Department of Education and Skills IRELAND OECD Review on Evaluation and Assessment Frameworks for Improving School Outcomes COUNTRY BACKGROUND REPORT FOR IRELAND March 2012 This report was prepared by the Department of Education and Skills, Ireland, as an input to the OECD Review on Evaluation and Assessment Frameworks for Improving School Outcomes. The document was prepared in response to guidelines the OECD provided to all countries. The opinions express are not necessarily those of the OECD or its Member countries. Further information about the OECD Review is available at www.oecd.org/edu/evaluationpolicy. ii CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES ........................................................................... v ACRONYMS USED IN THIS REPORT .................................................................. vi EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ....................................................................................... vii THE SCHOOL SYSTEM............................................................................................ 1 1.1 Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) ............................................... 1 1.2 Primary education ............................................................................................. 2 1.3 Secondary education .......................................................................................... 3 1.2.1 Ownership and types of secondary schools .................................................. 4 1.3 Division of Responsibilities................................................................................ 5 THE FRAMEWORK FOR EVALUATION AND ASSESSMENT ........................ 8 2.1 The current approach ........................................................................................ 8 2.1.1 System evaluation.......................................................................................... 9 2.1.2 School evaluation .......................................................................................... 9 2.1.3 Teacher appraisal ......................................................................................... 9 2.1.4 Student assessment ...................................................................................... 10 2.1.4 School Autonomy and Accountability with the Framework ........................ 10 2.1.5 The distribution of responsibilities within the framework .......................... 10 2.2 Context .............................................................................................................. 11 2.3 Initiatives and Implementation ....................................................................... 13 2.3.1 Recent initiatives in student assessment ..................................................... 13 2.3.2 Recent initiatives in teacher assessment ..................................................... 14 2.3.3 Recent initiatives in school evaluation and system evaluation ................... 15 2.3.4 The involvement of stakeholders ................................................................. 15 2.3.5 Implementing evaluation and assessment strategies .................................. 16 2.3.6 Policy priorities in the area of evaluation and assessment ........................ 16 2.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 16 SYSTEM EVALUATION ......................................................................................... 18 3.1 Current practices ............................................................................................... 18 3.1.1 Overall framework for system evaluation ................................................... 18 3.1.2 Evaluation framework at primary and secondary levels ........................... 19 3.1.3 Procedures used in system evaluation ........................................................ 20 3.1.4 Inspectorate evaluations ............................................................................. 20 3.1.5 National assessments .................................................................................. 21 3.1.6 The State Examinations Commission .......................................................... 22 3.1.7 External studies ........................................................................................... 22 3.1.8 Indicators .................................................................................................... 22 3.1.9 Competencies to evaluate the school system and to use evaluation results 23 3.1.10 Using system evaluation results ................................................................ 23 3.1.11 Dissemination of evaluation results .......................................................... 24 3.2 Implementation of system evaluation............................................................. 25 3.2.1 Impact of system evaluation ........................................................................ 25 3.2.2 Impact of system evaluation on improving standards................................. 26 3.3 Policy initiatives ............................................................................................... 27 3.3.1 Longitudinal studies .................................................................................... 27 3.3.2 Collection of aggregated school data ......................................................... 28 3.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 28 SCHOOL EVALUATION ........................................................................................ 29 4.1 Current practices ............................................................................................... 29 4.1.1 Overall framework for school evaluation ................................................... 29 iii 4.1.2 School evaluation procedures ..................................................................... 30 4.1.3 Competencies to assess schools and to use assessment results .................. 33 4.1.4 Using school evaluation results .................................................................. 35 4.2 Implementation of school evaluation ............................................................. 36 4.2.1 Self evaluation ............................................................................................. 36 4.2.2 External evaluation ..................................................................................... 36 4.3 Policy initiatives ................................................................................................ 37 4.4 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 38 TEACHER APPRAISAL .......................................................................................... 40 5.1 Current practices ............................................................................................... 40 5.1.1 Overall framework for teacher appraisal ................................................... 40 5.1.2 Teacher appraisal procedures .................................................................... 41 5.1.3 Competencies to appraise teachers and to use appraisal results ............... 43 5.1.4 Using teacher appraisal results .................................................................. 44 5.2 Implementation of teacher appraisal ............................................................... 45 5.3 Policy initiatives ................................................................................................ 46 5.4 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 47 STUDENT ASSESSMENT ....................................................................................... 49 6.1 Current practices ............................................................................................ 49 6.1.1 Overall framework for student assessment ................................................. 49 6.1.2 Student assessment procedures ................................................................... 51 6.1.3 Competencies to assess students and to use assessment results ................. 56 6.1.4 Using student assessment results ................................................................ 58 6.2 Implementation of student assessment .......................................................... 59 6.3 Policy initiatives ........................................................................................... 60 6.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 62 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................... 64 Legislation ............................................................................................................... 71 Websites in relation to primary and secondary schooling ................................. 72 iv LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1.1 Overview of the school system 1 Figure 2.1 Overview of evaluation and assessment framework 8 Figure 4.1 The school development planning model 30 Figure 6.1 A continuum of assessment methods 51 Figure 6.2 Senior Cycle key skills framework 61 Table 1.1 Types of secondary schools and numbers of teachers 2009-2010 4 Table 1.2 Number of secondary school students 2009-2010 4 Table 1.3 Numbers of students in further education programmes 2009-2010 4 Table 3.1 Irish national assessments