Welcome from ERO
Kia ora koutou
At the current Alert Level 4 with all ERO offices closed, all reviews are deferred and will be rescheduled at a time when COVID-19 alert levels allow. These include reviews in progress or nearing finalisation.
ERO remains in contact with those schools due to be reviewed, to share what to expect in terms of scheduled reviews and those currently in progress or nearing finalisation.
Evaluation Partners will continue to work with schools who have informed us that they would like to do so. We also invite you to reach out to us should you want to continue working with us during lockdown.
A reminder of the way ERO works under other alert levels:
Alert Level 3 – All our offices remain closed, and staff are still working from home. Onsite review work is deferred. If your school is due for a visit or review, ERO will be in touch on a case-by-case basis to check whether working with you digitally is something you would like to do.
Alert Level 2 – Our offices are open, and we are doing business as close to usual as possible. We aim to continue to work onsite in schools, consistent with the Public Service Commission advice.
Alert Level 1 – ERO offices are open, and it is business as usual.
You can also find advice on our website.
Learning in a Covid-19 world
Schools are facing continuing challenges as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. From May through to September last year, ERO interviewed 750 schools and surveyed over 2500 principals and teachers across the country to understand what these challenges are and how schools are responding.
The findings share lessons and successes that the sector can continue to draw on in 2021, and are available in our published series Learning in a Covid-19 World.
The Impact of Covid-19 on Schools presents our findings on how Covid-19 has impacted students, teachers, and schools; how schools have responded and what they have learned; and the challenges that schools expect they might face in future changes of alert levels.
Practical actions to help schools to respond to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. This document is to help schools to respond to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. It includes a range of possible Covid-19 scenarios for school leaders and parents to consider, seven practical actions, and places to go for additional help and information.
Over the page, you will find links to the other publications in this suite of resources.
Welcome to Term 3 schools
Term 3 is well under way and with it, we have welcomed 248 more schools into the new evaluation approach. You can see the list of all schools that are now part of the new approach here.
Take care everyone.
Jane Lee
Deputy Chief Executive Review and Improvement
Model Milestones
The new Operating Model began in Term 4 last year, with 75 schools taking part. In Term 1 this year, we welcomed 275 schools into the new approach to school evaluation. In Term 2 we welcomed 353 schools and this term, we have welcomed 248 more.
An ERO Evaluation Partner has been assigned to each of these schools, and all schools have the opportunity to attend an information session before beginning to work with an Evaluation Partner.
More than 2300 schools will be part of the new approach, and we are aiming to have all of them onboarded by the end of 2022.
Go to our website to see the list of all schools that are currently part of the new approach.
Learning in a Covid-19 world
Our series Learning in a Covid-19 World focuses on how the sector responded to the 2020 lockdowns, and shares the lessons and successes that the sector can continue to draw on in 2021.
Learning in a Covid-19 World: The Impact of Covid-19 on Schools
Te Muka Here Tangata – The strand that binds people
Practical actions to help schools to respond to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic
Learning in a Covid-19 World: Supporting Secondary School Engagement
Learning in a Covid-19 World: How school leadership rose to the challenge
Learning in a Covid-19 World: How schools have stepped up to support students and whānau
A guide to learning in a Covid-19 world - Supporting secondary-aged students into 2021
A guide to learning in a Covid-19 world - Supporting primary-aged students into 2021
A guide to learning in a Covid-19 world - Supporting parents into 2021
A guide to learning in a Covid-19 world - Supporting Board of Trustees into 2021
For your newsletters
You have asked us for content that can be shared with your communities via your newsletters. Please feel free to use the following:
ERO is shifting to a more developmental approach to evaluation, supporting each school’s improvement over time.
An ERO evaluation partner will work alongside our school, building a professional relationship over time.
ERO’s evaluation role will connect with each school’s strategic planning and reporting cycle as part of an ongoing improvement journey. ERO is supporting schools to build and sustain high-quality evaluation as part of their planning for improvement focus.
Consideration of a school within its wider network and community is woven throughout the new Operating Model, which will also identify an opportunity to undertake evaluations at a community level.
More information is available on the ERO website.
Resources
- Find out which schools have joined the new evaluation approach
- Read past issues of these Newsletters
- Watch Partnership Profile videos
- Download and print a Go-To- Guide on the new Operating Model (PDF 268.6 KB)
- Download a slide pack on ERO’s new approach to school evaluations for your presentations (PDF 2.1 MB)
- Read the School Self Audit and Assurance Statement
Your feedback matters
ERO’s approach will continue to be iterative as all schools are introduced to the new approach.
The feedback from your school and ERO evaluation partner will contribute to the development of the model. Please share your feedback directly with your Evaluation Partner.
New Evaluation Approach FAQs - August 2021
How does ERO work under Covid-19 alert level 4?
All reviews are deferred and will be rescheduled at a time when COVID-19 alert levels allow.
These include reviews in progress or nearing finalisation.
Evaluation Partners will continue to work with schools who have informed us that they would like to do so.
How does ERO work during the different Covid-19 alert levels?
At Alert Level 4 – All our offices remain closed and onsite review work is deferred. We will keep in contact with schools.
At Alert Level 3 – All our offices remain closed, and staff are still working from home. Onsite review work is deferred. If your school is due for a visit or review, ERO will be in touch on a case- by-case basis to check whether working with you digitally is something you would like to do.
At Alert Level 2 – Our offices are open, and we are doing business as close to usual as possible. We aim to continue to work onsite in schools, consistent with the Public Service Commission advice.
At Alert Level 1 – ERO offices are open, and it is business as usual.
What is the new evaluation approach?
ERO maintains a regular review programme to evaluate and report on the education and care of young people in schools. Under our new approach, ERO will shift from event-based external reviews to supporting each school in a process of continuous improvement.
The new approach aims to complement your school’s own internal evaluation, strategic and annual planning and reporting approach, and to strengthen schools’ own engagement with and accountability to whānau.
ERO will become an evaluation partner alongside each school, to support every school to be a great school and every child a success.
What doesn’t change is our commitment to putting the child at the heart of everything we do.
What role does ERO play in this new approach?
ERO is shifting to a more developmental approach to evaluation, supporting each school’s improvement over time.
An ERO evaluation partner will work alongside each school. The evaluation partner will build a professional relationship with each school over time.
ERO’s evaluation role will connect with each school’s strategic planning and reporting cycle as part of an ongoing improvement journey. ERO is supporting schools to build and sustain high-quality evaluation as part of your planning for improvement focus.
Consideration of a school within its wider network and community is woven throughout the new Operating Model, which will also identify an opportunity to undertake evaluations at a community level.
What is an Evaluation Partner?
An ERO Evaluation Partner is a designated evaluator who will be assigned to work with your school. They bring evaluation expertise and will work through the evaluation process collaboratively with you, responding to your school’s unique context. They will have an ongoing relationship and work with your school over time.
At the completion of an evaluation for improvement phase, your school and ERO will work together to report and plan key actions and next steps in your school’s improvement journey.
What is an Evaluation Focus?
The focus for an evaluation is based on what the school knows about itself, its learners/akonga and its understanding of what matters most. ERO and the school will work together to use the evaluation focus to shape the subsequent evaluation plan. Primary consideration when developing an evaluation focus should be given to equity and excellence in outcomes for all learners, in particular those who are at risk of not achieving or experiencing success.
What is an Evaluation Plan?
This is a bespoke plan designed to address the Evaluation Focus. It includes:
- a clear rationale for the purpose and scope of the evaluation
- how the plan will be actioned, the questions posed and evidence gathered
- how stakeholders will be engaged in the process
- what ERO‘s involvement in the evaluation will be
What will reporting look like?
ERO‘s view is that all children and young people should have access to high-quality, effective education provision. Parents, caregivers, whānau and the community should have access to evaluation information about the quality and effectiveness of that education provision.
Schools are encouraged to update their communities as they progress through the new evaluation process and inform them about evaluation findings. In addition, there will be a publicly available online report, on average every three years.
How often will I see my Evaluation Partner, and for how long?
Every evaluation is a bespoke process that responds to a school‘s individual context. A responsive approach allows ERO to direct more resource into working with schools who would benefit the most. This means the Evaluation Partners will spend varying amounts of time in different schools depending on identified needs.
What is the biggest difference that schools will notice going into Phase 1 (Initiating) of the new approach?
The school will have the opportunity to develop an ongoing evaluation relationship with ERO. During phase 1, initial organisational arrangements are established and doors opened to engaging with key stakeholders and other participants who may be involved in the evaluation. This phase will lead quite quickly into Phase 2 (Exploring and Focusing).
How and when are schools onboarded?
Schools are being brought into the new approach progressively, starting at the beginning of each Term throughout 2021 and 2022. Each school will receive a letter from ERO during the previous term advising when it is due to join the new approach.
Decisions on when each school is brought into the approach are systematically planned within each ERO region and include factors such as the timing of a school’s most recent review and ERO’s internal resourcing.
Your feedback matters
ERO’s approach will continue to be iterative as all schools are introduced to the new approach.
The feedback from your school and ERO evaluation partner will contribute to the development of the model. Please share your feedback directly with your Evaluation Partner.
Information on our website
- An overview of the new approach
- Find out which schools have joined the new evaluation approach
- Read past issues of these Newsletters
- Watch Partnership Profile videos
- Download and print a Go-To-Guide on the new Operating Model (PDF
- 268.6 KB)
- Download a slide pack on ERO’s new approach to school evaluations for your presentations (PDF
- 2.1 MB)
- Read the School Self Audit and Assurance Statement
Sharing the mahi: A partnership model
At ERO, we look forward to working with you. We want to ensure that we are effective partners, adding value to each school’s improvement journey.
We share an obligation to put the learner at the centre, to equity and excellence in outcomes for all learners, and an understanding that quality education is a right for every New Zealand learner.
We welcome this opportunity to collaborate with you so that together, we can make a positive difference for all learners. We thank you for your commitment to supporting the successful implementation of this new approach.