John Cronin
Castleknock Community College
SDPI Summer School 2008
Imagine!
Mol an Oige agus Tiocfaidh Sí
Courtesy
Respect
Responsibility
Materials Technology Metal
Senior Home Economics
Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme
David McGowan & Stephen Hopkins
Leinster Debating Champions 2006
VEC Festival of Music Participants
Paddy Andrews
Captain of the Dublin Minors 2006
Lorna Hillery & Deborah Geraghty
Dublin Panel 2006
-School Plan 2005 -2008
-History, Mission & Educational Aims
-Context Factors ~Internal & External
-Curriculum Provision
-Analysis of Results
-Care & Management of Students
-Parents Association
-Management Meeting
-Office Management
-Adult Education
To get a snapshot of school culture/ethos at a given time
To explore what kind of culture the school relationships,
symbols, rituals, traditions and everyday activities actually
reflect
To measure this culture against the college mission statement,
aims and objectives, and the desired ethos of the college.
To measure the extent to which staff share common
goals/beliefs/a vision for the college
To highlight areas for future school focus and development
Vision
What is our vision?
Do others share it ?
“A good school for me is a place where
everyone is teaching and everyone is learning
simultaneously, under one roof”
Barth 1990
Moral Purpose. Seeing the need to
improve teaching and learning.
“We need school leaders who will see their prime
purpose as leading learning in their schools and who
are constantly exploring ways of improving outcomes
for students by implementing quality teaching and
learning programmes.”
Robertson and Martin(2002: 6)
WSE Report
 “The current conversation in the college about how
students’ progress is assessed and which modes of
assessment are most appropriate is commended.
It is suggested that the discussion should be
extended to include how the information gathered
as a result of assessment can inform teaching and
learning activities in the classroom.”
October 2005
Reviewing State Results
Subject Breakdown
 ABC Grades
 College vs National Avg.
 Higher vs Ordinary
 Higher vs National Avg.
 LCA
 LCVP
Results Overview
 Points Achieved
 Gender Comparisons
 Tracking subjects over
five years.
Feedback from Staff
Staff Feedback - The Process
 Subject Facilitator Meetings
The Comments
 Where’s all this going????
 Subject Choices
 Staff Meeting
 Higher vs. Ordinary Level
 Timetabling Issues
 Subject Department
Meetings
 Gender Issues
 Motivation
 Best Practice
 Data released on a subject by
subject basis
 Differentiated Teaching*
There is nothing so unequal as to
treat unequal children equally!
Thomas Jefferson
Feedback From Management Team
2005
 Uncomfortable analysing colleagues’ results
 Gender
 Motivation
 Timetabling Issues
 Option Choices
 Uncertainty
 Creating an Academic Profile of each student
 Catering for International Students
Management Team Planning
2007
 Joseph Dreissen “Motivating boys.”
 Choosing the Right Options at Senior




Cycle (Past Pupils)
Career Guidance Eirquest/DATs meeting
with parents
SEN Register
Language Centre
Tracking students’ from Year 1
Tracking Students
Academic
Social
 Entrance Results
 International Profile
 House Exams Average
 SLE
 Monitored by
 Tutor
 Yearhead
 Guidance
 Learning Support
 Language Centre
 Learning Support
 Achievements
 Leadership
 Awards
Putting a narrative on students’ progress
Outcomes
The next step
 Identifying Students in need
- Assessment for Learning
- Model Students’ Work
- Comments instead of Grades
- No Hands
- Group Discussion
- Self Assessment
- Wait Time
 Affirming Progress
 Remediation
 Parental Involvement
 Subject Profiling
 Gender Issues
 Class Make up (Junior Cert)
Since 2007 linked with Serco to capture
student profile
- Academic Progress accessible
- Achievements Captured
- Attendance
- Discipline Record.
- Parental Access
Every student is tracked.
On Monday next teachers will expect to receive a breakdown of
their students’ Leaving Certificate results.
Subject Departments will forward feedback to senior management
in relation to their subject’s progress.
 Profile of each student is available on eportal
The theme for the academic year 2008 is Assessment for Learning
“Future leaders are living in a turbulent and chaotic
environment, where the real power to act comes from
recognising the pattern of change and sensing and
seizing windows of opportunity.”
What will your future working environment look like?
Pentti Sydanmaanlakka (Helsinki)
Teaching the Digital Natives
 10,000 hours Video Games
 2 billion ring tones per
year
 250,000 emails
 2 billion songs and
 10,000 hours on the mobile
movies per month
 3 billion text messages
 20,000 hours TV (incl. MTV)
per day.
 500,000 commercials
Digital immigrants vs Digital natives
Digital Immigrants
Digital Natives
 Communicating
 Email & Chat Rooms
 Sharing
 Blogs &Webcams
 Buying & Selling
 ebay
 Exchanging
 Music, movies & humour
 Collecting
 Mp3, video sensor data
 Learning
 About stuff that interests
them
• For a lot of what we need our Digital Immigrant
teachers cannot help us much....
•.... And Digital Native teachers will not truly be there
•......until we grow up and become them
“ I don’t want to study Rome
in School. Heck, I build Rome
every day in my online game
(Caesar III).”
Colin Age 16
It’s not attention deficit –
I’m just not Listening!
“It is a healthy sign of an
organisation if it can engage in an
honest analysis and review of its
effectiveness in the achievement of
its aims and objective”
Kavanagh et al