Final Report: School Improvement Team (SIT) Survey: Planning Phase of SIP Process, Cohort III Schools

The school improvement team (SIT), a central element of the Leadership Diploma Program, plays a crucial role in this transformation. The SIT engages the principal, teachers, and parents in a collaborative process of school self-assessment, strategic planning, and monitoring of ongoing improvement, resulting in the development of a school improvement plan (SIP). A survey conducted by the monitoring and evaluation unit of the LTD, in cooperation with the National Institute for Educational Training (NIET), aimed to study the role of the SIT as a mechanism of shared leadership. The survey was administered to members of school improvement teams from Cohort III schools, with 431 surveys returned from 69 of 72 schools. The survey instrument examined three major variables of the quality of task performance during the development phase of the SIP process: development of the school improvement plan, teamwork and collaboration, and principal's leadership. The results of the survey indicate that the grand mean of the five items that comprise the composite variable "task performance" was 4.10 for all groups. The means for principals and teachers are nearly identical, while the smallest of the means is that of parents, at 3.92. Three items fall below the mean, with the smallest being item A1: Collecting data for the school self-assessment (3.98). The survey also found that the grand mean on the composite variable "teamwork and collaboration" for all groups is 4.22. Of the seven items, three fall below the mean, with the smallest being question B7: Team members efficiently completed their tasks associated with planning (4.06). The survey included five open-ended questions to gather additional information on the SIT's experiences and challenges. The results of the survey will be used to inform the development of the SIP and to identify areas for improvement. A follow-up survey and focus groups are planned for spring 2016 to assess the SIT's effectiveness during the implementation and monitoring phase of the SIP. The survey results indicate that the SIT is functioning effectively in terms of teamwork and collaboration, with a grand mean of 4.22. However, there are areas for improvement, particularly in terms of task performance, where the mean for parents is lower than that of principals and teachers. The survey also highlights the importance of parental and community involvement in the SIP process, which is a fundamental aspect of the Leadership Diploma Program and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education's (MoEHE) Standards for Effective Schools. The LTD's Leadership Diploma Program is making a significant contribution to the transformation of the principalship in Palestine, and the SIT is a key structure in this transformation. The survey results will inform the development of the SIP and identify areas for improvement, ultimately contributing to the improvement of education in Palestine.