"The International Handbook of School Effectiveness Research" (2000) by C. Teddlie and D. Reynolds is a searching, authoritative assessment of the SER field. However, the field should acknowledge its failures and lose its "schools make a difference" mantra. The "next wave" must grapple directly with implementing and…

"School Effectiveness for Whom?" (1998), edited by R. Slee and others, challenges the claims and silences of effective schools research and seeks more theoretically robust understandings. M. Thrupp's book "Schools Making a Difference: Let's Be Realistic" (1999) urges greater recognition of educational reform's limitations. Both…

The effective schools movement, explored by P. Coleman and L. LaRoque, has not brought about meaningful change in education because advocates assume that there are norms and values on which all can agree. It is argued that these themes are at odds with the real world. (SLD)