Signposts: Research points to how Victorian government schools have improved student performance

• Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

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Image: Signposts report cover

02 November 2009The Blueprint for Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD, 2008) underlines the importance of providing opportunities for every child to succeed, in every circumstance. The Blueprint points out that, while previous reforms are paying dividends, improvement is not yet consistent across all schools. So, to support a reform agenda for all schools to improve, this research by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) was specifically designed to investigate the nature of the practices in those schools where Victorian strategies are showing positive results. We wanted to have greater knowledge of the practices of Victorian schools that lead to consistent gains in student achievement over a sustained period, irrespective of the background of the students. 

It was in this context that DEECD developed a research program with two key reports.

The first included three phases. Phase 1 identified the high-frequency behaviours of schools that have sustained improvement in student outcomes over 10 years. Phase 2 validated these behaviours against a control group of stable and declining schools. Phase 3 used observations and interviews to create more detailed descriptions of the behaviours. 

Concurrently, a second report was developed, based on research focusing on schools in low socio-economic communities that were achieving higher than expected outcomes. This publication includes both reports.

Image: Signposts report cover

See also 'The Signposts report: how Victorian Government schools have improved student performance' a summary of the above report by Curriculum Leadership.