The orientation is a school’s first exposure to SSA. AED, in collaboration with regional SSA partners, invites school teams to attend this orientation. Principals and teachers from schools experienced in SSA co-facilitate activities with AED staff during this orientation. The orientation includes:

• An introduction to the objectives and principles of SSA.
• Presentations from participating schools on the steps they took to implement SSA and changes they are seeing in teaching and learning.
• Goal-setting activity that demonstrates approaches to gaining schoolwide consensus on teaching and learning goals.
• An introduction to the processes of internal and external review, and a year-long timeline of activities for implementing the initial stages of SSA in new schools.

Schools that decide to pursue self-assessment share the main points of the orientation with their entire staff (and also parents, community members, and district representatives) and set collective goals as a school. They then send a team to attend this second workshop during which participants gain a deeper understanding of the principles of SSA and learn to conduct internal and external reviews. Similar to the orientation, principals and teachers from schools experienced in SSA cofacilitate activities with AED staff during this workshop. Activities include:

• Exploring the principles of SSA, such as the evidence-based approach of using the goals as a framework to “look for what is there.”
• Developing images of good practices for each goal area.
• Reviewing student work using a “fishbowl” format, during which participants learns.
• Conducting a simulated review through “observing” classrooms (videotapes of classes); reviewing a compilation of student work representing different subject areas and ability levels; and reading the vision, mission, and goal statements of the fictional school and its profile.
• Constructing a report that represents the collective perspective of the review team.
• Constructing questions for reflection to leave with the school to use for future reflection and action.