Interview with Su Wilson – Fogarty EDvance Mentor

The Fogarty EDvance mentors are regularly described as the ‘gold’ in the Fogarty EDvance School Improvement Program.  

Su Wilson has been an integral part of the mentor team for six years, working with nine schools since 2013.   We spoke with Su about becoming a Fogarty EDvance mentor and the benefits for schools who are part of the program.

How did you become involved with the Fogarty EDvance program?
To lead a school takes commitment and passion, which makes it difficult to simply walk away. When I retired late in 2013, I was fortunate to join Pauline Coghlan and Peter Holcz in designing and delivering a program to train school leaders on school improvement. Through this role and the role of an Independent Public School (IPS) Reviewer, I learned about the work of the team at Fogarty EDvance, so was delighted when I was invited to join an extremely capable and experienced group of mentors. 

Tell us about the schools you have worked with.
I have had the pleasure of mentoring leadership teams from Balga and Roseworth Primary Schools in Cohort 3; and Koorana and Orelia Primary Schools in Cohort 4. I currently work with leaders at Tom Price and North Tom Price Primary Schools in Cohort 6; and Lakelands Primary School and Endeavour Schools, encompassing Endeavour PS and Endeavour Ed Support Centre, in Cohort 7.

All schools have focussed, hard-working leadership teams who have shown total commitment to whole-school implementation of the Fogarty EDvance program in striving for improvements in practice.

Upon entering the program, each school analysed data, and  accessed program tools to gather information about their school . This meant that their planning for improvement related specifically to their own needs, with initiatives and strategies for intervention driven by evidence and current research.

High performing schools worldwide recognise that improving the effectiveness of teaching will lift student outcomes and school performance. Each school with which I have worked has focussed on ensuring there is consistent, high quality teaching in every classroom. 

The varying experience of teachers in their respective schools and the degree to which they are willing to change their teaching practice, also has implications for planning for improvement. While having low SES may impact on learning, behaviour and attendance, regional schools also have the added complexity of transient staff.

The team at Fogarty EDvance recognises that the ‘one size fits all’ approach does not work. What does work is exposing school leaders to research, tools for gathering evidence, guidance in developing a three-year plan for improvement and support in leading changes in teaching practice. 

Can you describe a highlight of your experiences with the Fogarty EDvance team.
Highlights are many, but nothing can compete with the moment when school leaders and their staff see the positive outcomes of changes implemented, particularly when they showcase improvements in student performance.

For myself, I love witnessing changes in the practice of teachers, particularly those who may have previously been adverse to changing long standing behaviours.

What do you think are the 3 most valuable things schools gain from being part of the FED program?
I’m really not sure about narrowing the list to three but if I must:

1. Exposure to high quality research, professional development and evidence-based planning using a template with proven success.

2. Access to tools to measure organisational health, gather feedback from stakeholders, intensify the impact of decision-making and foster teamwork and collaboration.

3. Ongoing support from a mentor who is committed to providing guidance and support.

Is there something you know now that you wish you had known when you were working as a school leader?
As a mentor I consciously seek out current research on school leadership and school improvement, with particular emphasis on developing a culture of collaborative practice and professional growth. 

As a school leader I worked with staff to plan for improvement and allocated my budget to resource our plan with a primary focus on the professional growth of my staff.

In retrospect, I now believe in the need to allocate funding (and time) to support my own professional growth and that of other leaders within my school.

Programs like Fogarty EDvance have a single focus, that of supporting school leaders to design and implement a whole school improvement strategy to increase their school’s overall effectiveness.

I now know that working with a team of people, whose focus is on supporting schools on their journey of improvement, would help focus resourcing decisions and ensure staff received targeted professional development and support to effect change.

What would you say to school leaders considering joining the Fogarty EDvance School Improvement Program?
The core business of every school is to provide the best possible learning opportunities for their students, therefore every school has the potential to improve. 

I believe school leaders who are hesitant about joining the program shouldn’t be weighing up their potential to lead the improvement they are seeking without support, but acknowledge their involvement with Fogarty EDvance as an opportunity to have an even greater impact, not only until the end of the three-year program, but beyond.

In 2020, through Fogarty EDvance’s partnership with McKinsey and Company, FED Alumni schools had access to the Organisational Health Index (OHI) survey. The OHI is a tool used in the Fogarty EDvance School Improvement Program that measures how a school’s health is tracking and identifies areas for improvement – when school leaders know how to focus on developing organisational health, this can contribute to all school staff working together to positively impact student performance.

This is the first year Alumni schools have had access to the OHI post-program, and nine schools from Cohorts 3 and 4 participated in the OHI Alumni survey. As well as receiving a detailed OHI Report for their school, including a comparison to previous year’s results, there was also the opportunity for a debrief of results with the FED Team.

 Feedback has been very positive, with all participating schools excited to continue to use the OHI as a tool to assist their planning process and school improvement journeys. The OHI survey will be available at a discounted FED rate to Alumni schools in 2021. To pre-register, or for more information, please contact georgie.wynne@fogartyedvance.au

Our three years with Fogarty EDvance were a really positive experience. The access to McKinsey’s expertise and the OHI Report were a highlight of that program. We saw the information provided by the OHI as a really informative tool and felt incredibly fortunate to have access. It would have been very short sighted of us to leave that good work behind when we had finished our three-year relationship with Fogarty.  It was also really helpful to have Stacey and Georgie analyse our report with us as we stand together on the balcony, rather than down on the crowded and busy dance floor. 

Bernadette Jones, Principal Bullsbrook College (Cohort 4)

As a new Principal to Balga Primary School, it has been a wonderful learning experience to develop my knowledge of the Fogarty EDvance processes and the positive impact the OHI has had on informing our direction and planning. I look forward to applying the OHI data to our Business Plan development process which will give us direction for the next three years.

Michael Wills, Principal Balga Primary School (Cohort 3)

As many of you are aware, we have been working on a series of video resources that capture high-impact instruction in action. This suite of videos are known as the EDvance Video Resources and are available to view privately through the streaming platform, Vimeo.

The purpose of the EDvance Video Resources are twofold:

1. For schools that are already working with these instructional practices, another learning opportunity to get together with teachers and consider the discussion points included in the Guidance Notes.
2. For schools that are not currently working with these instructional practices, an opportunity to view some expert teachers in action. We recognise that due to Covid-19, the scheduled school visits for Term 2 have had to be cancelled, which provides limited opportunity for leaders and teachers to view high-impact instruction in action.

All of the teaching strategies used in the videos are evidence-based, and come from the body of research that was introduced to you in Year 1 of the program, including:

1. Archer and Hughes
2. Rosenshine
3. Dataworks: The engagement norms referred to extensively in the video are attributed to Ybarra & Hollingsworth.

The EDvance Video Resources consist of 12 separate videos:

Early Years

1. Brooke Wardana Video 1 – Daily Review on Single Sounds
2. Brooke Wardana Video 2 – Daily Review on Diagraphs
3. Brooke Wardana Video 3 – Daily Review on Syllables
4. Brooke Wardana Video 4 – Daily Review on Comprehension

Middle Years

1. Anthony Chiappalone – Daily Review on Addition and Subtraction
2. Anthony Chiappalone – Daily Review on Multiplication and Division
3. Anthony Chiappalone Video 1 – Learning Objective
4. Anthony Chiappalone Video 2 – Concept and Skill Development
5. Anthony Chiappalone Video 3 – Guided Practice
6. Anthony Chiappalone Video 4 – Independent Practice

Secondary

1. Stacey Plaut Daily Review – Year 7 HASS (The Water Cycle)
2. Stacey Plaut Lesson Design – Year 7 HASS (Demand and Supply)

To access the EDvance Video Resources and Guidance Notes, please email Stacey at stacey.plaut@fogartyedvance.au

A final note: The Fogarty Foundation and Fogarty EDvance have invested significant time and resources into the creation of these videos for the sole benefit of EDvance schools. As such, the EDvance Video Resources are solely for the distribution and use of schools that are part of the Fogarty EDvance School Improvement Program. Please do not share these resources with any schools or teachers beyond the FED Network without the express permission of our team. Please contact Stacey or Katie for the password to view the Video Resources or for further information at katie.odriscoll@fogartyedvance.au

If you need any support in using these videos effectively, please get in contact with your mentor or the FED team. We hope you find these video resources useful to continue your school improvement journey throughout 2020.

The changing landscape presented by Covid-19 is a challenge unlike anything school leaders have seen before. Whilst schools were presented with a similar set of challenges, each school context is different. How schools navigated the challenges presented by Covid-19 was of particular interest to us. As such, we spoke to the leadership teams at three high-performing, low SES, Western Australian primary schools, about how they adapted and dealt with the challenges presented during this period.

Two of the schools are part of the Fogarty EDvance program, with organisational health results in the top decile. In terms of student results, all three schools consistently perform above ‘like schools’ on NAPLAN metrics.

There were some consistent themes across all three schools:

1. Communication was key – as much information and as often as possible to staff and the school community.
2. Distributed leadership models were in place at all of the schools – this assisted with the staff communication process, through channels that were already in place.
3. Teachers and the leadership team were accessible to students and parents.  At all three schools, a contact program was in place where teachers contacted and spoke to students at least once a week.
4. Opportunity for other staff to show leadership – teachers that were more comfortable delivering PD on teaching in an online environment shared this knowledge with colleagues and in some cases, ran PD for their colleagues.
5. Community support – all schools mentioned that the level of community support had been higher than predicted, and are keen to continue to build on this.
6. Community focus – has been vital to maintain and further develop sense of community – e.g. Principal’s Reading Challenge, staff videos for students, a daily video of a staff member reading a story, online Easter Hat parade.
7. Increased awareness of the value of face-to face teaching to the student learning experience – not only in the community, but the great job that has been reinforced to teachers as well.

Schools that were part of the EDvance program have been able to use some of the learnings from the Fogarty EDvance program to assist in their approach to Covid-19, including:

1. Importance of an evidence base to present information about Covid-19 – communication was evidence based rather than just opinion based.
2. A distributed leadership model and communication chain was already established within the school – meant it was easier to get a message out to all staff – in a way they were used to receiving it.
3. Understanding mindsets – there were different reactions from different staff – understanding the mindset and subsequent actions behind these reactions.
4. Role clarity was very clear – staff, and parents knew who to contact when needed, and what everyone’s role was in managing this change
5. Using aspects of the Strategic Directions Document to map out a plan for dealing with Covid-19.

Given the COVID-19 pandemic and associated challenges to the WA education system, Fogarty EDvance has determined that the best course of action is to carry out a ‘soft’ launch of Cohort 8, commencing in 2021. The soft launch will involve only 1 – 2 workshop days in Term 1, with additional workshops in Terms 2, 3 and 4 of 2021.

We will shortly be asking for expressions of interest from metro and regional, primary and secondary schools in Western Australia, who are interested in applying to join the Fogarty EDvance School Improvement Program. We will only proceed to launch Cohort 8 in circumstances where we have achieved a minimum number of interested schools.

One major change for the application process with Cohort 8 is that Fogarty EDvance is now in a position to allow schools with an ICSEA of between 990 and 1050 to apply to join the program. For further details about the eligibility criteria, please direct all queries to Katie Webster at katie.odriscoll@fogartyedvance.au

We will be running a half-day Transformation Framework recruitment workshop on Wednesday, 26 August, 2020 (in person) and Thursday, 27 August, 2020 (via webinar) (Week 6, Term 3) for school leaders to learn more about the Fogarty EDvance program. All current EDvance schools are invited to attend for a refresher, or send any new school leaders along for professional learning – more details and a registration link will be sent out next term.

If you know of any schools or school leaders in your networks that may be interested in knowing more about Fogarty EDvance and potentially being part of Cohort 8, please contact Katie Webster at katie.odriscoll@fogartyedvance.au.

We recently launched the Fogarty EDvance Cohort 4 Report Card.

We were looking forward to welcoming our Cohort 4 schools and guests to the Official Report Card Launch, as we are excited to share the successes of these schools. However, given the current climate and this unprecedented time, the Report Card was launched electronically on 8th April to celebrate the success of the 14 Cohort 4 schools, who have recently completed the three year School Improvement Program, and now join the FED Alumni network. 

Fogarty EDvance’s vision is to improve educational outcomes for students in challenging contexts at a state wide level by 2021

The Fogarty Foundation initiated Fogarty EDvance to significantly improve and sustain academic outcomes of students in disadvantaged communities in Western Australia. To date, EDvance is working with 96 schools in 7 cohorts, impacting over 300 school leaders, and 42,000+ students across Western Australia.

Each school starts the EDvance program at a different stage of student performance – our aspiration is to see all Fogarty EDvance schools reach or exceed the state average for their students.  When students from lower socio-economic backgrounds perform strongly, we demonstrate to our community that it is possible to achieve excellent teaching and learning for every student in the state, regardless of their postcode.

This Report Card shares the impact of the 14 Cohort 4 Fogarty EDvance schools. Included in the document are stories of success that capture how the Fogarty EDvance School Improvement Program continues to build the capacity of school leaders to transform educational outcomes for their students.

• To date, EDvance is working with 96 schools over 7 cohorts, involving over 300 school leaders and impacting 42,000+ students across WA.
• Cohort 7 launched this year, so we now have 24 regional schools in the network – from the Pilbara to Southwest of WA.
• The schools in Cohort 4 have all shown improvements in social or academic outcomes with more than 60% of schools attaining significant improvements in academic results for their students.
• The Report Card also includes updates on the progress from some schools in Cohorts 3 and how they have sustained or furthered their results beyond their 3-year journey in the program. Early impact results for Cohort 5 provide a snapshot of what some of these schools have already achieved.
• Fogarty EDvance and the Foundation are trialling innovative approaches to support high impact teaching practices in schools. Initial results are impressive.

Reaching systemic impact:  We see a pathway to redefining educational equity in WA.  Our bold goal is working with 100+ schools in WA to significantly improve outcomes for 25% of students from low SES backgrounds in the state. The benefit from improving student outcomes is real – the cost of leaving school early is estimated conservatively at $335,000 per student over a lifetime as well as considerably reduced life opportunities.

Watch our launch video

Please take a few minutes to few minutes to hear from members of our team, and also from Dr Dean Goldspink, Principal of Ellen Stirling Primary School, on the impact of the Fogarty EDvance program on his leadership, and on student outcomes at Ellen Stirling Primary School.

Watch our launch video

Download the Cohort 4 Report Card

The EDvance Teaching Intensives focus on high-impact instructional strategies for teaching literacy and numeracy in the early years and middle primary.

There is evidence to support the successful application of explicit and direct instruction, particularly for students from disadvantaged communities. Many practitioners are keen to develop skills in this area as part of the ‘toolkit’ for successful teaching.

In 2020, two EDvance Teaching Intensives were hosted concurrently at Balga Primary School (a FED Alumni School). 65 teachers and pre-service teachers participated, including teachers from Fogarty EDvance schools. The Intensives were led by Dr Lorraine Hammond and Brooke Wardana, with support from Balga Primary School staff.

Since 2018, the Fogarty Foundation and Fogarty EDvance have supported 140 teachers to learn and trial high-impact and explicit instruction. Components of the Intensives include:

• High-quality professional development by experts in the field of high-impact and explicit instruction.
• In-situ coaching of the teachers during the program.
• Personalised written feedback to every teacher.
• Students are made available to practice the various instructional strategies on.
• Teaching resources compiled by Program Leads in the form of a consolidated set of Power Point slides, for ongoing use by participants.
• Learning reflection and forward planning session at the conclusion of the program to facilitate the transfer of new teaching skills to regular and ongoing practice.

At Fogarty EDvance and especially during this time, we are constantly looking out for useful resources and online learning opportunities that may assist to support EDvance schools and our broader FED Network. We’ve summarised a few of the resources below that have landed in our inbox that might be helpful for schools in the near future.

Pivot

Pivot allows teachers and school leaders to develop professionally through carefully designed, confidential, evidence-based surveys, services and reports. Through the EDvance program, Pivot has allowed EDvance schools a free trial to use the Pivot student survey.

Pivot wanted to let you know that they are ready to listen and can support schools to navigate the important task of collective and collating feedback from your school communities in preparation of a shift to distance learning. Ways that Pivot can help include:

• the new COVID-19 Pulse Check survey question sets to support you in a targeted collection of feedback from students, teachers and families. Pivot have surveys for preparing for a school closure and check-ins for once your school moves to a distance learning framework
• real-time, ready to share resources for all groups in your learning community to support preparing for school closure, including a student checklist and the home learning strategies for parents
• targeted guides and resources to assist your school leaders and teachers in preparing for a period of distance learning
• a distance learning version of the flagship Student Perception Survey with support for remote administration, launching at the start of Term 2.

Pivot are also providing free, limited access to our COVID-19 Pulse Check surveys – available to any school until 1 May. Personalised support and hands-on implementation will be made available to your network in order to assist them during this unprecedented era in education.

For more information about Pivot, visit their website here.

DataWORKS Educational Research

DataWORKS Educational Research was founded in 1997 with the single purpose of improving student learning. By observing and teaching in more than 25,000 classrooms, co-founders Dr Silvia Ybarra and John Hollingsworth developed the research-based Explicit Direct Instruction (EDI) approach to teaching. Since then, DataWORKS has steadily expanded, working with over 750 schools and districts, in 25 states, and in 10 countries. Since 2014, the company has been actively involved in training and developing curriculum for Australian teachers and schools.

DataWORKS is offering schools a free webinar to discuss using Educeri and Zoom/Hangouts and how to navigate teaching remotely. We know many of our EDvance schools have worked with Joe Ybarra and DataWORKS, so we wanted to be sure you received this offer.

For more information, visit their website here.

Evidence for learning

Home-supported learning during COVID-19: The Evidence for Learning team have created a dedicated area on their website, to assist educators as they prepare for, and deliver home-supported learning. It contains pages, regularly updated with:

1. Clear and actionable guidance on home supported learning, based on relevant evidence from our Guidance Reports and the Toolkits.
2. A new global evidence review and Australian-focused guidance on distance and online learning (developed in collaboration with led by our partners at the UK’s Education Endowment Foundation).
3. A directory of Australian education department and agency links, and recommended resources for educators that align with our best evidence.
4. Key learning concepts for parents to be effective partners in home supported learning.

Necessarily, these pages are limited to begin with. The team will aim to add new knowledge and insights as quickly as they can. For further information and to access the above resources, please click here.

Some of our Alumni schools have continued to see real improvements in student academic outcomes post-program – check out these two Cohort 3 schools.

Balga Primary School

Balga Primary School has moved from performing (on average) below expected performance in 2016 to at or above expected performance in all areas of NAPLAN in 2019.

Students are Balga PS are showing strong progress from Year 3 – 5, and the Year 3 students are on the way to meeting the national average in Spelling.

Balga PS is now an Instructional Adviser school for the Fogarty EDvance program in 2020. The status of an Instructional Adviser school is only given to schools who have successfully implemented a whole school approach to teaching and learning and have made a significant improvement to their student results.

To hear more about Balga PS’s school improvement journey, read our interview with substantive Principal Anika Blackmore here.

Warriapendi Primary School

From 2014 to 2019, Year 3 students at Warriapendi Primary School have lifted their reading scores by 110 NAPLAN scores, and continue to perform above the WA state average in Reading. Year 5 students at Warriapendi PS continue to perform above ‘like schools’.

Congratulations to our Alumni schools and keep up the great work. To find out more about the FED Alumni Network, please contact Daniella Hassett at daniella.hassett@fogartyedvance.au

The Fogarty Foundation is aware that especially in these times of uncertainty, it is important that we stay connected and ensure that we keep all of the people with who we work, fully informed.  Due to disruption caused by COVID-19 and taking into account advice and precautionary measures we are putting the following initiatives in action:

Fogarty EDvance

Face-to-face workshops for the remainder of Term 1 have been cancelled (26^th and 30^th March). We will be providing a couple of shorter sessions via Webinar and recordings. Over the coming couple of weeks, we will monitor how the Term 2 workshops will be run.

UWA Fogarty Scholars

The Scholars will continue with their studies, but we all non-essential meetings and Fogarty Conversations have been postponed for the time being.  We will be sending out regular newsletters with updates, Scholars profiles and articles of interest including the importance of good leadership in times of crisis.

CoderDojo WA

It is up to individual dojos to decide whether they will hold regular dojos.  As we expect that most will decide not to, we will be putting out ideas for projects and games for ninjas to work on at home, how to keep connected and (potentially) how to run a virtual dojo.

EDfutures

All community events have been postponed for the time being.  We will be sending out an EDfutures newsletter soon and will be looking at ways for the community to keep connected and sharing ideas.

Challenging times always present opportunities.  We know there has been an increasing focus on the potential of online working and learning. The imperative is now here. There should be significant progress in bringing the best of technology to make this a reality and open a new world of learning that is more self-directed, engaging and forward looking.

At the Fogarty Foundation we are keen to make the most of these opportunities and expect this will inform our operations going forward.

Keep well and engaged.