EQI European research collaborations making steady progress

DEAPS (Distributed Evaluation & Planning in Schools)

During the summer of 2017, EQI was awarded €317,000 to lead an Erasmus+ project exploring the possibility of developing distributed evaluation processes in schools. Entitled "Distributed Evaluation and Planning in Schools (DEAPS)" the project will involve colleagues from Belgium, Portugal and Turkey. The project will run for three years from September 2017 and will be lead by Dr. Martin Brown.

Two virtual meetings have already taken place between the four research partners and the project website is now live at http://www.deaps.net

About the project

The project has been developed in response to a situation that has seen school systems throughout Europe and beyond increasingly seeking to examine how they might include different voices in conversations about how schools work. In particular there has been a concerted push to involve the voices of parents, students and school boards in a range of school conversations. Arguably the main impetus behind these efforts has been the drive by school inspection systems to formally involve other stakeholders in conversations about quality. While there have been many innovative programmes and procedures developed to include the voices of parents, students and other groups in discussions about what happens in schools there is still, arguably, a gap in the capacity of schools to manage this process. This project seeks to address this gap by creating a programme for schools that will allow them engage with students, parents and school boards in a structured and safe way. It is envisaged that the programme developed will link into evaluation and inspection structures in each of the partner countries but it can also be used in other context.

The project builds on the Polycentric Evaluation of Networks of Schools (PINS) that EQI has been involved in for the past three years and marks the fourth successful Erasmus+ bid for EQI since 2015.

E-Evalinto: Evaluation Environment for Fostering Intercultural Mentoring Tools and Practices at School

About the project

The aims of this project are:

• to promote peer mentoring actions addressed to both reduce early school leaving in migrant students population (secondary school)
• to acknowledge the value of interculturality itself as part of an active and responsible European citizenship education
• to develop an ICT framework for assessing, managing and developing activities for intercultural contexts, with particular focus to taking decision processes and the identification of different patterns

This two year Erasmus+ funded research study now enters its second year. 

In year one, pilot schools were identified in each of the partner countries.  Pupils, parents and staff were invited to participate in a survey to determine the schools’ intercultural profiles.

The analysis of the results of the survey carried out in the pilot schools identified five topics to be addressed through the implementation of peer mentoring activities, which will be developed during the school year 2017-18.

9 school managers, 27 teachers, 51 parents and 113 students participated in the study providing their personal perspectives on positive impact, challenges, teaching strategies and resources relating to their school community and the inclusion of migrant pupils.

Some highlights from this survey can be found here

In July 2017, partners gathered for a productive transnational meeting in Florence, Italy.  The next meeting is scheduled to take place in Dublin in March 2018.

For more information, see http://www.evalinto.eu

ACRAS – Aiding Culturally Responsive Assessment in Schools

One year has passed since the inception of this three-year Erasmus+ funded project which is a collaborative study by researchers in Austria, Ireland, Norway, Portugal and Turkey.  The project co-ordinator is Dr. Martin Brown, EQI.  2016 / 2017 has seen huge developments in the project already with various presentations at conferences.

Links to further details about these conference presentations will be updated onto this website shortly.

The ACRAS project group met for a transnational meeting in Linz, Austria in early October 2017. 

About the project

Immigration has dramatically increased in recent years; meeting and satisfying the demands of a diverse multicultural classroom is taxing educators at all levels of the Irish educational spectrum as well as across Europe and internationally. The theory of culturally responsive assessment suggests that ethnic minorities may suffer discrimination through the modes of assessment of learning. The effects can be particularly significant when the assessment tests knowledge, competence and ability at a point of transition which determines future life path or a rite of passage. Instead of a “one-fits-all” mentality ACRAS wants to develop methods of culturally responsive assessment which allow for differentiation and the contextualisation of learning in a culturally appropriate manner.

Strategies which have previously been proposed for creating culturally responsive assessment include using locally validated formative assessments (Tichá & Abery, 2016), the addition of creativity assessments (see Kim & Zabelina, 2015) or utilising multiple methods of assessment to provide additional opportunities for students to demonstrate their learning (Castagno & Brayboy, 2008; Qualls, 1998). Yet no study, domestically or internationally, looks at the various strategies teachers use to integrate cultural responsivity into their student assessments and compare the relative merit of these strategies. As such, using a collaborative approach including a number of European HEIs, ACRAS will endeavour to develop a conceptual framework of best practice in educational assessment for minority and migrant students as well as supportive strategies (presented as a toolkit) to incorporate culturally responsive assessment in educators’ practice.

The first phase will include an initial exploratory survey in post-primary schools (n≈120/country) to explore methods of assessment and any accommodations/differentiation used by educators for assessing migrant students. This initial survey will target the teachers and/or headteachers of these schools (n=480). Following the survey, approximately 12 schools per country will be chosen to participate in a case study.

The case study will seek to elicit the experiences of all stakeholders (e.g. Principals, Class teachers, Students, Parents) using a multi-method approach (e.g. interviews, assessment biography). The case studies will aim to involve 4,224 participants across the four countries. Based on the findings from the surveys and case studies, common strategies and pitfalls of assessment will be identified and collated into a conceptual framework of best practice in culturally responsive assessment.

4,224 Students In 4 Countries.

For more information, see http://www.acras.eu.