Springboard Trust and the New Zealand Council for Educational Research/Rangahau Mātauranga o Aotearoa (NZCER) have entered a formal partnership for the coming year, with a shared goal of better evaluating student outcomes.
Measuring the impact of professional learning and development on student outcomes is historically a challenge for providers and evaluators – but one that both Springboard Trust and NZCER have made significant commitments to.
“Evaluation is often very high-level, or too sporadic or generic to be effective. There are often missed opportunities for deep learning and tailored feedback loops, which can really bring everything together,” notes NZCER Director and Chief Executive, Graeme Cosslett.
“That’s why we’re really excited about this partnership – it creates the kind of collaborative approach we really want to see in this space. Our values and purposes align, and together we do believe we can enhance outcomes for learners.”
It is a sentiment echoed by Springboard Trust’s CEO, Dale Bailey.
“Every year we evaluate our impact but are always looking for opportunities to strengthen that part of our practice and clearly, definitively demonstrate the impact our work has for tumuaki and tamariki. Partnering with NZCER isn’t just a logical next step in that regard – it's an essential part of our continued improvement.”
As a partner to Springboard Trust, NZCER will provide support with their wealth of research and evaluation expertise, as well as working on specific projects with us.
“One part of this we’re very excited about is evaluating outcomes for Māori principals, as well as generally acting as an independent critical friend,” Graeme adds. “From our perspective, Springboard Trust has made a really positive difference for hundreds of Aotearoa schools, and we’re thrilled to support that work.”
NZCER and Springboard Trust have a storied history, with the council providing support and advice throughout the last 15 years. This has included aromātai / evaluation of the very first cohort of tumuaki in the Strategic Leadership for Principals Programme in 2007, as well as a significant report in 2015 on the impacts of the same programme.
The Springboard Trust vision is to transform schools together – an acknowledgement that through rangapū / partnership and collaboration, we can build a stronger future for our tamariki. This latest partnership is a great example of that in action.
