Vol. 4 N° 2

Julio - Diciembre 2023

Architecture of educational success: redefining institutional assessment

Arquitectura del éxito educativo: redefiniendo la evaluación institucional

ABSTRACT

This argumentative essay aimed to explore institutional evaluation in the educational context within the framework of redefining its approaches, quality towards educational success, challenges, and limitations, for which a critical analysis of the selected academic literature was carried out around contemporary institutional evaluation approaches incorporating the educational climate as a central element to improve educational quality. Additionally, challenges and limitations in the evaluation process are considered, such as resistance to change, data collection, lack of resources, and accountability. It is recognized that institutional evaluation goes beyond traditional academic indicators and encompasses cultural, environmental, and experiential factors. The evaluation is presented as a tool to measure the holistic performance of the educational community by addressing systemic issues that affect the quality of education. One of the key conclusions is interest in the approach of continuous improvement of educational quality, promoting ethics and integrity in educational management. The prospective vision of this essay is expressed towards the idea of ​​transforming institutional evaluation into a key tool of the system of improvements in the school context for educational success, which means assimilating the processes inherent to it in a comprehensive manner by transcending the indicators of traditional academics and addressing ethical challenges that promote the teacher's professional development, ensure the effective management of resources, for the impact on the transformation of society that satisfies the needs of the interest groups in the educational community.

RESUMEN

Este ensayo argumentativo tuvo como objetivo explorar la evaluación institucional en el contexto educativo en el marco de la redefinición de sus enfoques, calidad hacia el éxito educativo, desafíos y limitaciones, para lo cual se llevó a cabo un análisis crítico de la literatura académica seleccionada en torno a los enfoques contemporáneos de evaluación institucional que incorporan el clima educativo como un elemento central para mejorar la calidad educativa. Además, se consideran los desafíos y limitaciones en el proceso de evaluación, como la resistencia al cambio, recopilación de datos, falta de recursos y rendición de cuentas. Se reconoce que la evaluación institucional va más allá de los indicadores académicos tradicionales y abarca factores culturales, ambientales y experienciales. La evaluación se presenta como una herramienta para medir el desempeño holístico de la comunidad educativa al abordar cuestiones sistémicas que afectan la calidad de la educación. Una de las conclusiones clave, adquiere interés en el enfoque de la mejora continua de la calidad educativa, promoviendo la ética y la integridad en la gestión educativa. La visión prospectiva de este ensayo se manifiesta hacia la idea de transformar la evaluación institucional en una herramienta clave del sistema de mejoras del contexto escolar para el éxito educativo, lo que significa asimilar los procesos que le son inherentes de manera integral, al trascender los indicadores académicos tradicionales y abordar desafíos éticos que promueva el desarrollo profesional del docente, asegure el manejo efectivo de los recursos, para el impacto en la transformación de la sociedad que satisfaga las necesidades de los grupos de interés en la comunidad educativa.

INTRODUCTION

In the case of education, efforts should be focused on the societal model where its actions are developed, thus promoting training, communication, and participation of social actors in the opportunity to offer relevant knowledge, in addition to the values that allow satisfying the consistency of activities and processes.

In this way, Wu et al. (2021) affirm that positive institutional evaluations elevate the sense of control in individuals and satisfy their need for structure and order; therefore, they determine the social arrangements in families, other organizations, governments, and regulations as systems of allocation and socialization, and other substantive forms of social existence. Therefore, the aforementioned authors allow an understanding of the process influence of effective evaluation of education and organizations; in general, when positive results are received, the evaluated members experience a sense of structure and order in their well-being to function effectively in a given environment.

From an organizational assessment perspective, this means designing assessment processes that, on the one hand, measure performance, and quality, and the other, consider how these processes influence individuals' perceptions of their need for control and structure. This scenario should account for recommendations that can influence decisions and the implementation of changes to improve the quality of your institution. In addition, institutional evaluation is a tool for assessing performance, as well as influencing the social dynamics of interactions between members of the organization.

Epistemologically, institutional evaluation has to dominate the platform of knowledge generated around the formation of happy people, critical, respectful, tolerant citizens, capable of living in harmony with others, with a plural formation for the understanding and respect for diversity, while enabling the criticality in the face of realities, the acquisition of skills/skills for know-how contributing to the exploration of the creative potential towards development as well as for the benefit of the social body.

In this order of ideas, institutional evaluation is an orientation focused on the commitment to achieve knowledge and understanding of educational management processes in order to holistically improve all the events involved, favoring the construction of a better society within the framework of plurality, diversity, and democracy. Likewise, this architecture of events defined towards educational success makes us think about profound responses of school management, from the criteria of managerial excellence and within the framework of legal provisions related to quality educational service, guided by ethical and humanistic values for social transformation, development and promotion of a culture of peace.

In a democratic society, the people who are co-owners of the country are also the true owners and protagonists of the institutions, including schools. Therefore, there is a natural right, confirmed in legal provisions, which allows citizens to know the actions produced within the institutional sphere and whether the efforts made by society, in general, are bringing them equal or greater benefits.

In this sense, the present essay set out to explore institutional evaluation in the educational context within the framework of the redefinition of its approaches, quality towards educational success, challenges, and limitations. For this purpose, the documentary review of the incorporated sub-themes, which were selected through the fiching technique, was followed to analyze and interpret contents.

THEORETICAL ARGUMENTS

Contemporary approaches to institutional evaluation

It has been highlighted, within the contemporary approaches to institutional evaluation, the scenarios related to the educational climate as a key aspect that seeks quality (Kaur et al., 2021). The position of the aforementioned authors shows an interest in considering the educational climate as a core element in institutional evaluation with the aim of improving educational quality, which reflects the priority of assuming holism in this function of school management by recognizing that quality is not exclusive to addressing academic indicators, since it is involved with cultural, environmental and experiential factors. Therefore, focusing on institutional evaluation processes comes close to providing valuable information for decision-making and continuous improvement.

However, Fomba et al. (2023) get it right in the research on the role of educational transmission channels, whose results indicate a decline in the quality of institutions, especially characterized by the presence of corruption, political instability, or reduced government effectiveness, a situation that progresses towards deterioration in educational public spending due to unethical behavior of teachers and the employment of people who are untrained or poorly qualified to carry out effectively pedagogical tasks and responsibilities.

In fact, the guiding principle of institutional evaluation that emerges from the above quote is a critical approach that goes beyond the purely academic, that is what is generally evaluated but also considers extracurricular activities and political and administrative factors that may affect the quality of education. Therefore, institutional evaluations aim to measure the holistic performance of the educational community, in addition to addressing systemic issues that can impact areas for improvement and drive important changes in educational quality assurance.

Specifically, there are many criteria that are argued to support the culture of evaluation, and each one responds to the teleological orientation that each one attributes to institutional evaluation. Thus, it is assumed that institutional evaluation bases its functions on the assumption that the quality of activities and processes is an aspiration that is always unfulfilled, i.e., objectives are achieved, new problems arise, some solutions appear, and so on ad infinitum characterizes the cyclical domain of permanent quality improvement.

So, transferring these facts to the research of Cao et al. (2023) regarding the evaluation of the educational system, "it acquires significance to make it periodically, realistic? focused on quality and sustainability, through indicators that include academic integrity" (p.90). These authors refer to the essential condition regarding evaluating the educational system, considering its periodicity and objective interpretation for the purpose of quality. This scenario leads to the measurement of quantitative/qualitative indicators in academic integrity, which must guarantee the ethical, reliable, and accurate functioning of the results obtained.

Likewise, the study of Hopster-den, & Wopereis (2023) adds to the institutional evaluation process the ingredient of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), in the face of increasing digitization within which they considered an integrated vision of innovation and the development of related expertise to validate and evaluate the content and use of the integrated ICT movement sensor, a representative tool that stimulates awareness of ICT-based educational innovation among multiple stakeholders at the institutional level, including administrators, managers, IT specialists, educational designers, teachers, when dialogue is required on substantive issues such as vision and policies, leadership, professional development, and technological infrastructure.

The scenario mentioned above accounts for the technological integration to institutional assessment from the point of view of sticking to a holistic and integral approach to innovation and the development of expertise in this field in various organizational contexts inherent to the roles played; therefore, it should be recognized that assessment should also be inserted in educational policies and leadership, as well as in the technological infrastructure and professional development in this field.

Institutional evaluation: quality towards educational success

There are priorities that determine the need to improve efficiency, productivity, and quality in the education sector, which has led to increased governmental interest in various accountability mechanisms for school management, particularly from evaluation and performance measurement (Kivisto et al., p.23.2019). The authors' position highlights an important point in the relationship between institutional assessment and educational success, which governments take into account around mechanisms that reflect the need to improve the efficiency, productivity, and quality of education toward educational success.

This concern is consistent with the organization's continuous efforts to improve educational results and guarantee quality standards. In this sense, institutional evaluation is a tool to measure and analyze the performance of school management and thus make corrections that can be used for continuous improvement, accountability, and directive orientations of interest toward transparency and accountability in the educational system, which can influence as a success factor by providing feedback to the processes for evidence-based decision-making.

Likewise, the research by Appah et al. (2021) showed that:

Teachers agree that evaluation is a means to improve teaching and learning in schools, as is also evidenced by the relationship manifested between teachers' work experience and their perception of academic success through evaluation as a means to better performance. (p.89)

All of this is transferred to the totality of active scenarios of the school environment to attract events that promote the quality of education. Likewise, the sustenance of the previous quote makes us see the implications that govern the basis of the experiences in the good performance of teachers and the perceptions focused on academic success through institutional evaluation by emphasizing the relevant measures that proliferate towards the best academic performance of students, highlighting the interest in fostering a culture of evaluation in the school environment that provides professional development opportunities for teaching staff, by going directing the look at the positive impact on the quality of education.

For their part, Kakada, & Deshpande (2019) found the relationship between institutional evaluation and the success demanded by today's society in the service of organizations in meeting the expectations and requirements of quality in the face of trends of social, demographic, globalization, and competitive market changes that, in the long term, have to meet the needs of the different stakeholders who are members of the educational community in the face of sustainable productivity efforts.

The above quotation highlights the importance of institutional evaluation under the view of quality towards educational success since these categories drive continuous improvement according to the expectations of the multiple stakeholders involved in the educational process, including students, parents/representatives, teachers, and the social context in which they develop, characterized by social changes, where the sustainability and adaptability of educational institutions must be guaranteed in the long term, in the productivity effects.

Challenges and constraints in institutional assessment

In this sub-theme, we explore the obstacles and challenges derived in the process of institutional assessment that include resistance to change, data collection, lack of resources, and the barriers that arise when accountability is required, from the point of view of new approaches and strategies demanding familiarity with the implementation process, adequate infrastructure and overcoming the limiting experiences of collaboration offered by managers, as well as institutional encouragement and support from administrators (Torabizadeh et al., p.90,2018).

In this sense, individuals and groups that make up institutional life are usually satisfied and comfortable with the state with which processes and activities are developed; however, when scenarios are rethought, they may be reluctant to adopt new routes in practices and methods, an issue that results in presenting limitations in the face of changes. Likewise, data collection in institutional evaluation is another important challenge, becoming a complex task where time and resources must be invested. Thus, the lack of resources, whether in terms of personnel, technology, or finances, also limits the effectiveness of institutional evaluation, requiring investment in infrastructure and training. Added to these events are the mechanisms for quality control of teaching and learning through competitive grading systems (Walker et al., p.108, 2019).

In the same vein, accountability is another critical aspect, in view of the need to hold institutions accountable for their performance and the search for efficient results, which leads to some institutional resistance, causing barriers to fully comply with the aspects planned in the evaluation. Also, this process can be hindered when there is little institutional collaboration and support among managers and stakeholders, since the difficulty in gathering information and making decisions based on the evaluation, support, and encouragement from administrators and institutional leaders can hinder the successful evaluation process.

On this basis rests the reflection Huang et al. (2020) presented regarding? The requirements of changes requested by funders' mandates, institutional policy, and the promotion of cultural changes, given the uncertainty derived when it is requested to provide a solid, transparent, and updatable analysis of the progress of certain interventions at the institutional level. As the aforementioned authors position themselves on the need to address changes in educational institutions, these can be activated within the framework of institutional evaluation in order to trigger institutional interventions, a challenging situation given the risks that may arise. It is essential to overcome these challenges in order to ensure that institutional evaluation fulfills its objective of improving the quality and effectiveness of the institution's actions and processes.

CONCLUSIONS

This essay fulfilled the objective of exploring institutional assessment in the educational context within the framework of the redefinition of its approaches, quality towards educational success, challenges, and limitations through each of the sub-themes developed, due to which the following conclusions are established:

In relation to contemporary approaches to institutional evaluation, it is concluded that the priority of adopting a holistic approach includes the measurement of factors beyond academic indicators, such as cultural, environmental, and experiential aspects of influence on educational quality. The latter is not recognized in the exclusivity of academic achievements; therefore, the evaluation of the educational experience as a whole should be promoted.

Contemporary institutional evaluation focuses on measuring and addressing systemic issues that can affect the quality of education, such as corruption, political instability, and government effectiveness. Thus, it is asserted that the field of ethics and appropriateness in educational management must be the guarantee of quality education.

The conclusion regarding quality towards educational success is based on the planned function of institutional evaluation in the leading role of continuous improvement of educational performance and the guarantee of quality standards through accountability and evidence-based decision-making in order to meet the expectations of society, satisfying the needs of various stakeholders in the educational community.

It is also affirmed by the understanding that institutional evaluation contributes to the professional development of the teaching staff, which translates into higher academic performance of students. This relationship between evaluation and academic success is essential to boost the quality of education in encouraging teachers to improve their teaching.

Regarding the sub-theme of challenges and limitations in institutional evaluation, it is stated that the resistance to change regarding the exercise of institutional evaluation for some actors of the educational fact, accounts for the discomfort interpreted when asked to leave the comfort zone in the habit that sustains the behaviors on the current state of the processes, which can create resistance to the new adoptions of pedagogical and administrative practices and methods.

On the other hand, data collection is another important challenge, as it may require significant time and resources; hence, it is suggested that the lack of material resources and talents is a limiting factor in the effectiveness of institutional evaluation, so infrastructure and training are needed to address this limitation.

The prospective vision of this essay is estimated in the idea of transforming institutional evaluation into a power tool in the changes required to improve the quality of education and guarantee educational success by characterizing it from the point of view of its holistic integrity that transcends traditional academic indicators and addresses ethical challenges, promotes the professional development of teaching staff, ensures accountability and transparency in educational institutions, in order to achieve a significant impact on society and on the construction of a quality educational system.

REFERENCES