Quality Assurance in Education PDF

Quality Assurance in Education Prepared by Dr. Walaa Elsaied Sakr Assisstant Professor of Comparative Education & Educational Adminstration...

Quality Assurance in Education Prepared by Dr. Walaa Elsaied Sakr Assisstant Professor of Comparative Education & Educational Adminstration Faculty of Education- Ain Shames University The lecture of today, will deal with the following: Cognitive and Conceptual Introduction: Definitions in Quality of education (Assessment, standards, indicators, rubrics, evidence, accreditation agencies, accredited institution, accreditation status, duration of accreditation)  Cognitive and Conceptual Introduction Assessment: The external assessment (external audit) is a crucial process of accreditation procedures on which accreditation decision is based. Assessment is defined as: The process of gathering and discussing information from multiple and diverse sources to verdict the performance effectiveness, it may be for the whole institution and it is called institutional assessment, or for any educational program and it the programatic assessment. External Assessment : It is implemented by a set of specialists called peers and they are experts in various fields of education to assist the accreditation authority in assessing educational institutions. Standards: Self-evaluation and external assessment are done in the light of standards, as they are indispensable in performance evaluation and assessment, standards are defined as : -Levels set up or established for educational institution and they are the pillar of evaluation and accreditation. - Requirements and conditions that educational institutions should meet in order to be accredited by accreditation bodies or external quality assurance bodies. -They are the basis on which the quality of the educational institution is judged. Standards are characterizes by: Flexibility and permanent change and development in response to the requirements of the times. Standards should express the qualitative level of the basic aspects forming any educational institution and they are: vision, mission, academic programs, educational authority, educational resources, human, material and financial capabilities, students and their services….etc. Periodic development of standards with the participation of the Ministry of Education, universities and schools, federations, professional unions and employers. The relationship between standards, accreditation, and quality Quality Accreditation Standards Indicators: They are used in both self-evaluation and external evaluation, to measure the actual performance related to the standards within the school, The sum of the indicator ratings gives an estimate for the standard. These indicators may be quantitative, qualitative, or both. indicators are intended in the context of evaluation and assessment. Expressions that describe the expected performance from ( t e a c h e r, l e a r n e r, m a n a g e r a n d i n s t i t u t i o n ) , a n d a r e characterized as being more procedural. Measures used for the purpose of comparison, which indicate a degree more or less than the true point, which should be agreed upon in advance. Rubrics: They are tools used to estimate and evaluate performance or work systematically. Rubrics are known as rules for measuring performance, they contain 4 levels: 1. level 4: level of distinguished / very good as the institution demonstrates mastery 2. level 3: the institution has met its objectives according to adequate standards. (good / Proficient) 3. level 2 (developing) the institution is approaching the learning objectives, it needs to exert effort to reach third level. 4. (Level 1: the institution hasn`t met the learning objectives, it provides little evidence of meeting the performance expectations or learning goal. The institution has to exert extra effort to achieve adequate performance. Benefits of Rubrics: Evidence: Issuing judgement in the evaluation and assessment processes depends on evidence that can be referred to at any time. Available reference on which judging performance can be relied upon, the most prominent of these pieces of evidence are databases, meetings, annual reports, results of interviews, observations, evaluation processes, and various records (attendance, absence and follow up,..etc.) Accreditation Agency: Educational institutions that have met the standards, that are granted accreditation by specialized bodies established for this purpose, called accreditation bodies, accreditation committees, or accreditation and confirmation bodies. It is a private or governmental authority charged with establishing criteria and conduct evaluations to ensure that existing accredited entity has met the criteria. Formal authority authorized to set and promote standards for the quality of educational institutions and programs, it also recognizes the institution or program that adheres to those standards. Types of Accreditation Authorities: Accreditation Authorities Programatic Institutional Accreditation Authorities Accreditation Authorities Accredited Institution, and Accreditation Status: Accredited Institution, It can be defined as: Any institution certified by the authority responsible for supervision, in case of fulfilling the authority`s standards. Accreditation Status Accreditation status is essential in educational sector nowadays, as it can greatly affects upon institution`s reputation and its relations with community and beneficiaries. It is defined as: The decision taken by the accreditation body, As a result of the examination of the educational institution, such as : Candidate, Accredited, Probation, Withdrawal. Duration of Accreditation: Accreditation decisions are usually limited to a fixed and stated period of time, after which the institution or program is required to engage with a more or less rigorous re-accreditation process.