How is benchmarking used as a school improvement tool?

Our benchmarking analysis produces school-to-school comparisons that create the opportunity to accelerate improvement planning.

Benchmarking is a tool to add to your school improvement planning kit. The "planning cycle" shown below demonstrates how benchmarking can support and accelerate a school's improvement efforts.

Planning cycle

Benchmarking supports effective improvement planning by facilitating target setting and identifying effective programs, strategies and practices to achieve those targets.

Consider the example of Alpha School. The following chart shows the relative difference in the performances of Alpha School and its benchmark school (Copenhagen Central School). Alpha School's performance is scaled to 100% and shown in red bars. The benchmark school’s performance is scaled accordingly and shown as blue bars.

Performance chart

Note the higher performance of the benchmark: 86% versus 66% graduation in four years, 92% versus 74% graduation in five years, and 4% versus 16% drop out after five years.

Now look at the following figure to see the relative difference in the resources available to, and challenges faced by, the two schools. Again, Alpha School's performance is normalized to 100% and shown in red bars. The benchmark school's performance is scaled accordingly and shown as blue bars.

Performance chart

Note the greater constraints of the benchmark school: 25% versus 14% students receiving free lunches, $9,665 versus $10,127 expended per student, and a 0.37 versus 0.43 Combined Wealth Ratio.

The benchmark has similar or lower inputs—specifically, it spends less per student, has lower community wealth and has higher poverty than Alpha School. Yet the benchmark outperforms Alpha School on all three outputs.

Target setting

School-to-school comparisons create the opportunity to set realistic targets for improvement. Alpha School is challenged by the benchmark school's performance. Whereas the benchmark has 86% of its students graduating within four years and 92% within five years, Alpha School has 66% and 74%, respectively. Additionally, the benchmark school's five-year dropout rate is 4%, whereas Alpha School's is 16%. There is large opportunity gap for Alpha School. It now has a compelling benchmark school to help it set and, more importantly, justify improvement targets.

Exchange of effective practices

The full value of benchmarking is realized in detailed, school-to-school discussions. Benchmarking identifies both the discussion partners and the agenda.

  • What might the benchmark be doing differently than Alpha School to achieve better results despite its greater constraints?
  • Is there anything Alpha School could learn from the benchmark regarding the following:
    • Curriculum alignment
    • Local assessment of student performance
    • Instructional practices
    • Organizing and scheduling for learning
    • Professional development
    • Parent involvement
    • Use of data to inform instructional decisions
    • Academic intervention service design

Alpha School can pursue answers to these questions via phone conversations, site visits or best-practice conferences. Or where it is available, Alpha School can benefit from university research conducted at the benchmark school campus.

More information

Go to schoolbenchmarking.com