School improvement plan: a 30-minute progress review

Start with one priority

Bring the evidence that led to the priority, the approach being implemented, a small set of measures, and staff or learner feedback. Agree who can see the information and how it will be used. Monitoring should help the team learn and improve; it should not quietly become a ranking of individual teachers.

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) describes implementation as ongoing, collaborative learning through Explore, Prepare, Deliver and Sustain. It recommends reflection, monitoring and adaptation, including attention to who benefits and in what circumstances. Its England-focused guidance is evidence-informed practice, not a universal statutory format or a guarantee that a particular plan will work. Leaders should check local fit with their curriculum, assessment, roles, resources and requirements. Education Endowment Foundation (2024), A School’s Guide to Implementation; full guidance, pp. 10–11.

30-minute review worksheet

1. Name the need · 5 minutes

• Which learner, teaching or organisational need are we trying to address?
• What evidence led us to this focus? When was it collected, and what might it miss?
• Which groups or settings show a different pattern? What additional context is needed before interpreting that difference?

2. State the intended change · 5 minutes

• What should adults do differently, and what should learners experience as a result?
• Which parts of the approach need to remain consistent? Which may be adapted locally?
• What needs to be in place: time, coaching, materials, leadership support or data access?

3. Check implementation and experience · 7 minutes

• What was planned for this period? What actually happened, for whom and how often?
• What brief evidence can show whether the key practice occurred? Explain the limits of that measure.
• What do staff and learners say is helping or getting in the way? Is workload manageable?

4. Check early outcomes · 7 minutes

• What learner or organisational outcome should move, and by when?
• Compare with the starting point and a suitable recent reference point. Are the numbers stable enough to interpret?
• Are there unintended effects, uneven access or groups who may need different support?

Record a small set of measures

5. Decide and record · 6 minutes

Choose one: continue, adapt, pause to investigate or stop. Record the evidence behind the choice, one action, one owner and a date to revisit it.

• If implementation was weak, ask what barrier can be removed before judging the underlying idea.
• If implementation was strong but outcomes did not move, reconsider the approach, measurement window and assumptions rather than extending it automatically.
• If the evidence is too thin to decide, state what extra information would change the decision and when it can be collected.

Use comparison groups or earlier periods only when the comparison is meaningful. Cohorts, timetables, assessments and other interventions may also change. Keep observation separate from interpretation and next action; “we do not know yet” is useful when it leads to a proportionate next step.

Fictional example

A fictional middle school starts common weekly reading conferences. At the first review, the team finds conferences are happening in some classes but not others because schedules differ. Learner work and short student interviews are inconclusive after six weeks. The team does not claim the practice improved reading. It adjusts the timetable, checks access by class and sets a later review date with a clearer reading measure.