Teacher effectiveness, which impacts student attainment even when controlling for student characteristics, is of key importance as a factor in educational effectiveness and improvement. Improving the quality of teaching is thus the primary means by which we can enhance student learning outcomes. Thus there has long been great interest in the…

Educational effectiveness research (EER) has accumulated much knowledge in the areas of school effectiveness research (SER), teacher effectiveness research (TER) and school/system improvement research (SSIR). Yet many schools and educational systems are not making enough use of the material and their insights. The article reviews evidence of…

If our schools were a research project, we'd say that while some aspects of our schools are highly valid, our overall academic systems aren't reliable. If educators are to meet the challenge of leaving no child behind, schools will have to improve with much greater reliability. In the mid-1990s, a group of British secondary schools decided to work…

Beginning from 1 high-poverty, historically low-achieving secondary school's successful turnaround work, this article provides data relative to a successful school turnaround, the importance of external and system-level supports, and the importance of building for sustainable institutionalization of improvements. The evidence suggests the…

School-effectiveness research has made three considerable contributions: establishing a field exhibiting the characteristics of normal science, generation of research findings on numerous important topics, and combating of social/professional pessimism concerning educational-advancement prospects. School-effectiveness researchers will probably…

At the 10th International Congress for School Effectiveness and School Improvement, participants noted progress in effectiveness research regarding development of outcome measures, size effects, measures of educational processes, and variables contributing to effectiveness. School-improvement research has focused on schools' status changes,…

This paper outlines the reasons for the overall lack of synchronization between school-effectiveness knowledge and school-improvement practice at the international level. It surveys the two communities, attempts to understand the origins and distinctiveness of the two paradigms, and outlines what each community could gain from an appreciation of…

Counters 14 criticisms of school-effectiveness research (SER). Many criticisms are founded on simplistic/skewed readings of SER; there is wide diversity in SER. Many SER researchers have considered socioeconomic effects on achievement but believe schools can have influences beyond social class. Pragmatism is a worthy paradigm for studying schools.…

In the United Kingdom, school-effectiveness research has significantly influenced both policy and practice. Research demonstrates considerable methodological sophistication, with axiomatic use of multilevel modeling, cohort studies, multiple intake and outcome measures, and limited attempts to analyze instructional processes. The historic split…

Reviews recent trends in school effectiveness research from a British perspective. Discusses the achievements of school effectiveness research in destroying assumptions of school impotence in the face of family background. Examines criticisms of effectiveness research, recent research themes, factors associated with school effectiveness, positive…

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.…

The problems involved in reversing ineffective schools have begun to engage researchers, policy makers, and practitioners. This paper conceptualizes the extent to which ineffective schools have to be understood as "different" from schools with other levels of effectiveness, and speculates which types of improvement strategies are most…

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…

Reviews the emerging second wave of research generated by many different countries and relates findings about good school characteristics to broader managerial issues concerned with the actual implementation of effective schools research. School improvement programs should be school-based and "whole school"-oriented and dependent on outside…