Activity Directions: Reviewing Policies
As part of this review process, a school may decide to develop a new policy, update a policy, combine a number of policies into a single policy or withdraw a policy that is no longer required. To ensure it reviews policies regularly, sites should maintain a register of its existing policies noting the date that each policy was approved and the scheduled date to review it. At the beginning of each new year, leadership teams should identify policies to be reviewed that year and a timeline to schedule the work. As with the policy development process, and depending on the policy topic, the size of the school and the structure of the leadership team, a review might be conducted by the school as a whole or by an existing team or a sub-committee established for the purpose of reviewing a particular policy. Similarly, depending on the policy topic, the review process may be an internal process involving the leadership team members and a sub-committee. Alternatively, an extensive review may be undertaken involving a formal consultation process with stakeholders.
Aside from the regular cycle of review, a policy may need to be reviewed where the circumstances that led to the original policy being established have changed. Reasons for policy review may include:
· the policy is no longer followed as a matter of course during school operations
· the policy is no longer effective or having the desired impact
· data reveals that the policy’s impacts or outcomes are inequitable.
· individuals or groups within the school community view elements of the policy as contentious
· new issues have arisen that the policy needs to be amended to address
· changes to regulations make the existing policy redundant or non-compliant.
(These are details to help answer the question in step 3 of the flowchart.)
This process is designed to help systems consider reviewing policies through discussing and identifying how the policy supports or creates barriers to a standards based education system.
Learning Objective
Engage in a process to review policies.
Time
45 minutes or more
Preparation
1. Select policies to review.
2. Provide all policy documents to leadership team.
Directions
1. Select a policy to review.
2. Answer the question: Is the policy still required?
a. If no, eliminate the policy.
b. If yes, proceed to question 2.
3. Determine the following:
a. Is the policy effective?
b. Are the policy’s impacts or outcomes inequitable in any way for any group?
c. Does it address current regulations? Are there new regulations that need to be addressed?
d. Does the policy need to be updated for any other reason?
4. If the answer is “yes” to any of these questions, proceed with the review and revision process.
a. Note that it is possible that the way the policy is being implemented results in issues with effectiveness or equity. In addition to conducting a policy review, determining a process for improving implementation may be necessary.
5. Articulate a purpose and rationale for updating this policy, based on answers to the questions in #2.
6. Determine whether a stakeholder group needs to be engaged to update this policy, or if the leadership team can do that work.
a. If a stakeholder group is needed, identify necessary stakeholders and form the committee.
7. The group that is updating the policy should conduct research into how best to address needs. Draft the new policy based on need and research.
8. Once the policy has been drafted, feedback from stakeholders should be gathered.
9. The group leading the revision reviews stakeholder feedback and determines whether further revision is necessary.
10. Once the policy is complete, communicate the policy with the community and ensure an effective implementation process.
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