School Improvement Plan: The UAE

School profit Plan The UAESchool externalizening, organization and management is directly related to compassionate and physical resources. The foundation behind it is that shoals should be capable of utilizing the entire resources in a way that help them in performing their obligations masteryfully. entirely prep atomic upshot 18s take their coach-age childs to succeed and prosper. But aims can simply cr tiree a life great change when they piss emphasis on specific goals and strategies for change. School betterment mean ( imbibe) is a p showtime by means of which naturalizes specialise goals for good, and make decisions or sowhat how and when these goals turn overing be win. The definitive purpose of the touch is to promote pupil exercise by improving the way curriculum is provided, by construct an advantageous milieu for domesticateing, and by increase the enatic involvement in their childrens learning at take aim and in the home.In this assignment , the investigator testament develop sip revolve someing on the common problem bear upon the unavowed and globe aims in the United Arab Emirates. An action plan will be developed to help in improving instructs and consequently increasing student achievement.What is a school improvement plan?A SIP is a road map that undertakes the changes required by a school to increase student achievement, and indicates how and when these changes will be constructed.SIPsargon selective they help top dogs, teachers, and school councils answer the questions What will we focus on now? and What will we block until later? They boost staff and p atomic moment 18nts to follow on student achievement and new(prenominal) issues, such as the school environment,that atomic number 18 kn admit to come to student success. schools will able to respond to the require of students, teachers, and pargonnts when updated and trustworthy study be provided on student performance.Moreover, a SIP is a we apon by which the fellowship can hold schools responsible for student success and with which it can evaluate carry on. One of the first steps-a unfavorable virtuoso-in establishing an improvement plan includes teachers, school councils, p arnts, and opposite connection members get goinging unitedly to watch and en dream selective breeding concerning the school and its students, in that pryfore they can decide what needs to be enhanced in their school. As the strategy is implemented, schools keep ongathering this type of schooling. By comparing the novel learning to the primarydata on which the plan was g locomote, they- and the general-can assess the accomplishment of their improvement plans. accepted change takes time. It is essentialto keep knowly furcateners involved in theSIPinformed. Gradual improvements be significant, and they should be distinguished, but they do non comprisepermanent change. Therefore,SIPs are best knowing over ternion courses Year 1 the cooking process Year 2 the implementation Year 3 -continue the implementation.During initial discussions, or as time goes on, schools may need to expand their plan for additive years to make sure that they maintain their focus and attain their targets. Anyway,SIPs should beconsidered working documents that can beutilized tocheck their development over time andto make revisions when necessary to visualize that the plans stay on course.In developing SIP, the principal, staff, school council, call forths, and other community members act through a diversity of activitiesconcentrated upon troikadomains of precession curriculum obstetrical delivery, school environment, and parental involvement. For all these areas, schools range up the pastime A goal statement achievement targets Areas of focus Implementation strategies Indicators of success Time lines Responsibility for implementing strategies Checkpoints for status updates Opportunities for revisions. appendix B contain s a sample school improvement plan.All school opusners must be involved in the SIP to batten its success. Schools act the whole school community. The principal, who has the responsibility of school administration and delivering instructional leadershiphip, is lastly accountable for SIP. However,all school community should be actively engaged in all stages of the process cooking, implementing, monitor, and evaluating progress.PurposeTo identify effective strategies for developing school improvement plans that lead to enhanced student achievement and increased parental involvement in preparationBackground gibe to KHDA (2009), there are 220 schools in Dubai 189 schools were inspected between 2008 and 2009. The be 31 schools which affair the Indian, Pakistani and Persian curricula will be evaluated later. These 189 schools are composed of 109 surreptitious schools and 80 public schools. Among the private schools 49 schools follow the UK National Curriculum, 30 offering a U S curriculum, 16 schools development the Ministry of Education (MoE) curriculum, 6 schools follow the outside(a) Baccalaureate (IB), 4 schools follow the French curriculum and a unless 4schools provide unique curricula (German, Russian, Japanese and Philippine).All public schools in Dubai were checked, including Madares Al Ghad (MAG) schools and Model schools. The purpose of schools evacuation was to improve the delivery of education to students in Dubai and to help parents know that their children are macrocosm learned and are in uninjured, skillful, and caring hands.The overall findings of schools performance in Dubai were shocking as there are around 20,000 students in Dubai receives unsatisfactory gauge of education, to a greater extent than half(a) the schools are presently delivering an education that is not yet of the good quality anticipated of all schools in Dubai.Additionally,9 out of 10 schools provide unobjectionable quality of education. N star of the public sch ools got outstanding but 50% of them achieved good.As for the private section, 4 schools offering the UK curriculum accomplish outstanding, 50% of private schools achieved 50% while 75% were unsatisfactory.As for the students performance, the payoffs were generally disappointed. pupils progress in the tonality subjects, are not yet making sufficient progress in speaking and writing Arabic and slope.In public schools, where English is taught as a second language, students English language skills are insufficient and expectations, primarily in connection with writing and speaking, are not satisfactorily high. The students cleverness of using mathematics to solve problems is pitiful.In private schools, students skills in Arabic need improvement. Nearly 20% of students make unacceptable progress. In Islamic Studies, students progress in the public schools is better than the private schools.The majority of the students make believe good attitudes to learning. They are motivated, attentive and fractious worker. Economic and environmental agreement is developing in nearly schools. schoolchilds are often unattended take away in class. Different forms of intimidate are noticed.The teaching and learning methods were not useful for the students as the majority of the teachers dominate the lesson discussion in the public schools and poorly performing private schools. Assessment in more 25% of all schools is unsatisfactory. Consequently, umteen students are not aware of their strengths and weaknesses. In schools delivering the MOE curriculum, and US curriculum, students are not prepared rise for higher education or employment. Leadership and management are unsatisfactory in nearby 20% of private schools and in a similar proportion of boys public schools. approximately all schools do not look at self-appraisal system to assess their own work.Finally, many schools have comprehensive connections with parents but they are unsatisfactory to some parents.What Areas Should Be Considered for forward motion?The main goal of SIP is to increase the direct of student achievement. To achievegenuine change, nevertheless, the process needs to focus on specific priorities.Student performance becomes better when teachers use curriculum-delivery strategies that purposely address the studentsneeds, when the school environment is supportive, and when parents are effectively involved in the education of their children. To improve the process of planning, therefore, schools should institute one priority in each of these three components-curriculum delivery, school environment, and parental involvement. Basically, the planning process involves answering the crucial questions What will we focus on now? and What will we leave until later?Curriculum delivery in the United Arab EmiratesCurriculum is considered the foundation of the educational system. It incorporates the principles, underlying educational philosophy, goals, content and actual operation o f the instructional class in the class, in any event the written and other materials required to reinforce the educational system (Farah.S. Ridge.N. 2009).There are two new approaches presently being executed on a trial foundation in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)-a new standards-based curriculum in Abu Dhabi schools and a new English-medium curriculum in particular governmental schools, the Madares Al Ghad, over the UAE. Curriculum as a concept can be divided into three main components intended curriculum, implemented curriculum and attained curriculum. The intended curriculum typically embraces the directorial documents shaped by the UAE-Ministry of Education (MOE) or other education authorities which command how much, how frequent and what should be taught in schools. The implemented curriculum is what really occurs in the class, how successfully teachers offer the material, how long they pass on a topic and what resources they need to deliver the content. Lastly, the attained c urriculum is what students operablely learn in the class, what skillsand values they grasp, and what content they soak up and retain (Table 1).The focus of the MOE curriculum upon the buildup of factual knowledge rather than critical thinking limits students learning. Facts are learned in isolation and students are incapable of applying their knowledge in real life situations. This is proved evidently in the findings of the 2007 TIMSS survey, which examined students performance in the application of mathematics and apprehension in many countries. The MOE curricula in mathematics and science give slight attention to practical investigation and the use of mathematical and scientific knowledge to resolve problems (KHDA 2009). Consequently, students are not wholesome equipped for the courses and careers they will study. Public school students have to choose either a scientific or literary arts for their last two years of school-based study. Both of these options have narrow scope , to a great extent content and do not prepare students for university.Curriculum Policy abbreviatedThe MOE (2008) has issued curriculum policy documents that stipulate out standards, activities, strategies, expected outcomes and tools for teaching and judgment for student learning in all grades and subject areas. The policy documents overly encompass achievement charts that assist teachers in assessingstudents achievement in respect to the expectations. Assessment strategies must focus on how the students integrate theory into implement to encourage independent thinking and enhance problem solving abilities.To curry a goal for improving the delivery of the curriculum, principals, teachers, school councils, parents, and other community members participating in the SIP must see the expectations emerged by the MOE and how strong the those expectations are going to be achieved by the students. chief(prenominal) FindingsDubai Schools Inspection assurance Annual Report(DSIB) will be used as groundwork for this investigation. concord to DSIB(2009), the majority of the schools achieved an acceptable level in pull togethering the students educational needs in relation to their curriculum. Yet, in schools delivering curriculum of the MOE, and in many schools providing a USA curriculum, students are not equipped well to vie globally. Moreover,in these schools, wherethe mainstream of students are native Arabicspeakers, have limited selection of subjects and their physical, creative and analytical skills are developing. These curricula are not operated effectively to satisfy the prerequisites of students, including those with learning difficulties as well as the potentially highest achiever. Furthermore, curricular weaknesses in public schools hinder the progress of many students and limit their achievement.The ill prepared English curriculum and the cut back demands of the text books fail to sufficiently recreate the requirements of students for English profi ciency.The students are learning English as a second language where opportunities for using it in conversation are limited. Additionally, the curriculumprepares the students to use only a few vocabularies. The ikon of students reading and writing is alsoimperfect. Extended writing is rarely a take in in most public and poorly performing private schools. Students are customarilyneeded to give only short written answers to questions present in textbooks and English teaching is miserable. As a result, non-native speakers are often unable to enunciate their thoughts and ideas confidently even in Grade 12. These limitationsalter thestudentspreparation for university.The curricula in mathematics and science dedicateminimal attention to implementing mathematical and scientific knowledge in investigating and solving problems of daily life. In private schools, a high number of the one-time(a) students fail or do not complete courses, particularly in mathematics and science subjects a sit uation not helped by the miss of independent information, advice and guidance for students prior to their admission to courses. The ICT curriculum focuses barely on performing skills. In amplification,it is taught in English and many students do not get it adequately.All schools physical education, art and music have low status in MOE curriculum anda plenty of the ill performing private schools. The time allocated to these subjects to beneficially effect students physical and cultural growth is not sufficient. Music and art is taught to only a few students later on Grade6 and 9 respectively. These restrictions hamper thestudents opportunities to develop their capabilities for independent learning through such activities as team working.All schools homework for students with unpackional educational needs is poor overall.The governmental schools offer some support, mainly in separate classes, in Grades 1 to 3School environmentEnvironmental factors are the most influential on stud entsachievement and success.Creating a well-fit school environment calls the involvement of, principals, teachers, school councils, parents, and other community members to make effective and relaxing placesfor learning.WHO defines a health-promoting school as one that constantly strengthens its capacity as a hale setting for living, learning and working.The American Academy of Pediatrics (1993) defines a antimicrobic school environment as one that protects students and staff against immediate blot or disease and promotes prevention activities and attitudes against known risk factors that might lead to future disease or disability.A schools environment is the thread that linkstremendous activities on a campus. In many situations this thread is nearly invisible heretofore each mortal experiences its effect. Positive hearty relations and attitudes closely school are as significant to the environment as are safe and well-maintained buildings and grounds. The quality of the school -good or bad is reflected by the environment of the school. A safe, clean, and tailored school with a tyrannical psycho affable setting and culture can put forward school connectedness, which in turn improves student and staff well-being as well as students educational achievement.A schools physical environment includes the school building and the surrounding grounds, such as noise, temperature, and lighting as well as physical, biological, or chemical agents. The disturbing increase in the number of asthmatic students is a unique problem that can, in part, be influenced by negative physical conditions in schools. The psycho societal school environment incorporates the attitudes, lookingings, and values of students and staff. tangible and psychological rubber, confident(p) inter soulal relationships, recognition of the needs and success of the individual, and provision for learning are all part of the psycho neighborly environment. Other factors encompass the scrimping socia l, cultural, and religious influences geography socioeconomic status of students families tax bases and legal, political, and social institutions.Main FindingsThe quality of health care is good or outstanding in a majority twain(prenominal) public and private schools. School nurses, doctors and social workers presentobviously in the schools to support the students and their families.Medical records are arranged justly and bout follow-up are difficult. The role of the social worker is to have positive relations with families and monitor students attendance carefully. In the majority of the public schools, however, social workers work in isolation and do not communicate properly with other staff in the school to provide a rounded view of students performance. Comparatively little healthy food is sold in school canteens in most public schools students in these schools often eat crisps and sweets throughout the day.Safety issues including transport measures, fire safety procedures, supervision and security, imply some public and private schools. Students are frequently unsupervised except when in class. School transport is occasionally organized with few considerations for the safety of students in pedestrian areas and on board buses, where working seat belts are not always provided. In a minority of schools there are events of unsuitableusage of physical punishment in response to negative behavior.Different forms of bullying range from kicking, spitting, malicious teasing, taunting, making threats to spreading rumors, engaging in social exclusion, extortion and intimidation. Generalizations cannot be made to understand why bullying occurs but it should be effd in all its forms and not tolerated.A survey conducted by ADEC in 2009 involving 1728 students (grades 3 to 6). The findings revealed that young children have various concerns more or less bullying in the schools more than 47% considered that students at the school are often endangered or bullied and more than 63% favor remaining at home because it is more safer than the school.The procedures for student safety are flea-bitten in most private schools excluding those categorized as the best performing. According to KHDA (2009) most private schools have effectual policies to handle bullying and other kinds of upsetting behavior, and students reveal such events as uncommon. Moreover, whilst the best performing private schools have well-defined procedures for bullying, in many others do not.Students in the schools that were determine to be lacking bullying policy have no person to tell to if there is mistreatment inside or outside the school displace them at risk.Sana, A. A., MOE psychology advisor in Dubai, states that the ministry admits bullying in schools and is stressful to overcome it. Some students dont have sufficient information and competency to recognize and contend with the behavior of aggressors (Khaleej, T 2010).According to the head of KHDA, an attention should be given to new forms of bullying, such as cyber-bullying. Cyber-bullying has clearly increased in recent years and it can be more harmful and unfounded than other forms of bullying, (Samineh I. Undated). She cautioned of increasing incidence bullycide where children accustomed to escape to their homes to protect themselves from being intimidated at school, yet, through cyber-bullying there is no escape which give rise to many cases of bullycide ( bully associated suicides), Shaheem state (Gulf,N 2010).When the bully feels they cant deport out their hostility on the school grounds, they will yell at either on the way home, on the bus or through text messages, chat rooms or Facebook.Speaking of one of the cases that came to Dubai Psychologist Dr. Singh, D., said that the plight of a pocketable girl came to light only after her friend found her petrified at the sight of an aged student and describe the incident. Her friend said that she was literally shaking at the sight of the olde r student, which led to an investigation that brought to light how the child was being bullied using social networking sites.Parental involvementResearch found that parental involvement is one of the essential factorsleading to students success in school. Keeping the parents informed and involved in their childrens education will increase student achievement. Students attend school more frequently, finished more homework in a reliable manner, and award more positive attitudes towards school. They also are more likely to complete high school.Parental involvement helps a child succeed in school and later in life. To ensure parents are informed virtually and involved in their childrens education, schools must foster partnerships with parents. Because parental involvement is one of the most significant factors in a childs success, it is crucial that all schools set a goal in their SIP for increasing it.Links with parents numerous schools have comprehensive connections with parents but they are not continuously as effective as they want to be and some parents are ungratified withthe information given around their childs progress by the school. However,links with parents are usually good or outstanding in the best performing private schools. A small number of public schools have very good links with the local community and local businesses, which lead to enhanced outcomes for students. This is particularly true of schools in low economic status areas.The ADEC (2009) survey 1429 teachers in public schools and asked them about the number of times they met the parent personally and the degree of parents support to teachers .The result showed 6.9% have never met parents, 28.9% have met them once or twice a semester, 36.7% have met them once or twice a month, while 27.4% meet parents once a week. Regarding parents supporting the teachers teaching lathers, 55.5%feels some while 13.5% feel never. More than 56.1% of teachers believe that only some parents make considera ble effort to help their children learn while only 5.6% do not at all. As for trust and confidence in parents as being partners in the teachers mission of educating the children, 19.3 % said no.Who Are the Partners in School Improvement Planning?Everybody involved in or arouse in the operation of schools has a role to shoo-in in the SIP. District school boards and superintendents of education play vital roles in setting guidelines and in supporting and monitoring SIP. The most significantoperation, nevertheless, occurs within the school community itself. An effective SIParises when principals, teachers, school councils, parents, and other community participants work as a team to identify priorities, set goals for enhancement, apply strategies to reach those aims, and evaluate progress.Generally, principals responsibilities in SIP fall into three main categoriesCommunication, Leadership, Professional development.How Do We Begin?The first step of the SIP process isCreating a SIP tea m collecting and assessing data about student achievement, the school environment, and parental participation and setting priorities for improvement through a sequence of activities.Principals play a fundamental role in these early platforms. They ease the creation of a planning team, which will be accountable for establishing priorities, and they ensure that the information needed for effective planning-such as report card marks, the results of assessments.Forming a school improvement planning teamPrincipals should instill teachers, school council members, parents, and other community partners about the progressof SIP in a manner that appreciates their participation.In elementary schools, all the participants in the SIPconstitute a part ofthe planning process. Secondary schools, which usually comprise large teaching personnel, should guarantee that at least one representative from each section is part of the planning team, with the school council, parents, and other community affi liates who wish to share. In addition to expressing their preciousviewpoints and skills, teachers will alsofacilitate understanding ofinformation on students achievement as well as the expected value of and challenges implicated in a range of improvement suggestionsto other teammembers.It is imperative that the team be representative of the schools community. Principals should make hard effort to convince parents who correspond to a range of the school communitys demographic write to play a part in the planning work out. Other communitymembers may offer worthinsights and perspectives, and their input should also be encourage and vigorously sought out. Principals in the French-language systems will want to include leaders from the local francophone community.Finally, secondary school students should also contribute in the planning team. Principals should give confidenceto their involvement in the process, and possiblylook for those who are student leaders, motivating them to play a role. Principals in elementary schools may desire to engage interested Grade 7 and 8 with the teams work.All participants should have a positive attitude towards the process and realize that they have toact as a team. programming meeting times for the planning team that are suitable to both staff and parents may be challenging. This issue can be work by arranging parallel processes, whereby staff meets during school time whereas parents meet in the evening. The benefit of this organization is that it allows maximumparents participation. To insure consistency regarding decision makingbetween both groups, selected teachers could volunteer or be delegated to join both meetings.The SIPteam holds the role of analyzing data on student achievement in the school, the efficiency of the school environment, and parental involvement in their childrens education. Established on the results, team limbs make decisions about subjects that must be improved in priority.As figure 1 indicates, the pl anning work should take place between September and January of year 1.Understanding the contextBefore beginning a SIP, the planning team, together with parents, must be aware of and be familiar with particular types of information that school boards pass to staff and the public such as boards vision statement, national tests, and boards strategic plan, which includes short- and long-term goals for the district.In addition, members of the planning team should understand the nature and characteristics of the school and its community. Many schools create a school profile that sets out these characteristics in a simple way. Reviewing the school profile and debating each topic facilitate understanding of the school, and it places a context for the improvement strategy.A school profile could include information about the followingStudent demographicsEnrolment trendsLanguages spoken in the homeThe schools mission statementThe schools program prioritiesPrograms and services offered by the s chool (for example, guidance and library services)School facilities furcate sizesRate of student turnover or transferOther applicable information.Schools in all systems should have other relevant information that will guide the readers of the profile obtain a realistic and full line drawing of their school.After acquiring an understanding of the boards targets and the schools characteristics, the planning team is prepared to get going setting priorities for a SIP.Setting prioritiesSIPs are structured around three components curriculum delivery, school environment, and parental involvement. The planning team must set up one priority in each of these three domains. The following activities will facilitate planning teams create these priorities precession for Enhancing Curriculum oral communicationCollecting informationThe principal need to make sure that the planning team has the required data to identify which curriculum component (for instance, mathematics, science, reading, or writing) has the highest priority for improvement. Principal must also verify that the gathered information is reliable-that is, that it was collected according to the expectations and achievement outlined by the MOE. All teachers have to understand the MOEs policy obligations.The principal should therefore collect the following information for the planning teamResults of the annual assessments of students.Report card marks.Class profiles.Results of board-administered, national, and international tests.Discussing the informationAn open discussion, utilizing all the data collected about student achievement, allows all associates on the planning team to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses in providing the curriculum, and identifies a priority for improvement in this regard.Deciding on a priorityThe facilitator distributes red dot stickers to the team members. Each associate obtains a number of dots equal to one third the number of weaknesses. All team members vote, using the sticke rs, for the subject of curriculum weakness that they think should be called first. Members must use all their dots, but they may not use more than one dot per weakness.The weakness with the most dots becomes the priority for enhancing curriculum delivery.Priority for up(a) the School EnvironmentCollecting informationThe principal need to collect information that will help the planning team define a priority subject for improving the school environment, such as school layout, students behavior and health condition.Discussing the informationBefore the meeting starts, the facilitator should collect the responses to the parent survey, transcribe the strengths and weaknesses of the school as sensed by parentsDeciding on a priorityThe facilitator allots red dot stickers to team members. Each person receives a number of dots equal to one third the number of weaknesses.All members vote, using the stickers, for the ranges of weakness that they suppose should be handled first. Participants m ust get through all their dots, but they may not use more than one dot per weakness.The weakness rank high dots becomes the priority for enhancing the school environment.Priority for Increasing Parental InvolvementCollecting informationTo help the planning team arrive at an endorsed priority for improving parental involvement, the principal should supply them with duplicates of the school profile, a summary of the information collected in the parent survey.Discussi