The aim of this study is to understand the strengths and weaknesses of schools and provide inputs to better inform both research and public policies. To address this aim, 258 low-achieving Chilean primary schools and their 1,266 teachers were analysed. On the basis of a multilevel latent class analysis, we found four profiles of teaching…

Various forms of networks in education have been proposed by scholars, policymakers, and educational administrators as a strategy for school improvement. However, there are few empirical studies on the effect of interschool networks. We analyzed data from 76 elementary schools in a Midwestern state to examine the association between interschool…

Success for All (SfA) is a comprehensive school reform program designed to support schools serving many students of disadvantaged backgrounds to increase students' achievement. SfA includes daily 90-min reading lessons with extensive use of cooperative learning, tutoring for struggling readers, and an emphasis on parental involvement. School teams…

In a constantly changing world, schools need to adapt. Difficulties, successes, and experienced challenges can be important driving forces for school improvement. This study aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of the situation and decision-making processes related to school improvement strategies in socially disadvantaged areas, where…

School inspections are a common feature of education systems across the world. These involve trained professionals visiting schools and reaching judgements about the quality of education they provide. Yet there is currently little academic research investigating the consistency of school inspections, including how judgements vary across inspectors…

Much research has evaluated teacher- or school-level variance in students' achievement as a proxy for teacher or school effects. These effects have almost exclusively been estimated across years with state-level testing data. In this paper, interim assessment data, collected across 9 time points in the fall, winter, and spring of Grades 3 to 5…

In 2017 the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) identified stuck schools that have failed inspections continuously since 2005. Our study used quantitative methods to identify factors associated with improving or remaining stuck by analysing a sample of 580 primary and secondary stuck schools and their matched…

In order to support research on school effectiveness, there is a need for valid and reliable instruments to assess policymaking capacities of schools. Increasingly, policymaking is seen as a shared responsibility of the entire pedagogical team of a school. In this article, data were analysed from a sample of 1,696 (care) teachers coordinators and…

In 2005, the Austrian government committed all schools to develop school policies supporting the learning of their students. One purpose of the paper is to seek evidence for the effectiveness of this governmental action. A second purpose is to suggest a special kind of multilevel model which can be applied to longitudinal data at the school level…

This study examines what forms of data school leaders use, how they matter for students' learning, and which school contexts matter for such leadership practices to succeed. Utilizing hierarchical linear modeling, we analyzed survey responses from 1,381 school leaders and administrative data from 269 Florida schools. We find that although school…

Data use has become a priority in educational systems throughout the world under the belief that rational instructional decisions can be tailored to individual learner needs. Despite increasing expectations for school principals to be instructional leaders, there is little evidence that they -- or other system or school leaders -- are responsible…

The aim of educational policy should be to provide a good education to all students. Thus, a key question arises regarding the extent to which key characteristics of school composition (proportion of students with migration background, socioeconomic status [SES], prior school achievement, and achievement heterogeneity), instructional quality,…

The principle-based approach is at the heart of the inspection philosophy of the Netherlands Inspectorate of Education. In this paper, we present the results of complementary qualitative and quantitative studies analysing the impact of this approach. In the first study, we apply a system dynamics approach to provide insight on the impact of the…

Why do some schools bring forth high achievement levels, whereas others do not? To understand the mechanisms behind school success, one must examine schools as organizations and the social relations and interactions among their members. By integrating the literature on educational effectiveness and sociological institutionalism, this article…

Teachers play a key role in the implementation of self-regulated learning (SRL). Nevertheless, research has found that SRL implementation in primary schools remains limited. This qualitative study investigates the role of school climate, the SRL implementation history, and the role of the principal school leader in the school-wide development of…