ERO recommends that the Ministry of Education:
- responds with a differentiated approach to support schools to urgently progress achievement by designing, implementing and monitoring improvement plans
- considers how to identify and support leaders to meet achievement challenges
- considers how to strengthen the support to schools where there have been many leadership changes or there is a first-time principal.
ERO recommends that all school trustees when setting and reviewing school targets seek:
- specific information about why particular groups of students need support and why particular responses are expected to make a difference
- frequent and regular information about the impact of resources on accelerating progress for these groups of students.
ERO recommends that school leaders foster a culture of improvement and acceleration by:
- developing a shared understanding for the urgency to improve outcomes for particular groups of students
- incorporating both short-term tactical responses to underachievement and long‑term strategic responses to building capability and relationships in a school improvement plan
- encouraging teachers to share their trials and evaluations of evidence-based practices on accelerating progress.
