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"The Toolkit" - Practice, Progess and Value |
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Contents Page |
Foreword by the Secretary of State |
Introduction and Summary |
What is a Learning City? |
The Learning City |
Taking the First Steps |
The Structure of this Guide |
The Three Strands of Development |
Strand One: Partnership |
Strand Two: Participation |
Strand Three: Performance |
Useful Publications
Strand Three: Performance1) Internal Assessment Embedding Evaluation in the Strategic Planning Cycle The first step to achieve this is to develop explicit performance review systems which allow learning cities to evaluate what they are achieving in relation to their expressed purposes. The confident learning city will seek to place its approach to evaluation at the centre of its strategic planning system. Learning about the progress which is being made is then embedded in the principal arteries of the learning city. Judgements can be formed about the value of its achievements, and the direction and cohesion of the city sharpened. Each stage of the planning process incorporates reflection upon the purposes and conditions of evaluation. The learning city should be developing strategic plans for new forms of progression in learning, or an innovative approach to collaborative planning for an area regeneration scheme. Whatever the substantive plan, the aim should be to reflect at every stage how progress is to be monitored and evaluated. To develop a performance assessment system, the learning city will need to review a number of key issues and clarify its organising principles. Audit Policy planning will review the changing context of the learning city. This will include changes in central government initiatives; local policy innovations; budgetary changes, and changes in local economic development and demographic patterns. The task for evaluation at this stage is to produce an assessment of local needs. Evaluation Policy While the learning city is determining its specific strategies for enhancing lifelong learning and regeneration, it should be clarifying its policies for evaluation. The issue of who is evaluating progress and for what purposes is an important one for many partnerships. In many places the learning city initiative is very keen not to be seen as a body which sets targets for others. If it were to take on this role then partnerships would be destroyed. Learning city groups are always reliant on individual institutions to make progress and to provide data. Thus, any target-setting or activity involving evaluation has to have the backing of the whole partnership, whether the aim is external evaluation or the monitoring of progress for local satisfaction. Some key questions:
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| STRATEGIC PLANNING | EVALUATION PRINCIPLES |
| Audit | |
| Strategy |
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| Targets for Implementation |
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| Monitoring | |
| Evaluation |
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| Action |
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Targets, Performance Indicators and Base-line Measures
The strategic planning process will prepare targets for implementation. The task of the evaluation system is to establish criteria for assessing performance and to choose indicators or measures which allow progress towards the targets set to be assessed. Performance is judged by assessing progress over time from a base-line towards a target. The base-line establishes the starting point, while the target defines the distance to be travelled towards a desired end point. Communities need to measure the progress they are making against targets that they have set. At the very least they will decide on what targets they might usefully adopt to begin to measure such success. Are targets local - as well as national? There is a need to find means to show that on key external measures of success, their community is making progress and, hopefully, more progress than similar communities which have not collaborated to improve the culture and delivery of learning. On the other hand there is an understandable reluctance to produce more and extra data collection requirements. The goals of a learning city should be locally set and reflect local contexts. Are the targets SMART: Specific; Measurable; Attainable; Realistic; Time-related? A further factor in assessing progress is the wish to include measures to value the processes which the initiative produces. This might be the learning which has gone on in the formation of partnerships, the production of a marketing strategy, or the inclusion of learning in the economic development plan for the city. These factors are not susceptible to numerical measurement. But they could be of vital importance as the first sign of change in culture taking place. Consider whether qualitative as well as quantitative measures can be used. Evaluating Progress A suggested cycle for evaluating and improving achievement is:
How do we compare with our targets? What more should we do to achieve next year/plan period? Taking action based on what has been learnt. There is no universal system to be implemented: it has to be made-to-measure for each organisation. Plan to overcome problems which can occur with:
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