Literacy for school improvement : value added for Malta

Abstract

This publication represents a national effort to monitor educational standards in a small island state, which is also a member of the European Union. This has been achieved through a process spanning over six years, and has included two National Literacy Surveys held in 1999 and 2002 with the same cohort, a Value Added Study, consultations with schools and a number of intervention programmes. It represents also an extensive, collaborative effort, which has involved various stakeholders in the field of education. The Maltese Islands (Malta and Gozo) are situated in the Mediterranean Sea. While small compared with other countries, they represent a lively and dynamic community with a long history and a rich culture. Their position and cultural heritage mean that they are ideally placed as a link between the European and Arabic worlds. One considerable asset in Malta's future derives from the Island's bilingual population. Virtually without exception, the population speaks both Maltese and English fluently. It will be important to preserve and enhance this heritage. Malta's concern with the success of its education is evident in the conduct of the two National Literacy Surveys, the Year 2 survey conducted in 1999, and the Year 5 survey, conducted in 2002. The level of skill available locally is shown by the use of specially-created tests of Maltese reading ability for these studies. An important analytical tool to help schools improve their performance is a value added study. This helps a school to assess the progress made by its pupils in comparison with other schools. As a first step, it enables a school to assess its overall performance in relation to other schools, and then to examine its strengths and weaknesses in more detail. There are, inevitably, differences in intake and circumstances between schools, but a value added analysis allows those concerned to compare schools on a like with like basis. In Section One of this publication, we report the findings of the Year 5 literacy survey in Maltese and English, conducted in 2002. This survey was conducted as a follow-up to the Year 2 literacy survey (Mifsud et 2000), which was carried out in 1999 with the same cohort of children. Section Two reports on the Value Added Study which matched pupils between the Year 2 and Year 5 literacy surveys. This study examines any significant differences in the progress made by pupils in different types of schools. It examines also which factors were related to differences in pupil progress from Year 2 to Year 5. Section Three makes a case for using value added data for school improvement. It presents a model of a value added school report and the implications of this for schools that wish to review the progress of their children and engage in forward planning.