Impacts of Great Places To School
Since the launch of the Great Places To School in 2019, several schools have been awarded for excellence while those that aspire to be recognized have taken steps to improve their schools. Below are the following areas that are impacted by having a robust rating and school ranking system:
Self-Motivating Tool for Schools:
The Great Places to School is a self-motivating tool that ensures that our schools improve the quality of learning by subjecting themselves to a regular confirmation of competence almost similar to ISO Certification. How school ratings are designed – meaning what schools must do to earn a certain rating – really matters. The development of new features in the school, faster adoption in the use of technology to teach and manage the school, and promotion and recruitment of teachers are also impacted by the rankings. Many use rankings not only to monitor their own performance but also that of their partners
Empowering Parents to make the right decisions
Parents and the community at large have a right to know how schools are serving their children and whether they are learning and making progress or struggling and need support. This is because Kenyan parents especially the young parents who are themselves likely to be educated are more sensitive to school quality and in this regard are willing to spend more money to ensure that their children access quality education. In this regard, the GPTS helps parents and the communities understand how schools are doing and where to make improvements.
National Policy
Rankings and ratings for schools are used by some governments in education policy, due, often, to the lack of other widespread metrics. This information is important for educators and policymakers as it helps them direct resources to where it matters and make good decisions that support all students and teachers. Governments can use the GPTS to direct funding for selected institutions deemed as capable of becoming world-class, whereas others make use of rankings for classification purposes.
Stimulation of Research & Data collection
The GPTS impacts discussions about, and collection of, comparative data on both national and institutional level. This would encourage not only the collection but also the publication of education data which should be a dynamic process in the efforts to transform education in Kenya. By helping both parents and educators understand how individual schools are doing over time, the project will contribute to everyone’s goal of a better education for Kenyan children. Through this collaboration and further research, the GPTS is able to stimulate further research that will lead to the development of more tools that will widen the scope of variables indicative of great schools in Kenya.