Setting Targets
Your strategic goals need to be broken down into annual
targets for improvement. What will you aim to achieve
this year?
Target outcomes can be described using dependable
data such as qualifications results, PAT scores, asTTle
results, results of assessments that you choose, such
as ARB or NEMP items, or comparisons with the curriculum
achievement exemplars.
Setting challenging targets for student achievement
gives focus and meaning to a school's planning. Targets
aid school review and school development. They provide
firm measures against which to judge recent progress.
Your targets will be the focus of regular discussion
and end-of-year reporting.
The degree of challenge in targets arises from informed
professional judgement about student capability. School improvement occurs when
the board, staff, and students accept responsibility
for targets; when all have high expectations of student
outcomes, and avoid underestimating student capability.
Assuming you have been through the process of identifying
and setting your 3–5 year strategic goals,
the questions to be answered in annual target setting
are:
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What specific and challenging
target(s) on the way to achieving your strategic
goals will you set for improved student
achievement this year?
What measure will you use to describe
the students' current achievement and
the hoped-for improved position?
Do staff, parents, and students
believe that your targets are worthwhile?
What steps will you take to ensure
that staff and community are involved,
understand, and own the challenge of meeting
the targets?
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When writing targets think SMACAT – Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Challenging
but Achievable, and Time-bound.
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How many targets are realistic,
and manageable in your school this year?
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Setting realistic targets and making action plans
will be different in different schools. The number
of targets that a school chooses to set will depend
on factors such as the number of teaching staff, the
nature of the goals and the community's priorities.
Examples of the way targets might be set in different school settings are found by following the links below:
A school that has a non-teaching principal and all
staff teaching across the curriculum will face different
issues than those faced by a secondary school where
staff teach many students in different subjects, or
by a small school where the principal spends most
time teaching and most students are in multi-level
classes.
Case Study
Western Heights
School in Rotorua participated in an intensive
school improvement programme to improve reading results.
This involved setting an number of short-term,
measurable targets, and produced spectacular results.
Further Resources
Assessment
community on TKI
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Introduction | Next
Section: Action
Plan
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