Professor David Hopkins presented on England's education system reforms over the past decade. He outlined four key drivers that helped raise student achievement and build school capacity: 1) personalizing learning, 2) professionalizing teaching, 3) building intelligent accountability, and 4) innovation and networking. Hopkins argued these drivers should be shaped by system leadership to create sustainable reform where every school is great.

1. CCSSO/Asia Society Symposium International Perspectives on U.S. Policy and Practice: What Can We Learn from High Performing Nations? Hall of States, Washington, DC Tuesday, 27 th April 2010 Every School a Great School A perspective from England Professor David Hopkins Being a relentless focus on improving the learning outcomes of ‘ every student’ in ‘every school’ across the whole system …

2. PROFESSIONAL JUDGEMENT NATIONAL PRESCRIPTION KNOWLEDGE POOR KNOWLEDGE RICH 2000s Informed professional judgement 1970s Uninformed professional judgement 1990s Informed prescription 1980s Uninformed prescription

3. 1950 1960 11 plus dominated "Formal" Professional control "Informal" Standards and accountability NLNS 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2004 Brief History of Standards in Primary Schools

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7. Distribution of Reading Achievement in 9-10 year olds in 2001 300 325 350 375 400 425 450 475 500 525 550 575 Sweden Netherlands England Bulgaria Latvia Canada (Ontario,Quebec) Lithuania Hungary United States Italy Germany Czech Republic New Zealand Scotland Singapore Russian Federation Hong Kong SAR France Greece Slovak Republic Iceland Romania Israel Slovenia International Avg. Norway Cyprus Moldova, Rep of Turkey Macedonia, Rep of Colombia Argentina Iran, Islamic Rep of Kuwait Morocco Belize Source: PIRLS 2001 International Report: IEA’s Study of Reading Literacy Achievement in Primary Schools

8. Ambitious Standards Devolved responsibility Good data and clear targets Access to best practice and quality professional development Accountability Intervention in inverse proportion to success High Challenge High Support New Labour Policy Framework

9. Percentage of pupils achieving level 4 or above in Key Stage 2 tests 1998-2003 50 55 60 65 70 75 80 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 English Maths Test changes in 2003 Major changes to writing test/markscheme Significant changes to maths papers Percentage

10. The Key Question - how do we get there? Most agree that: When standards are too low and too varied some form of direct state intervention is necessary the impact of this top-down approach is usually to raise standards. But when: progress plateaus - while a bit more might be squeezed out in some schools , and perhaps a lot in underperforming schools, one must question whether this is still the recipe for sustained reform there is a growing recognition that to ensure that every student reaches their potential, schools need to lead the next phase of reform. The 64k dollar question is how do we get there?

11. Towards system wide sustainable reform Every School a Great School National Prescription Schools Leading Reform Building Capacity Prescription Professionalism System Leadership

12. Four key drivers to raise achievement and build capacity for the next stage of reform Personalising Learning Professionalising Teaching Building Intelligent Accountability Innovation and Networking

13. Learning to learn Curriculum choice & entitlement Assessment for learning Student voice ‘ My Tutor’ Interactive web-based learning resource enabling students to tailor support and challenge to their needs and interests. (i) Personalising Learning ‘ Joined up learning and teaching ’

14. Enhanced repertoire of learning & teaching strategies Evidence based practice with time for collective inquiry Collegial & coaching relationships CPD to tackle within school variation ‘ The Edu-Lancet’ A peer-reviewed journal published for practitioners by practitioners & regularly read by the profession to keep abreast of R&D. (ii) Professionalising Teaching ‘ Teachers as researchers, schools as learning communities ’

15. Moderated teacher assessment and AfL at all levels ‘ Bottom-up’ targets for every child and use of pupil performance data Value added data to help identify strengths / weaknesses Rigorous self-evaluation linked to improvement strategies and school profile to demonstrate success ‘ Chartered examiners’ Experienced teachers gain certification to oversee rigorous internal assessment as a basis for externally awarded qualifications. (iii) Building Intelligent Accountability ‘ Balancing internal and external accountability and assessment ’

16. Best practice captured and highly specified Capacity built to transfer and sustain innovation across system Greater responsibility taken for neighbouring schools Inclusion and Extended Schooling ‘ Autonomous Federations’ Groups of schools opt out of LEA control but accept responsibility for all students in their area (iv) Innovation and Networking ‘ Disciplined innovation, collaboration and building social capital ’

17. Innovation & Networking Personalised Learning Professional Teaching SYSTEM LEADERSHIP Intelligent Accountability 4 drivers mould to context through system leadership

18. System Leadership: A Proposition ‘ System leaders’ care about and work for the success of other schools as well as their own. They measure their success in terms of improving student learning and increasing achievement, and strive to both raise the bar and narrow the gap(s) through establishing professional learning communities. Crucially they are willing to shoulder system leadership roles in the belief that in order to change the larger system you have to engage with it in a meaningful way.’

19. Greater responsibility taken for neighbouring schools All ‘failing schools’ in Federations Significantly enhanced funding for students most at risk Rationalisation of national and local agency functions ‘ Autonomous Federations’ Groups of schools opt out of Local control but accept responsibility for all students in their area A nd (vi) Governance and Segmentation ‘ System transformation is both complicated and facilitated by the high degree of segmentation within the secondary school system’.

20. Every School a Great School Framework Governance and Segmentation Innovation and Networking System Leadership Professionalised Teaching Intelligent Accountability Every School a Great School Personalised Learning

21. Coherent System Design High quality personalised learning for every student U N I V E R S A L H I G H Leadership and School ethos Teaching quality Personalised Learning and Professionalised Teaching Intelligent accountability, Governance and Segmentation Innovation, Networking and System Leadership Recurrent funding Physical capital Human capital Knowledge creation and management Qualifications framework Curriculum S T A N D A R D S Hardware Infrastructure Software Teaching and learning Operating system Reform model

22. Complementary Policy Framework for System Reform Ambitious Standards Devolved responsibility Good data and clear targets Access to best practice and quality professional development Accountability Intervention in inverse proportion to success High High Challenge Challenge High High Support Support Governance and Segmentation Innovation and Networking System Leadership Professionalised Teaching Intelligent Accountability Every School a Great School Personalised Learning

23. England’s school system has been fundamentally reformed over the past decade Source: DCSF, Ofsted, Literacy Trust, NCSL, TDA, expert interviews and team analysis Centrally driven agenda Accountability through Ofsted, target and league tables National Strategies for literacy and numeracy Single-minded focus on results Targeted support for deprived areas Intervention in underperforming schools and LAs Local Authorities as intermediaries within a centralised system Sense of urgency Rapid rise in standards at primary level and some narrowing of attainment gap Significant reduction in the number of failing schools at primary and secondary levels Incremental gains at GCSE and A-level 94.5% of 16 year olds left school with at least one qualification (2001) Intense focus on literacy and numeracy criticised as too narrow System not self-sustaining Teacher shortages Lighter touch inspections Single Primary Strategy and Secondary Strategy Specialist schools programme Choice and flexibility of curriculum pathways in 14-19 agenda National College for School Leadership School workforce modernisation Significant increase in investment Development of Academy concept Social partnership Standards improved incrementally or plateaued Fewer under-performing schools Schools increasingly well resourced, with more staff (both teaching and support staff) Teacher shortage solved 95.5% of 16 year olds left school with at least one qualification (2005) Pace of improvement slowed significantly (early gains were easier to achieve) Achievement gaps remained large Role of local authorities unclear Every Child Matters Fewer targets / more bottom-up responsibility New role for Local Authorities Commissioners of services Strategic leadership New powers to tackle poor performing schools School Improvement Partners Increased diversity of provision Implementation of Academies/other new policies Best ever results at both primary and secondary but progress still slow Gender gaps narrowed with boys catching up Smallest number of failing schools ever 97.3% of 16 year olds left school with at least one qualification Academies programme takes off Plateauing results – some targets missed; school targets lack ambition Slippage on international league tables Securing pipeline of high quality leaders Implementation weaknesses; levers unclear Key features of reform Results Challenges Introduction of GCSE (1986-88) Education Reform Act (1988) National Curriculum (NC) National Assessments Grant maintained schools LMS (locally managed schools) Education Act (1992) Ofsted League tables Increased transparency Parental choice More autonomy for schools National assessment system 92.3% of 16 year olds left school with at least one qualification (1997) Improvement in secondary school results Problems with the implementation of LMS and grant maintained schools Criticism of heavily assessment oriented reform and excessively prescriptive first version of NC Funding shortages Phase 1 – (1997-2001) Driving the standards agenda Phase 2 – (2001-2005) Broadening the scope and seeking sustainability Phase 3 – (2005-now) Increasing personalisation and system integration (1988-1997) Setting the foundations

24. Overall England has many world-class policies, some interesting and innovative but not yet proven and others that are major question marks Source: Team analysis Innovative and often cutting edge policy framework Clear accountability framework and national standards Literacy and numeracy strategies up to 2001 Rigorous independent inspection regime Devolution of resources to schools and three year budgets A focus on turning round or closing failing schools with some replaced by academies Intervening in poor local authorities Reform of teacher training and best practice marketing of teaching as a profession Sustained increase in education resources over last decade led to improvement in recruitment pay and school infrastructure Targeting resources to support the improvement of weaker school Improvement in the quality of school leadership and management in schools England is at the forefront of integrating children's services and must capture synergies Allowing good leaders to manage multiple schools Implementing a conscious strategy for the whole school workforce rather than just teachers Supply side reforms including trusts New role of local authorities as commissioners of children’s services and school places has potential but this is yet to be exploited Availability of a wide range of performance data at pupil, school & LEA level and for different pupil groups (eg by FSM & Ethnicity) but this data is not being used to support improvements in teaching & learning and target setting widely throughout the system The implementation of policy is highly variable across the system Variation of outcomes both between and within schools remains high Inconsistent quality of teaching Insufficient quality and consistency of classroom-focused professional development A variety of policy initiatives hasn’t proved able to codify and scale up best practice There has been a major focus on improving the performance of the lowest performing schools but more focus on middle range required Academic content and standards are not meeting the demands of 21 st century employers and universities Recent reforms have led to complex interactions between schools and other bodies Plus + Minus - Interesting ?

25. England is seen as an innovator of education policy around the globe. In fact, several of those systems that are now considered world class adopted certain policies as a direct result of the experience in England Source: Expert interviews and team analysis World leading policy developed in England… … has influenced policy around the world Clear accountability framework and national standards… … was taken into consideration in the development of Singapore’s accountability framework Literacy and numeracy strategies… … shaped the literacy and numeracy strategy in Ontario, Canada Rigorous independent inspection regime… … was adopted by New York Devolution of resources to schools and three year budgets… A focus on turning round or closing failing schools and intervening in poor local authorities… … was used as a case-study by Ohio’s State Education Department Reform of teacher training and best practice marketing of teaching as a profession… … influenced the New York City Department of Education “Children First” reforms and are admired around the world … is widely admired, but proving hard to replicate

26. Professor David Hopkins David Hopkins is Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Education, University of London, where until recently, he held the inaugural HSBC iNet Chair in International Leadership. He is a Trustee of Outward Bound and is Executive Director of the new charity ‘Adventure Learning Schools’. David I holds visiting professorships at the Catholic University of Santiago, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Universities of Edinburgh, Melbourne and Wales and consults internationally on school reform. Between 2002 and 2005 he served three Secretary of States as the Chief Adviser on School Standards at the Department for Education and Skills. Previously, he was Chair of the Leicester City Partnership Board and Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Nottingham. Before that again he was a Tutor at the University of Cambridge Institute of Education, a Secondary School teacher and Outward Bound Instructor. David is also an International Mountain Guide who still climbs regularly in the Alps and Himalayas. His recent books Every School a Great School and System Leadership in Practice are published by The Open University Press. Website: www.davidhopkins.co.uk