Reports on the successful, widespread adoption of the effective schools research model in widely varied districts. Discusses factors common to these school improvement programs, including acceptance of five premises concerning the nature of effective schooling. (PGD)

No meaningful and lasting educational reform will occur unless policymakers and responsible educators continue to address the effective education of disadvantaged children. The good beginning provided by effective schools research must be consolidated. Educators should challenge recent reform proposals that are likely to assist the relatively…

A promising approach to school improvement for disadvantaged students is based on effective schools research, focuses on quality and equity, considers previous research, and is data driven. It draws from specific premises as to the purpose and outcomes of schooling and calls for specific steps toward improving instruction and achievement. (GC)

This guidebook is designed to help the individual school faculty, staff, and administration create a school plan. Five features critical to a successful school-improvement plan include: support by research findings; a focus on student achievement; attention to issues of quality and equity; collaboration; and an ongoing and self-renewing process.…

Applies effective schools research to inner city magnet schools to create effective schools of choice that maximize both educational access and quality. Topics include the following: (1) school environment; (2) instructional leadership; (3) parent participation; and (4) admission processes. (FMW)

A synthesis of research on unusually effective schools is presented in this monograph, with a focus on research conducted since 1985. Three major issues are addressed: (1) the viability of the effective school concept in contemporary school reform; (2) the correlation between recent research and basic findings; (3) and the congruency of school…

This book describes ways in which schools can rewrite the social/educational contract so that more and more of the population can be educated at higher standards. The book advocates a new way of thinking about education, beginning with the notion that all children can learn. In order to craft a new system, schools must develop an aim and they must…

This guidebook offers strategies for creating a district context that is conducive to initiating and sustaining school improvement. Designed to provide resources for those working at school district level, the five stages of the school-improvement process are based on effective-schools research--organize, focus, analyze, develop, and…

This book shows how Deming's Total Quality Management (TQM) theory for organizational management can be integrated with the effective-schools literature. Part 1 compares the 14 principles of TQM with the tenets of effective-schools research. The second part develops a blueprint for creating the total quality effective school. The conceptual…

This essay addresses the school improvement process based on Effective Schools Research (ESR) and its commitment to equitable and quality education for minority and poor children. After briefly discussing general attributes of ESR-based programs, the essay explains major premises of the effective school. The first premise sets teaching and…

Four critical time periods offer a sense of where the Effective Schools Movement has been, and where it appears to be headed. The period of 1966 to 1976 marked the beginning of descriptive studies of individual effective schools. During the period of 1976 to 1980 a new coalition was formed between many of the Effective Schools researchers and…

Universities can help elementary and secondary schools undertake school improvement programs under certain conditions. First, it should be recognized that programs are most effective when individual schools rather than whole systems are the objects of the improvement efforts. Second, it should be understood that university-sponsored school…

Effective schools research indicates that a good plan for school improvement grows out of the school and the school system in which it will be used. Outlines 11 components of a school system's improvement plan, and current educational trends to take into account in developing the plan. (MLF)

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)

This paper outlines several policy and program suggestions for improving Connecticut's urban schools which build upon the States's current intiatives and incorporate the current research findings emanating from studies of effective schools. The author first provides a framework for his suggestions by reviewing research to delineate the…