This report discusses the findings of an evaluation of the Ministry of Education's Schools Support Project as it was between mid-1995 and late 2000. The two aspects addressed by the evaluation are Safety Net interventions and Schooling Improvement initiatives. It includes a review of recent international research literature relating to school improvement, and the findings from interviews with a range of representatives from schools, the education sector and the Ministry.
Purpose
The Schools Support Project is a core element of the Ministry of Education’s work to support school development. As such, the Government and the Ministry of Education’s Senior Management Group and the Manager of Schools Support sought an evaluative study of Schools Support to inform future policy and resourcing decisions relating to this area.
Researchers in the Ministry of Education’s Research and Evaluation [Internal] Unit, in consultation with the Manager of Schools Support and the Advisory Group for the evaluation, defined three key research questions:
• What is the Schools Support Project doing?
• How is the Schools Support Project working — that is, is it effective?
• How much does the Schools Support Project cost?
Unlike previous Schools Support evaluations (Timperley et al, 1999, and Robinson et al, 2000), the focus of the present evaluation was to be on the Schools Support Project overall, rather than particular interventions under the Schools Support umbrella. An evaluation of Schools Support at the general level is made more challenging by the considerable diversity within the service. However, it is precisely because of that diversity that an overall evaluation of Schools Support was considered to be important, in order to draw some general conclusions about the service.