Evaluation of school and recreational activities

A key role of the Department of Education & Youth office is to conduct external evaluations and oversee the quality in schools and recreational activities to improve outcomes. The Department of Education & Youth office conducts external evaluations and supports the internal evaluations of the workplaces

External evaluation

For the external evaluation, data is collected in a variety of ways. Conclusions about the operations are drawn from these data, based on quality benchmarks. The goal of the external evaluation of the Department of Education & Youth is to provide information about school and recreational activities, and to improve the quality of education in preschools, primary schools, and recreational activities.

The base for the external evaluation is well-defined criteria concerning quality in preschool, primary school, and recreational activities. Operations are evaluated through on-the-spot visits, data analysis, surveys, and interviews with managers, staff, children, and parents.

The evaluation is chiefly a guiding one, drawing attention to what is done well in the school and pointing out areas for improvement as opportunities for reform.

Preschool

External evaluation of preschools began in spring 2013. Main elements in the evaluation are administration, education and teaching, human resources, school ethos, and internal evaluation. By the end of 2018, just under 50% of preschools in Reykjavík had been evaluated.

Here you can view reports and reform plans for preschools, along with data useful for external and internal evaluations, such as quality criteria, evaluation forms, checklists, reform plan templates, and guidelines for evaluation and evaluation methods.

Primary school

A comprehensive assessment was carried out on all primary schools in Reykjavík from 2007 to 2013. Key elements of the assessment included school operations, procedures, human resources, and finance. By the end of 2013, every primary school in Reykjavík had been evaluated once.

A second round of external assessment in primary schools started in the fall of 2014. Principal aspects for this assessment are administration, learning and teaching, and internal evaluation. By the end of 2018, about 40% of primary schools in Reykjavík had been evaluated for the second time, using the same criteria as the first round.

New and revised quality benchmarks were adopted in the fall of 2019. The school profile / visual representation is not comparable between schools assessed before and after 2019, as new assessment tools and a new color scale have been implemented.  

Recreation

External evaluation of recreational activities began in the fall of 2014. Key elements of the evaluation are management, recreational activities, human resources, ethos, and internal evaluation. By January 2020, at least one after-school program and one youth center in each Reykjavík district had been assessed, totaling 10 after-school programs (three run by primary schools) and five youth centers.

Here you can view reports and reform plans for recreational activities, along with data useful for external and internal evaluations, such as quality criteria, evaluation forms, checklists, reform plan templates, and guidelines for evaluation and evaluation methods.