This research study focused on the theories that support and underpin the Nine Characteristics of High-Performing Schools. Much of the data presented about high-performing schools lack data about schools that are nontraditional; the nontraditional school, otherwise known as an alternative school or alternative learning placement, supports students…

This review paper begins by asking what makes few schools outstanding. What makes them successful? What have we learned from last two decades of studying School Effectiveness (SE)? To answer those questions, this paper attempts to identify the patterns and trends of Studying School effectiveness from western perspective. The main purpose of this…

Early school leaving is an international concern. Previous research indicates that the school context contributes to early school leaving. This systematic review is aimed to gather marginalised young peoples' perceptions concerning contextual factors that contributed to and interfered with their decisions to stay in alternative education.…

The study is a mixed-methods investigation of how urban schools are succeeding. The study surveyed 28 former students from urban schools in Oxnard, California. The qualitative responses represent themes that align to a high level of school connectedness and social-emotional learning (SEL) as key indicators of a successful urban school district.…

This paper aims to address conceptual and methodological challenges of doing research in the field of inclusive education and revisit school effectiveness research literature to inform future research. First, we present the rationale for inclusive education and briefly review the evolution of special needs education. Then, we discuss limitations…

Despite our best efforts, black children still lag behind white children in academic performance on standardized academic measures. Unconscious racism and our lack of ability to confront it present the most salient reason for the indefatigable prevalence of inequitable opportunities for children of color which undeniably result in achievement…

The 2012 MetLife Foundation-NASSP Breakthrough Schools are outstanding examples of how determined and focused leaders create and sustain school improvement. The schools are places of strategic decision making where dedicated adults demonstrate their conviction that every student can and will achieve. Each of the schools demonstrates the efficacy…

Since the 1970s, school effectiveness research has looked for process-variables filling the black box between mainly structural school features and cognitive outcomes in students. Two concepts came to the fore: school climate and school culture. Both concepts are currently used interchangeably, although it is open to debate whether both are…

A mainstay in NCLB and the Obama administration education plan is turning around low-performing schools. This study utilized surveys and interviews with school leaders from four turnaround urban high schools in Texas to understand student outcomes before and after school restructuring and reconstitution. Although some organizational changes were…

Much emphasis is being placed on the use of school performance scores as a means of indicating effective schools. Schools are being held accountable for not only teaching the curriculum, but also affording the student a quality education that encompasses the skills and knowledge needed to be successful. Although many schools have a similar…

Imagine being part of a school district where children choose to come in early from recess to do schoolwork, a place where student engagement is so contagious it has overtaken the faculty and staff, a district where the focus is truly on every child every day. Many would contend such an ideal culture simply does not or cannot exist in today's…

This dissertation investigates how relational trust manifests within schools that have recently enacted the distributed leadership framework, a program implementation by the Penn Center for Educational Leadership. First, the dissertation highlights research that connects the distributed leadership and relational trust frameworks in the task of…

This report, written by WestEd's Adam Voight, Gregory Austin, and Thomas Hanson, describes a study that examines what makes successful schools different from other schools. Rather than define success in absolute terms, this study's definition is based on whether or not a school is performing better than predicted given the characteristics of the…

This is the fifth in a series of six papers from the Center on Education Policy exploring issues related to students' motivation to learn. While past papers in this series have examined broad strategies to improve academic motivation that could be implemented across a school, district, or state, this paper focuses specifically on changes within…

This paper reports on a Canadian qualitative case study project funded by the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario. The paper describes success stories of students and communities affected by poverty from a diverse sample of eleven elementary schools throughout the province of Ontario. Over the period of one school year (2007-2008) and…