From standardized tests to surveys, benchmarking to best practice, collecting data on student and school performance is integral to ISKL’s continuous improvement program and supports our Strategic Plan. At last week’s interactive forum with parents, Head of School Dr. Norma Hudson shared her thoughts on why performance data is critical to this process. Here’s pictures of the event and Q&A in case you missed it.
| Q: What sort of data do you collect and how often? |
| A: The process is on-going and encompasses quantitative and qualitative data. We conduct a range of standardized student tests so that we can benchmark our students’ performance with peer schools, analyze IB and AP results with schools in the region and globally, undertake in-house parent, student and faculty surveys as well as community surveys for external accreditation bodies. We also hold regular forums throughout the year to proactively listen to feedback from parents. The active engagement of our parent, student and faculty communities is phenomenal, we received 1,197 responses to one set of surveys this year alone! |
| Q: What happens to the data? |
| A: Rami Madani, Director of Learning, works together with ISKL’s leadership team and faculty to understand the results in context so that we can make informed, data-driven decisions. This, in turn, shapes our strategic focus, enables us to continually improve and ultimately maximize the potential of each student. |
| Q: Why is it important? |
| A: Collecting data is a like a jigsaw puzzle, each data set shows part us of the picture but the greatest value comes in assessing the data holistically so that we can establish a clear picture of student learning and school performance. It’s important at both an individual student level so that we can measure and understand what has been learned in the classroom, not just taught, as well as from an overall school perspective. |
| Q: Results you are proud of? |
| Our data showed that ISKL is a high-performing school with 93% of student learning needs being met and 97% of our alumni reporting they feel successful. This tells us that an ISKL education has a lasting impact.
The high school results speak for themselves – our IB and AP results are consistently above Asia-Pacific and worldwide averages. The Class of 2017 gained 380 university acceptances, primarily in the UK, US, and Canada. This includes offers from University of Cambridge, University of Edinburgh, Brown University, Duke University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Toronto, National University of Singapore, University of Melbourne … it’s a long list of impressive institutions and we are extremely proud of our students. Across the rest of the school, our Measurements of Academic Progress (MAP) tests show students consistently exceed expectations when benchmarked against peer schools. This data is also supported by the results of the independent International Schools Assessment (ISA) with ISKL students scoring notably higher than other students around the globe. |
| Q: Areas for improvement? |
| A: We identified the need to strengthen our communication related to student learning so that parents have a more comprehensive understanding of progress and learning goals. To address this, ISKL has adopted Google Classroom in order to improve the management, and communication of student learning. We are currently training our faculty to ensure a successful implementation next year.
Our data also shows that we needed to become a more inclusive school for students with learning differences which is why we have implemented the Life-Centered Education program in Middle School. We are planning to roll this program out across the rest of the school. We also need to further enhance the learning program for our highly able students and are currently looking at how best to achieve this. At the end of the day, it’s about learning and continuous improvement. I believe that if we stand still we are going backward. ISKL is a school that is constantly moving forward in pursuit of our mission to provide an exceptional education. |
If you have a question for Dr. Hudson please email [email protected]
