Strategic Measurement for Schools - Balanced Scorecard for Schools Aotearoa

Measurement that counts!

Measuring a school’s progress and impact continues to be a difficult task for many principals taking part in our strategic leadership programmes. Deciding what to measure, how to do that, and the best way of reporting on it all depends on your unique school, community, team and of course your strategic plan.

Balanced Scorecard for Schools Aotearoa (BSSA) is a Springboard Trust initiative designed to tackle these challenges head-on.

Express your interest here for Balanced Scorecard for Schools Aotearoa 2023

Next intake:

July/August - December 2023

Based on Kaplan & Norton’s framework, BSSA helps schools understand their performance goals and begin developing a measurement framework that is unique to their school and strategic plan, and that presents impacts and progress in a way that is clear to all stakeholders.

“This is a completely new way of thinking – it has connected and aligned our leadership team and given them a wider appreciation of the strategic priorities of our school”

Balanced Scorecard for Schools Aotearoa: Learning Objectives and Outcomes  

The Balanced Scorecard for Schools Aotearoa (BSSA) programme aims to: 

  • Improve the way in which a kura understands its overall performance, better enabling it to achieve its vision through effective understanding and action 

  • Develop evidence of the relationships between inputs, outcomes and impact 

  • Tell the story of the kura, incorporating Māori storytelling elements where applicable  

  • Use traditional forms of measurement and ways of knowing 

 By the end of this programme, participants will: 

  • Understand the principles and benefits of BSSA for use in their school 

  • Be able to clearly articulate BSSA objectives and measures relevant to the school’s context 

  • Confidently tell the story of their kura and explain performance data clearly to key stakeholders 

  • Have developed a balanced scorecard that is unique to their school’s context 

  • Be able to apply information from the BSSA into wise action that improves the performance of a school and supports student outcomes 

How Balanced Scorecard for Schools Aotearoa works

Through BSSA, principals will take their vision and strategic plan, and work with our team and cross-sector volunteers to identify, capture and utilise the most important information in the school – much of which already exists. Broadly speaking, it will focus on these areas: 

  • People, tools and resources - The adequacy of your facilities, personnel and curriculum and the level of improvement needed. 

  • Teaching and leadership - Your team’s abilities, skill sets, needs and capacity to grow, including whether they have the right support, current classroom practices and ongoing development. 

  • School culture and community - In particular, the degree to which the school environment is a safe space for students, physically, socially and emotionally. 

  • Academic learning - Students’ academic identities, progress, performance and readiness for further education.

“Balanced Scorecard has identified gaps in practice between what the school says it values and the actual ability to measure this and demonstrate achievement"

Together we will look at these areas, how they intersect with your strategic plan’s goals and initiatives and apply frameworks to measure and demonstrate your school’s progress and performance. 

This learning occurs over an orientation session and three main workshops, supported by multiple check-ins and debriefs with either your volunteer or the Springboard Trust team. In total the programme takes 23 hours across these sessions, along with an additional commitment of approximately 20 hours to fully develop your Balanced Scorecard post-programme.

Who can take part in the Balanced Scorecard for Schools Aotearoa?

This programme is open to principals who:

  • Have an aspirational, shared vision and clear strategic plan in place at the school or;

  • Have completed the Strategic Leadership for Principals Programme or the Strategic Leadership for Rural Teaching Principals Programme.

  • Are committed to the measurement of the school's performance over time

Cost

The cost of the programme for 2023 is $980 +GST for a principal and two members of their team. It includes the core programme plus 3-, 6- and 12-month follow-up workshops. Springboard Trust are hugely grateful to Aotearoa Foundation (a subsidiary of The Robertson Foundation) for subsidising the cost of this learning for school leaders.

If you would like to participate in this groundbreaking programme in 2023 or would like to find out more, please fill out our expression of interest form here and we'll be in touch!

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