P ROFECÍA DEL K AOKAN

The goal of the assessment was to learn from schools that exemplify the best ESD practices. By determining how various schools interact with sustainability, we were able to share our findings with the schools in order to improve participation in sustainability education across the country. Furthermore, we provided each assessed school with a report outlining strengths and

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weaknesses in their efforts toward sustainable education, which can be found in Appendices J through N.

This report was composed of the results of the assessments, describing which areas the school succeeds in implementing ESD and sustainability practices and where the school still needs improvement. The format of these reports is similar to those published by England’s Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) (See Appendix H for outline). These reports evaluate schools to determine if they meet national education standards. Shown in Figure 3.1, each report begins with a summary of scores for each section of the evaluation as well as a total overall score for the school. Our assessment did the same, grading schools’ sustainability actions, and their results.

Figure 3.1: Score overview of an Ofsted school report (Ofsted, 2013)

As with Ofsted reports, schools were given results as a range. In our case, the range is from 1 to 5, with 5 representing excellent implementation of ESD, and 1 representing poor implementation. Each section considered in our research was given an individual score assessing their achievement. Specifically, these sections include the use of ESD in the curriculum, its promotion throughout the school, and student understanding of sustainability goals. Our developed scoring chart is displayed in Figure 3.2.

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Figure 3.2 Score overview for Individual School Report

Below the score chart, each section included a detailed description of which factors contributed to the provided score. Whereas the preliminary score is given as a single number, these sections go into detail describing the logic behind giving the schools a certain score.

The analysis of results was an ongoing process, beginning with the focus group first described in Section 3.2.1 and continuing as data was collected. Though the results of the focus group did not contribute to the final report, analysis of the discussion allowed us to gain a better understanding of factors that influenced later results. This group served as a guide for our research, providing insight into how schools, in general, incorporate sustainable education practices into their curriculum. As well as writing notes during the focus group discussion, we recorded the focus group to transcribe points that we found particularly noteworthy. Points of interest included any major disagreements in the group, as well as any unanimous agreements and strong opinions held by group members. While individual moments of the focus group did not stand out as much as the overall message, it was useful to record the session for playback and review later.

The group also provided us with concepts to look for while observing schools during on- site investigations. It is these observations that composed the majority of our assessment, and served as the basis for our results and the individual school reports we developed.

Observations of West Midlands schools provided data regarding current ESD and sustainability practices across the county. As mentioned, the team looked for visual signs that sustainability is both implemented and encouraged. With this in mind, it was important to note both sustainable systems, such as water-saving appliances and energy efficient lighting, as well as signs showing that the schools promote sustainability. These signs included posters promoting sustainability, reminders to turn off lights when not in use, or recycling bins in multiple places throughout the school. The complete checklist can be found in Appendix B.

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Faculty interviews were conducted in each of the schools we visited. These interviews lasted approximately fifteen minutes, with the longest lasting twenty minutes. As with the focus group, we took care to ensure that the teachers’ messages were properly communicated, keeping in mind instances of sarcasm, hesitation, or uncertainty. Written notes were also taken, both to compliment the transcriptions as well as to act as a backup in the case that our recording system had failed.

Once a score was given for each subsection for each school, we tabulated an overall composite score for each school. To generate these scores for the overall assessment:

1) The results from each section (observations, surveys, and interviews) were averaged individually across the schools studied. This average constituted a score of a “3” for each subsection. Raw sectional scores were then scaled using this average to generate scaled sectional scores, and rounded to the nearest whole number.

The scaled sectional score was created by first using the equation 𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒 = (3 ∗ 𝑅𝑎𝑤 𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑒) ÷ 𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒. This result placed a school with a score equal to the average at a 3. However, for schools significantly above or below the average, it was possible for this method to create scores beyond the defined range of 1 to 5. As such, any scores above or below this range were corrected by setting the maximum and minimum possible values respectively to 1 and 5.

2) Sectional scores were then averaged for each individual school and similarly rounded to the nearest whole number. This average became the school’s overall sustainability score.

These sectional scores were calculated using the sectional scores before they were compressed to a 1 to 5 scale. For example, a school was determined to have received a 6.97 in one category. For its scaled sectional score, it received a 5. However, this two-point reduction in this score similarly reduced the final score of the school. As such, it was necessary to average the uncompressed scaled sectional scores before compressing them to a 1 to 5 scale. Please see Appendix O for a guide to using the tool, which outlines all scoring procedures.

The assessment strategy outlined above is based on a comparison of the initially selected West Midlands schools. As more schools are potentially analyzed in the future, the average score for each section will become more standardized, leading to a more accurate representation of individual schools’ ESD practices.

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