Monitoring school performance

Important

The Education (School Planning and Reporting) Regulations 2023open_in_new are expected to be updated before the end of 2026.

This article has been updated to reflect the intended wording of the new regulations.

Your board’s first strategic plan under the new regulations (effective 1 January 2027) will be in place for 2 years to align with the next triennial board election cycle.

Monitoring helps your board know how well the school is doing.

School performance refers to how effectively different initiatives and operations within the day-to-day running of the school are performing.

Monitoring school performance provides assurance that the school is making progress towards its goals and meeting its obligations.

It includes (but is not limited to):

Evaluation of student achievement
Financial, asset, and staff management
The emotional and physical wellbeing of students and staff
How inclusive the school’s practices are.

It also helps your board understand whether its decisions and resourcing priorities are having the intended impact.

This supports informed decision-making and positive outcomes for all students.

What is your board’s role in monitoring school performance?

Legally, school boards are ultimately accountable for the overall performance of their school.

Boards have a responsibility to ensure that the school uses its resources as effectively as possible to improve students’ educational outcomes.

Through the strategic plan and other board policies, your board sets expectations for improvement in specific areas of school performance.

Once the plans and policies are in place, your board must support the principal in implementing and monitoring their effectiveness, and respond accordingly.

The principal is responsible for ensuring the effective implementation, monitoring, and reporting of all aspects affecting overall school performance.

Monitoring and reporting against these plans and policies form the basis of the principal’s report to your board.

To learn more about monitoring student achievement, read our article on Monitoring of and reporting on student achievementopen_in_new.

How does the principal provide updates to your board about school performance?

For every board meeting, the principal will prepare a report summarising how well the school is performing against its plans and goals.

Through well-analysed data and a clear narrative, it should identify current trends, patterns, risks, areas for improvement, and include recommendations where appropriate.

It may also include other information the principal wants your board to be aware of (and think about) to promote better outcomes for all students and staff. 

The principal’s report is also where your board is assured that legislated requirements and policy expectations are being met.

To learn more, read our article on principal reportsopen_in_new.

How do you decide what is going to be reported to your board?

It’s important that the principal’s reporting provides your board with timely information.

When reviewing the measurements for the strategic and annual implementation plans, it’s useful to discuss what information your board will receive, how it will be presented, and when.

A board workplanopen_in_new can help everyone know what is expected when it comes to reporting.

How is this information presented to your board?

The principal should report to your board in a way that is understandable and accessible to board members and the wider community.

Generally, principal reports are written narratives but can also include graphs and other visual displays.

Depending on the data, it may also be accompanied by a presentation by the principal or other school staff.

The key is to ensure that board members understand the information and can use it to make good decisions.

To help everyone understand what is being presented, try asking the following questions:

Do we know what all the information presented means?
Are there any parts someone is finding difficult to interpret?
What elements are working for everyone?
Is there a breakdown of the data showing progress toward our expected targets or an improvement in overall school performance?
Does the narrative explain why things might be happening?
Does the report provide recommended actions?
Does it show progress towards the strategic goals?

Questions like these, and the discussions they spark, can show a principal where to make adjustments.

Are principal reports available to the public?

The short answer is yes.

There is no legal requirement to do so, but they are public reports and will be of interest to your school community.

As boards are crown entities and board meetings are open to the public, any member of the public can ask to see all board meeting papers (including the principal’s reportopen_in_new).

Since your board must provide them upon request, it may be better to post them on your school website alongside the meeting agendas and minutes.

This means that the principal must be mindful not to include any private information in these reports.

If your board reviews data in which an individual could be easily identified, the principal should consider presenting it differently or in the public-excluded business portion of the meeting.

Keep in mind that reports and minutes from the public-excluded part of meetings can be requested under the Privacy Act 2020open_in_new or the Official Information Act 1982open_in_new.

How do boards monitor special character?

Boards of state-integrated schools have an obligation to their proprietor to ensure they monitor and preserve their school’s special character, as outlined in their integration agreement.

The proprietor’s appointee will write an annual report to the proprietor on how well the school has met its compliance obligations as per the integration agreement.

Regular reporting on these compliance obligations will ensure you are maintaining your special character values throughout every aspect of school life.

What are some questions your board could ask?

Have we asked the questions above (from “Is the information being presented in a way your board can understand”)?
Has our board identified the information we would like to receive (and how often)?
Have we included these monitoring expectations in our board workplan and policies?
Do we know how well our school’s different groups of students are achieving?

Templates, resources, and references

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