Guidelines on the Compilation of School Development Plan
Annual School Plan School Report
To Promote School Development and Accountability through Strategic Planning
Education Bureau
Quality Assurance and School-based Support Division 2020
Planning
Implementation
Evaluation
Contents
Page
(1) Introduction 1
(2) School Development Planning Process 2
(3) School Development Plan 3
(4) Annual School Plan 5
(5) School Report 6
(6) Suggested Schedule for drawing up the School Development Plan, Annual School Plan and School Report
7
(7) Conclusion 8
Guidelines on the Compilation of School Development Plan/ Annual School Plan/ School Report 1
1 Introduction
1.1 The capacity of schools to plan their work strategically and develop a culture of reflective practice is fundamental to their continuous development and improvement.
The School Development and Accountability (SDA) Framework (Figure 1), introduced by the Education Bureau (EDB) in the 2003/04 school year, aims to promote systematic implementation of school self-evaluation (SSE) through the
“Planning-Implementation-Evaluation” cycle. The ultimate goal is to enhance school development and improve students’ performance in learning.
Figure 1 - School Development and Accountability Framework
1.2 Under the SDA Framework, SSE is a core element of school-based management (SBM), under which schools are to be held accountable for the provision of quality education. A range of evaluation tools, such as the Performance Indicators (PI), Key Performance Measures (KPM) and questionnaires of the Stakeholder Survey (SHS), has been made available for schools for their self-evaluation. These evaluation tools will be updated from time to time to serve schools’ needs and tie in with the development of new education initiatives. Schools conduct a holistic review with reference to the PI areas to examine their major strengths and areas for improvement by means of an evidence-based and data-driven evaluation to feedback on strategic planning and draw up major concerns for the next school development cycle. Schools then set out the development focuses with related strategies in the School Development Plan (SDP), devise implementation details in the Annual School Plan (ASP), report on the progress made in the School Report (SR), and conduct a holistic review of their SDP at the end of their school development cycle to inform forward planning.
Holistic Review
(With reference to the Performance Indicators for Hong Kong Schools)
Major Concerns
(In order of priority)
School Development Plan
• Major Concerns
• Targets
• Time Scale
• Outline of Strategies
Annual School Plan
School Report
Feedback for next cycle of
Feedback for next Annual School Plan
2 School Development Planning Process
The following flowchart (Figure 2) shows the process of compiling the SDP, ASP and SR. The SDP is a blueprint of school development, which sets out a clear direction for development. As for the ASP and SR, the former serves the purpose of formulating implementation strategies based on the SDP, and the latter serves to summarise schools’ performance in different aspects, and to review the effectiveness of priority tasks so as to feedback on future planning. Drawing up the SDP and major concerns that best reflect the needs of the school hinges on thorough reviews on school effectiveness and self-reflection.
Figure 2 - School Development Planning Process
1.3 School-led self-evaluation is complemented and supported by External School Review (ESR). Since its inception, schools acknowledge that the process of conducting self-assessment of their own performance with reference to the PI reinforces their understanding of school development and SSE, as well as promotes schools’ self-reflection. For enhanced transparency of management and accountability, schools should upload their SDP, ASP and SR onto their websites for public reference.
1.4 As schools have practised SBM for many years and are experienced in the compilation of SDP, ASP and SR, this guide aims to draw schools’ attention to noteworthy issues about school development planning and reporting.
Guidelines on the Compilation of School Development Plan/ Annual School Plan/ School Report 3
3 School Development Plan
3.1 Purpose
Premised on the basis of a holistic review on school performance, the purpose of the SDP is for the school to set out a clear direction for development in line with the school’s vision and mission as well as the latest education development. In other words, SDP is the blueprint for school development. Deliberations on major concerns, targets, time-scale and broad strategies during the planning process are essential to gain consensus among stakeholders concerned. Through strategic planning, implementation and continuous monitoring as well as effective evaluation, school effectiveness will be enhanced with a view to providing quality education for students.
3.2 Points to note
3.2.1 The developmental cycle of an SDP usually spans across three years.
Unless warranted by special circumstances, schools are not advised to re-write their SDP every year.
3.2.2 SDP is a blueprint of planning at the school level. It is not a requirement of the EDB for individual subject panels/committees to prepare three-year development plans. Notwithstanding this, schools need to solicit the support of subject panels and functional committees to formulate implementation plans in light of the major concerns of SDP in order to achieve co-ordination at all levels of school work.
3.2.3 Major concerns are schools’ major tasks in the next three years or important changes to be effected in a few years’ time. They represent the development priorities of schools instead of their operational routines.
SDP usually features not more than three major concerns, and they should be directly related to student learning and enhancing students’ all-round learning performance. Major concerns should be well-defined and focused.
Setting too many major concerns will only result in a lack of focus in their work priorities. Implementation will be fraught with difficulties if they are not concrete enough.
3.2.4 Targets should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound (SMART) so that they can be implemented, monitored and evaluated in school specific manner accordingly.
3.2.5 Schools are advised to conduct a holistic review with reference to the data of KPM and SHS, as well as other evidence before formulating a new SDP.
Schools are also required to submit the latest KPM and SHS data to the EDB via E-platform for School Development and Accountability (ESDA) at the end of their school development cycle as from the 2015/16 school year.
The data collected will be used to generate reference data for feeding back to schools for their SSE.
3.3 Major considerations in formulating a school development plan
3.3.1 Holistic Review of school performance
At the end of a school development cycle, schools should conduct a holistic review of the performance in their implementation of the SDP and the overall performance in the eight PI areas. The following points should be considered when conducting the review:
(a) Effectiveness of the previous School Development Plan
The effectiveness of the SDP should be evaluated with reference to the set targets and their corresponding success criteria.
Schools should report on the extent of achievement against the targets and deliberate on the reasons for the level of achievement.
Schools should decide how individual major concerns are to be followed up if the targets are not fully achieved. They should consider revising or reinforcing the major concerns with refined implementation strategies.
For major concerns with fully achieved targets, schools may incorporate them in the schools’ routine work and think of further development or other major concerns for the next school development cycle.
(b) Evaluation of the school’s overall performance
Schools should review their performance in the eight PI areas with reference to the Performance Indicators for Hong Kong Schools.
Schools should focus on the major strengths and areas for improvement in the eight PI areas. The record should be concise and listing of routine tasks is not advisable.
Schools should fully consider the views of stakeholders, including all staff, students and parents. Participatory decision making is encouraged to enhance consensus building.
Performance in various aspects should be carefully evaluated and founded on evidence and data.
Guidelines on the Compilation of School Development Plan/ Annual School Plan/ School Report 5
3.3.2 Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats Analysis or other analyses Apart from reviewing the SDP at the end of a school development cycle, it is advisable to conduct an integrated analysis of the school’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) to inform development priorities and identification of major concerns. External factors which have significant impact on school development should be taken into consideration in conducting the analysis.
4 Annual School Plan
4.1 Purpose
The ASP is a concrete action plan for implementing the SDP. It enables teachers to have an understanding of the targets, strategies, success criteria, methods of evaluation, time scale, people in charge, and resources required, of the major concerns so that they can support the implementation.
4.2 Points to note
4.2.1 ASP should incorporate tasks promoting school development rather than routine ones. Since ASP is a working document at the school level, concrete implementation strategies of ASP should be set in the light of the major concerns and targets of SDP.
4.2.2 The success criteria1 enable the school to evaluate whether the targets set have been met so as to inform future planning. Therefore, the success criteria should be clearly defined and tie in with the expected learning and teaching outcomes. There should be a balance between qualitative and quantitative data to be collected. It suffices to set the success criteria against the targets rather than every task or strategy.
4.2.3 Evaluation methods should be appropriate for the targets.
1 For examples of success criteria, please refer to “The Self-learning Package on Understanding School Development and Accountability (SDA) Framework” on the EDB website. This package is only available in Chinese.
5 School Report
5.1 Purpose
The SR should provide an account of the effectiveness of school work and the extent to which the school’s development targets are achieved. The school should make use of the evaluation findings to inform future planning and put continuous improvement in action. The SR also provides a channel for the school to report to its stakeholders on the achievement of targets under the major concerns, thus enhancing accountability.
5.2 Points to note
5.2.1 To enhance accountability and transparency, the school should publish an SR annually for public reference. The outline of the SR is suggested as follows:
- Our School
- Achievements and Reflections on Major Concerns
- Our Learning and Teaching
- Support for Student Development
- Student Performance
- Financial Summary
- Feedback on Future Planning
- Appendix
5.2.2 The report should be evidence-based and data-driven, and truly reflect the school’s achievements and areas for improvement.
5.2.3 The report should review the effectiveness of school work in the ASP according to the relevant success criteria. The impact of the implementation strategies on learning and teaching effectiveness rather than the completion of tasks should be reported.
5.2.4 The school could report the implementation of its plans and strategies, as well as their effectiveness in any format (text, statistics and/ or diagrams) in a concise manner according to the school context, with a view to minimising teachers’ workload. However, the school should abide by the protocol that sensitive information should not be released for publicity purposes.
Guidelines on the Compilation of School Development Plan/ Annual School Plan/ School Report 7
Suggested timeframe
Major activities The year of completion of
SDP cycle
Other years of SDP cycle
January to February
• Administer the SHS as scheduled by schools
• Collect KPM data & other evidence
February to May • Submit to the EDB the latest KPM and SHS data via the ESDA (For details, please refer to EDBC011/2015:
“Implementation of the Next Phase of the School
Development and Accountability
Framework”)
May to June • Conduct a holistic review, the results of which can serve as reference for the preparation of the next SDP
• Conduct a review on the school’s major concerns as stipulated in the ASP
• Gather related data and information for evaluating the effectiveness of school work
July to August • Draft the SR
• Draw up the next SDP and ASP
• Draft the SR
• Draw up the next ASP
Before end-October
• Submit the SDP, ASP and SR to IMC/SMC for endorsement
• Submit the ASP and SR to IMC/SMC for endorsement
Before end-November
• Upload the endorsed SDP, ASP, and SR onto school’s website
• Upload the endorsed ASP and SR onto school’s website
6 Suggested Schedule for drawing up the School Development Plan, Annual School Plan and School Report
7 Conclusion
The SDA framework aims to empower schools to strengthen their self-evaluation for continuous improvement while enhancing accountability and transparency. SSE, which is a core business inherent in SBM to enhance school development, should be embedded in school practice.
The SDP, ASP and SR are primarily a school’s working documents in support of its development cycle. To practise “Planning – Implementation – Evaluation”
effectively, a whole-school approach to formulating the SDP should be adopted.
Based on the SDP, a clear and specific ASP is devised for engaging the collaborative efforts of different subjects and committees in the implementation stage. At the end of a school year, a careful review should be conducted on the basis of SSE data collected and an account of the effectiveness of school work against the planned targets should be included in the SR for leading sustainable improvement and development.
