Conceptual problems in the school-effectiveness literature are examined in this paper, with a focus on the development of two models for school effectiveness. Four necessary components of an effective-schools model include the nature and extent of the educational goals, techniques for recognition, methods for measuring school effectiveness, and…

Issues in ensuring educational quality are examined in this document. Section 1 provides information for developing plans and targets. The following areas are highlighted: school-effectiveness research findings; developments in Scotland to improved educational quality; internal and external evaluation of schools; evaluation criteria; the role of…

This book examines the American and British perspectives of effective schools to answer the following questions: How effective have schools been? Are they effective now? How do we know? and What do we mean by "effective schools"? The book analyzes the changes and reasons for the changes in ways in which schools have been considered…

Three factors in the 1990s will increase the importance of schools in the development of children. First, the character of schools will change as more students with special educational needs are integrated into mainstream classes. Second, efforts will be made to keep these students out of specialized teaching arrangements and in normal classrooms.…

An overview of the achievements and limitations in British school effectiveness research is provided in this paper. In contrast to educational research conducted in the United States, school effectiveness and school improvement disciplines in Great Britain have only begun to emerge within the last 13 years. Topics discussed in this study include…

The author describes the process of randomized study for charter schools. Because most charter schools have more applicants than places, which are awarded by lottery, it is possible to follow a charter school's entire pool of applicants. The author contrasts the ability of using the entire applicant to pool of charter schools to a study that…

Determining how to monitor and enhance school effectiveness is one of the major concerns in current education reforms in different areas of the world. This paper describes the existing conceptual and practical possibilities and dilemmas in developing a framework for monitoring school effectiveness. The paper identifies the different types of…

This paper addresses the main issues related to concepts of school effectiveness and their implications, with a focus on the selection of school-performance indicators. School effectiveness has many definitions, which is in part due to the different demands made by various social groups. The boundaries of performance within which schools should…

A proposed strategy for the National Assessment of Vocational Education (NAVE) uses school-wide data to identify secondary schools where students' academic achievement has been improving at a relatively fast rate and those where it has not. Schools with the most involvement in vocational education can be selected from the two groups. These two…

This paper uses a quality-assurance framework to unify the application of school-effectiveness and school-improvement knowledge to a school system. The paper proposes that effective school development is enhanced by the implementation of quality systems that recognize the stages of performance-development cycles. It discusses quality-assurance…

Over 25 years, the effective schools movement has contributed to a results-oriented focus on education, raising the following 3 policy questions: (1) what is worth knowing; (2) how do we know when students know it; and (3) who decides what should be known and how to assess it? (SLD)