. The Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) is committed to building a strong school development and accountability (SDA) framework based on systematic school self-evaluation (SSE) complemented by external school review (ESR), including the adoption of a whole-school approach in SSE, the undertaking of strategic planning and action planning, the management and reporting of key performance measures (KPM), and the preparation for ESR.
School Performance Indicators and Key Performance Measures
3. Rigorous and systematic SSE, based on genuine evidence, is the driving force for school development as it provides strategies and feedback for self-improvement. In conducting evidence-based SSE, the EMB publication School Performance Indicators (2002) forms a common platform for evaluation, providing evidence of performance to facilitate more objective evaluation by schools on management and organization, learning and teaching,
student support and school ethos, as well as student performance. Based on the performance indicators (PIs) framework, a set of KPM is used to provide objective, balanced and quantitative data to support SSE. When sufficient KPM data are collected and analyzed, benchmark information can be generated to allow schools to better gauge their progress by comparison with their own previous performance and with all schools in the territory. The Government could also be better informed of the position of the local school system. The KPM items have been selected using criteria of quality, usefulness and collectibility in consultation with the trial schools. Brief descriptions of the KPM items are at Appendix A.
Details of the items, including their definitions, applications and reporting requirements will be available on EMB’s homepage on 17 October 2003.
4. To facilitate the collection and analysis of KPM information, a number of tools have been identified and developed for schools. The Schools Value-added Information System (SVAIS) and the Assessment Programme for Affective and Social Outcomes (APASO) are two such tools already available. Apart from these, the EMB has developed a set of standard stakeholder questionnaires to enable schools to collect useful views and feedback from stakeholders, including teachers, students and parents on a number of aspects such as curriculum, learning and teaching, home-school partnership and school culture. The data and information collected will serve as very useful references in SSE and school development planning. The survey questionnaires have been tried out in schools and tested for validity and reliability. The questionnaires and the guidelines on their use will be available on EMB’s homepage on 17 October 2003.
Using and Reporting KPM
5. The set of KPM data displays a balanced and objective measure of the work of schools in quantitative terms at the school level. It is therefore important that the school management could review and analyze the data on an annual basis, taking into consideration other useful qualitative information collected, to provide the required feedback to staff and the school community, and to identify trends in performance and areas for further action. Above all, KPM information should be interpreted in connection with schools’ developmental priorities as well as school context.
6. To enhance transparency and accountability of the work of schools, EMB Circular No.
23/2003 stipulates that schools are required to report annually on a number of KPM items (the mandatory items) to their key stakeholders. In 2003/04, all schools will need to report on these items in their school reports (SR) for their school management committees and key stakeholders, including parents. As for the SR to be uploaded to the school homepage for public access by November 2004, schools are given the option to exclude data on some of the mandatory items as specified in the following table. The reporting requirements will be
reviewed in 2004 after the collection of the first batch of data from schools. Should there be changes in the reporting requirements for 2004/05, schools will be informed at the beginning of the school year.
Reporting Requirements for KPM in 2003/04
KPM Item School
Type (Note)
Reporting in SR for key stakeholders
Reporting in SR for uploading on school
homepage (1) Composition of school
management committee
P/S/Sp Required Required
(2) Teachers’ professional development (including continuous professional
development status of principals)
P/S/Sp Required Required
(3) Teachers’ qualification and experience (including language proficiency requirement)
P/S/Sp* Required Required (optional
for language proficiency requirement) (4) Number of active school days P/S/Sp* Required Optional (5) Lesson time for the eight key
learning areas
P/S/Sp* Required Required
(6) Students’ reading habit P/S/Sp* Required Required (7) Destination of exit students,
including early exits
S/Sp* Required Required
(8) Hong Kong Attainment Test results
S/Sp* Required Optional
(9) Hong Kong Certificate of Education Examination results
S/Sp* Required Optional
(10) Hong Kong Advanced Level Examination results
S Required Optional
(11) Students’ attendance P/S/Sp Required Required
Note: P for primary schools, S for secondary schools, Sp for special schools
* Indicates that application of the item depends on the nature of the special school concerned
7. For the reporting of KPM items in the SR which will be uploaded to the school homepage for public access, schools are requested to observe a number of protocols. Firstly, schools choosing not to provide the KPM data for the optional items will need to include a brief commentary on the KPM items concerned in text form in the SR. Secondly, when a school chooses to provide the KPM data in the SR for public access, it should continue to do so in the following years, and the reporting of data should not be selective. Thirdly, other than
reporting the KPM data in the SR, schools are discouraged from making use of such data in isolation for publicity purposes.
8. According to the SDA framework, all schools in the public sector will be scheduled to undergo ESR in a cycle of four years. The ESR serves to validate SSE, help schools identify strengths and areas for improvement, and establish a feedback loop to help formulate policies and set priorities for development. KPM data, being a balanced and objective set of information about the work of schools, will be one of the important references of the ESR team. KPM will be developed over time. Schools will be requested to provide a trend series of data up to three years for ESR as data become available. There is no requirement for schools to prepare KPM data for the school years prior to 2003/04 unless these data are readily available (such as for items related to student outcome). Schools scheduled for ESR in 2003/04 will soon be informed of the details and requirements. Other schools could obtain relevant information and guidelines in the coming seminars organized by the EMB.
9. In order that the EMB can have sufficient KPM data for the generation of benchmark information for schools’ reference, schools are requested to provide the EMB with their data on mandatory KPM items near the end of this school year. For the non-mandatory items, a random sample of schools will be invited to provide their information. Timely provision of KPM data will allow the EMB to provide useful feedback in the form of benchmark for schools.
10. For the timeframe and reporting arrangements concerning SR, schools should refer to EMB Circular No. 23/2003 and the related reference materials already uploaded on EMB’s homepage.
11. To familiarize schools with the collection and use of KPM for SSE and ESR, the EMB will organize seminars on 28 and 29 October 2003 for primary and special schools, and on 3 November 2003 for secondary schools. The seminars will cover a detailed elaboration on each KPM item, the collection of data and use of tools, as well as a case study on applying KPM data in SSE. These seminars will also highlight some key processes and requirements about ESR. Details of these seminars can be found on the EMB Training Calendar System (Course ID: QAD020030040).
Supportive Measures for Schools
12. The EMB will continue to provide support to schools in the implementation of SDA.
On EMB’s homepage, templates have been provided for each of the key processes involved in fulfilling the requirements of SDA, including school development plan, annual school plan and school reports. It must be emphasized that these templates are for reference only. Schools are free to present their plans and reports in a way that best exhibits the school improvement
and development planning to their school community. The only requirement is that all the necessary data set out in the templates are formally included.
13. Subsequent to the publication of a set of reference materials on SSE in 2000, the EMB has recently produced a comprehensive Reference Manual on School Self-evaluation which provides the theoretical underpinnings and guidelines on conducting systematic and evidence-based SSE, as well as preparation for ESR. The Manual goes through the three key stages of SSE, namely school development planning, implementation of self-evaluation, and review and follow-up. It also covers salient aspects of self-evaluation in line with the requirements under the SDA framework. Schools can organize their school-based staff development programmes to help build the capacity of their staff to facilitate shared understanding and commitment. The Manual has been available on EMB’s homepage since 30 September 2003. A CD-Rom containing the Manual and a poster on SSE will be distributed to each participating school in the seminars mentioned in Paragraph 11. School heads are requested to complete only one copy of the Seminar Attendance Record and Collection Slip at Appendix B, and ask one of their school representatives who will attend the seminar to bring the slip along and collect the materials on the date of the seminar.
14. In addition to the Reference Manual on SSE, two reports of the “School Development through School Self-evaluation” Project are available on EMB’s homepage for schools’
reference. These reports, entitled Is Our School a Hong Kong School of Today and Tomorrow:
A Self-evaluating School Is the Way to Success and School Self-evaluation: Making It Happen in Twenty-one Schools, provide insights on how SSE can be put into practice in schools in Hong Kong. They have also captured the SSE experience and practices pertaining to a number of schools participating in the project. They have all been uploaded on EMB’s homepage.
15. Academic value-added performance has been included as one of the non-mandatory KPM items for secondary schools. The new set of data for 2003 will be made available to schools on the Schools Value-added Information System (SVAIS) on 17 October 2003.
16. Starting from 8 November 2003, the EMB will organize walk-in information sessions on SDA every Saturday morning to support schools. School personnel attending the sessions will be able to obtain on-site advice on various aspects related to the implementation of SDA, such as school development planning, annual reporting, and use of tools and data in SSE.
These sessions will be operated during 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. at the office of the Inspection Section, Quality Assurance Division, 32/F, Wu Chung House, 213, Queen’s Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong.
Enquiries
17. Enquiries concerning the content of this circular memorandum can be directed to the Indicators Section, Quality Assurance Division at 2892 6538 and 2892 6540.
Andrew C S POON
for Secretary for Education and Manpower
c.c. Heads of Sections – for information
Appendix A Brief Description of KPM Items
KPM Item Brief description*
1. Composition of SMC The no. of stakeholders of different categories on the school management committee
2. Staff’s views on leadership Teachers’ views on the leadership of principal, vice-principal & middle managers as collected from standard questionnaires
3. Teacher professional development (including principal CPD)
Average time of professional development of teachers in hours per year
Principal’s continuous professional development hours
Average budgeted & actual expenditure on professional development of teaching staff
Teachers’ views on staff development & appraisal as collected from standard questionnaires
4. Teacher qualification &
experience (including LPR)
Academic qualification of teachers
Percentage of professionally trained teachers
Percentage of subject-trained teachers in Chinese, English
& Mathematics
Years of teaching experience of teachers
Percentage of English & Putonghua teachers with LPR
Percentage of trained teachers in special education 5. School expenditure on
learning & student support
Budgeted & actual expenditure on subjects & library resources per student per year
Budgeted & actual expenditure on student support programmes per student per year
6. Teachers’, students’ &
parents’ views on learning
& teaching
Teachers’ and students’ views on curriculum, teaching, learning & performance assessment as collected from standard questionnaires
Parents’ views on student learning as collected from standard questionnaires
7. Number of active school days
No. of days in a school year with regular classes
No. of days in a school year with activities organized for purposeful learning of students
8. Lesson time for 8 KLAs Percentage of lesson time allocated to each of the 8 Key Learning Areas
9. Students’ reading habit Students’ frequency of borrowing reading materials
The average no. of reading materials borrowed per student per year
Teachers’, students’ & parents’ views on students’ reading habits as collected from standard questionnaires
KPM Item Brief description*
10. Provision of co-curricular activities
No. of extracurricular activities clubs/interest groups in categories of academic, sports, art, interest & social service
No. of learning activities organized by KLA subjects 11. Teachers’, students’ &
parents’ views on school culture
Teachers’, students’ & parents’ views on school culture as collected from standard questionnaires
12. Parents’ views on
home-school partnership
Parents’ views on home-school partnership as collected from standard questionnaires
13. Destination of exit students (including early exits)
Percentage of S5 & S7 graduates in different destination categories
Percentage of early exit students 14. Students’ attitudes to
school
Students’ response to the scale “Attitudes to School” in APASO (Assessment Programme for Affective & Social Outcomes)
15. HKAT Average scores in Chinese, English and Mathematics in the S1A & S3 Hong Kong Attainment Tests
16. Territory-wide system assessment
Details to be announced
17. HKCEE Percentage of students with grade E or above in at least 5 subjects
Percentage of students with 14 grade points or more in the best 6 subjects
18. HKALE Percentage of students with minimum entrance requirements for local degree courses
19. Academic value-added Value-added performance as reported in SVAIS (Schools Value-added Information System)
20. Student participation in inter-school events
Percentage of students participating in selected inter-school events
21. Student participation in uniform/community groups
Percentage of students participating in selected uniform / community service groups
22. Students’ attendance Student attendance by grade level 23. Students’ physical
development
Performance of students of selected age groups in specified physical fitness tests
Percentage of students of selected age groups within acceptable weight range
* Please refer to the EMB homepage for detailed definitions, guidelines, data collection tools and other relevant information.
Appendix B Quality Assurance Division
Education and Manpower Bureau
Seminar Attendance Record and Collection Slip
Place: Auditorium, Tsuen Wan Town Hall.
Date: 28 October 2003 / 29 October 2003 / 3 November 2003
Please issue to the bearer of this slip the following:
R e s o u r c e M a t e r i a l Q u a n t i t y 1. Reference Manual on School Self-evaluation (CD-ROM) 1
2. Poster on School Self-evaluation 1
Name of School: _____________________________________
Names of School Representatives Attending the Seminar:
(1) ________________________________________________
(2) ________________________________________________
Name of School Head: ________________________________
Signature of School Head: _____________________________
Date: ___________________________________
Note: School heads are requested to complete only one copy of this slip, and ask one of their school representatives who will attend the seminar to bring this slip along and collect the materials at the collection counter on the date of the seminar.
School Chop
