Evaluation systems in a crowded policy space: Implications for local school governance

Figures & data

Table 1. Evaluation and evaluation systems in Swedish school governance

Students	Formative assessment (by teachers, e.g. through individual development plans) Student grades (set by teachers) National tests (set by teachers) International tests (also used in evaluation of the education system)
Schools and school providers	Public Aggregated statistics on student performance and other key data (NAE) SIRIS (NAE) SALSA (NAE's tool for local statistical causal analysis) Jämförelsetal (NAE) Evaluation of government policies and programmes (NAE) Schools Inspectorate (SSI) Cohort-sequential longitudinal databases evaluation (Gothenburg University) PESOK (Stockholm University) Systematic quality work (schools, municipalities, independent school providers) Municipal audits and inspections (municipalities) Non-government organisations Open Comparisons (Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions) Bästa skolkommun (Swedish Teachers’ Union) Grundskolekvalitet.se (Confederation of Swedish Enterprise, Swedish Association of Independent Schools, Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions) A better school (Swedish Institute for Quality) Skolbarometern (Information Tools Scandinavia AB) SIQ Skolindicator.se (HB Educa) Skoldialogen (Catalyt AB)
Education system	Public National statistics (NAE) European Survey of Language Competences (NAE, EU) Key Performance Indicators (NAE, EU) Evaluation of education policies (Institute for Labour Market and Education Policy evaluation) Knowledge brokering (Swedish Centre for Educational Research) Evaluation of government activities (Agency for Public Management) Performance audit of government agencies (National Audit Office) Non-government organisations PISA (NAE, OECD) PIRLS, TIMMS (NAE, IEA) TALIS (NAE, OECD) Education at a Glance (NAE, OECD)

Table 2. Overview of data emanating from the five evaluation systems

			SSI
	SIRIS	SQW	RS	QA	PISA	OC
Figures on student grades	✓	✓	✓	✓		✓
Figures on eligibility for upper secondary education		(✓)	✓	✓
National test results in specific subjects and grades	✓	(✓)	✓	✓
Key statistics about school costs, staffing, etc.	✓	(✓)	✓	✓		✓
Results of survey on staff/student/parents’ opinions (conducted by SSI/Statistics Sweden)	✓	(✓)	✓	✓
Documentation of local systematic work	✓	✓	✓	✓
Results of survey on staff/student/parents’ opinions (conducted by schools/municipalities)		✓				✓
Results from local programme evaluation efforts		✓
Test results of students’ knowledge in particular areas	✓	(✓)			✓
Tested students’ background survey					✓
Results from school principal survey					✓
Policy recommendations					✓
Reports on schools’ and school providers’ shortcomings in inspected areas	✓		✓
Findings from stand-alone evaluations on particular issues from a sample of schools	✓			✓
Reviews of existing scientific knowledge for particular issues	✓			✓
Applications and follow-ups of government grants	✓

Table 3. Overview of target groups and intended functions of the five evaluation systems

			SSI
Target groups/evaluation systems	SIRIS	SQW	RS	QA	PISA	OC
National government and agencies	✓		✓	✓	✓
Municipalities and independent school providers	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Principals, teachers	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Students and their parents		✓			✓
Intended functions
Accountability for fairness			✓
Accountability for performance	✓	✓		✓	✓	✓
School development (school and student performance)	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓