ESDA - Frequently Asked Questions

ESDA can be installed in Windows or Linux. The basic requirements and suggested requirements of the installation are as follows:

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As there may be clashes if both systems are installed on the same computer, EDB does not recommend schools to install ESDA and WebSAMS on the same computer.

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With regards to network security, schools should take the following measures:

• Schools should install the latest version of Service Pack and anti-virus software in the computer with ESDA installed.
• If the system is used within the school, the server should be placed behind the firewall.
• If the system is used both in the school and outside the school, the server should be placed behind the firewall and the firewall should have the following settings:
  (1) Only port 80 will be opened for external use; and
  (2) Only port 80 of the server is allowed to be connected by the computers outside the school.

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Yes. ESDA will be updated regularly on a need basis. Staff of the schools should browse the relevant website (http://esda.edb.gov.hk/) regularly in order to obtain the latest version of the system and the most updated information.

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Yes. Besides changing the school year and updating the users’ list, schools should also update their Stakeholder Survey package in preparation for conducting the Stakeholder Survey in the new school year.

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No. All the questionnaires completed online via ESDA are anonymous. When a respondent completes the questionnaire, the system will only record whether the respondent has completed the questionnaire or not. In order to understand the progress of the completion of the questionnaire, the system will show the retrieved rate but the results of individual respondent cannot be traced by schools.

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No. Since the online questionnaire survey is conducted anonymously, it is impossible to trace the individual responses. It follows that the surveys cannot be saved temporarily for the users.

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In general, the greater the number of respondents for the questionnaires, the greater the validity of the average scores in reflecting the overall perception. By conducting the Stakeholder Survey through the E-platform for School Development and Accountability (ESDA), a minimum number of 35 randomly selected respondents has been ensured. Theoretically, when the number of respondents reaches 35, the average scores derived from the survey are distributed approximately normally which can facilitate statistical analyses. Hence schools should encourage the selected students or parents to fill in the questionnaires or they can increase the percentage of random selection via the ESDA so as to increase the chances of having at least 35 respondents for the questionnaires.

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If there is no response from the surveys, the system administrator can click “details” at “survey administration” to the right of the target survey. Then, he can proceed to click “cancel” and publish the surveys again. If there are responses from the surveys, the school should contact the Indicators Section of the Education Bureau (Telephone number: 2892 6544/ 2892 6577) to obtain a password in order to cancel the surveys.

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In order to manage different versions of KPM data in the same system, the system will distinguish the data by grouping the data applicable until the 2007/08 school year under “KPM2003” and grouping the data applicable from the 2008/09 school year under “KPM2008”. If there are comparable KPM data between these two versions like “Students’ Attendance rate (KPM20)”, the system will generate a comparison report across the years for further analysis.

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Schools can collect data of KPM5 Percentage of lesson time for Key Learning Areas, KPM18 Percentage of students participating in territory-wide inter-school competitions and KPM19 Percentage of students participating in uniform groups/community services from the existing documents such as timetable, records of extra-curricular activities and the like. These data can be entered into ESDA directly. For detailed description of the individual KPM items, schools can obtain relevant information from the user interface of “Input KPM Data” in ESDA.

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The reference data for “KPM5-Percentage of lesson time for Key Learning Areas” are based on the Lesson Time Allocation suggested in the Basic Education Curriculum Guide (2002); the reference data for “KPM11-Destinations of graduates” are based on the Survey on Educational Status of S5 and S7 Graduates conducted by the School Education Statistics Section of the Education Bureau; the reference data for “KPM21- Percentage of students within the acceptable weight range” are based on the statistical data from the Student Health Service of the Department of Health.

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When the school has already entered the information of the height and weight of all the students in WebSAMS, the school can import the students’ information including the height and the weight in WebSAMS via ESDA. The data of KPM21 will be calculated automatically. For information regarding Weight-For-Height of boys and girls, schools can refer to the website of the Department of Paediatrics of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/proj/growthstd/index.htm).

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Schools should avoid entering any students’ data during the survey period of the published questionnaire surveys in order not to affect the results of the surveys. Schools should import the students’ data before publishing the questionnaire surveys. Otherwise, schools should only enter the students’ data including their height and weight into ESDA only after the completion of all published surveys. If you encounter any technical problems, you may call 2892 6544/ 28926577 to contact the Indicators Section of the the Education Bureau.

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There is a version of ESDA designed for Special Schools. Different types of Special Schools can select their suitable KPM items according to their school context for data collection and self-evaluation.

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Being a “One Stop” solution, ESDA collects and manages the data for self-evaluation. Its functions include conducting online stakeholder surveys, administering APASO surveys and generating related charts and reports. Through ESDA, there is no need for schools to recruit extra manpower for printing, distributing and collecting questionnaires, as well as entering and processing the survey data manually. These functions can relieve the workload of teachers in collecting and managing the SSE data.

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In accordance with the new phase of the School Development and Accountability Framework, ‘Effect Size’ has been added to the reports on Key Performance Measures and the Stakeholder Survey on the ESDA in order to facilitate schools to analyse the data. ‘Effect Size’ is used to gauge the difference between the means of two sets of variables. Standard Deviation will be used to determine the magnitude of the difference indicating the strength of the effect. It can be represented by the following formula:
             Effect Size = | MeanS – MeanR | / SD
MeanS is the mean of the school data; MeanR is the mean of the norm or the reference data; SD is the Standard Deviation of the norm or the reference data. When ‘Effect Size’ is 0, there is no difference between the two means. The greater the value of ‘Effect Size’ it becomes, the greater and the more significant the difference it makes. According to the value of ‘Effect Size’, the strength of the effect can be classified in the following table:

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