Uses multilevel analyses of British students' General Certificate of Secondary Education examination results to investigate primary and secondary school effects on students' total performance scores and continuity of school effects over time. Findings show significant school effects at both levels and small, but significant continuing effects of…

Summarizes a study to determine the importance that 77 east Texas middle school principals accorded middle school concepts and to discover degree of concepts' implementation. Survey respondents considered the majority of 30 middle school characteristics important. There were considerable gaps between perceived importance and actual implementation…

A former teacher at Rockland Project School (New York) reflects on the effects of the alternative school on her former students after seeing them at a reunion. She concludes that the freedom offered at the school served most students well in their adult lives. (KS)

The Effective School Function Inventory was constructed to operationalize the major constructs of efficient school operation. An analysis with 124 teachers identified 4 meaningful factors: (1) supportive collegial interaction; (2) cooperative facilitation of goal attainment in learning/sharing; (3) morally oriented leadership; and (4)…

Despite "education bashing," schools are successful, but the educational success of many students is more dependent on external factors. Improvement requires full collaboration in a student-centered community learning approach and delivery of a moral education stressing values shared by the nation. (SK)

The Coleman Report (1966) considered schools only as effective as the surrounding society, with academic achievement dependent on conditions beyond school control. The article offers the author's reflections on the Coleman Report and discusses its implications for schools today, as well as future directions. (SM)

The model of performance indicators for educational assessment in Portugal includes context; physical, human, technological, and financial resources; functions; and results. Indicators need to partake of the information systems in schools whereby teachers and administrators gain a better understanding of their own processes and planning…

Canada's educational policy transformations stem from early 1970s' concerns about schooling costs and effectiveness. After a century of directing educational thought and practice, certain common-school philosophical and social conceptions have lost much of their public and political appeal. This article examines reasons for this change and…

Fiedler's contingency theory relates school effectiveness to a combination of principals' leadership style and situational favorability for the principal. Data from teacher questionnaires on school climate and effectiveness and measures of principal's leadership in 176 Canadian elementary schools did not support Fiedler's model. Contains 54…

Addresses deficiencies in the analysis of whole-day schools in Germany. Notes regional disparities in the supply and efficiency of the schools. Proposes changes in plans for expanding whole-day schools and outlines parental preferences for the programs. Presents conclusions about future educational planning and school development. (SG)

Explains the North Central Association's Outcomes Accreditation (OA) alternative to traditional accreditation status. Reviews the Effective Schools and Outcome-Based Education (OBE) literature, and considers basic requirements for OA. Considers OBE compatible with OA. (DMM)

Following the August 1991 state takeover of the Paterson (New Jersey) Schools, the new district superintendent launched a program to improve the city's four worst elementary schools. The process involved creating an administrative team to evaluate principals and school programs, replacing key staff, forming a partnership with Columbia University's…

Argues that improved understandings about the transformation of resources into educational outcomes will benefit development of equity standards in educational finance. Distinguishes between two types of thinking progress: gains in understanding effective schooling ingredients and gains in reaching consensus about the purpose of schooling and the…

Scores from 324 Louisiana schools on the Louisiana Graduation Exit Examination and a within-school split sample of 255 schools indicate that a single subject or grade provides a less consistent and more narrow perspective on school effectiveness than a subcomposite made up of 2 subject areas. (SLD)

A consortium of four Wisconsin school districts has decided to stop tinkering with the educational system and apply W. Edward Deming's 14 management points to total system improvement. The rewritten precepts involve creating and adopting a fitting purpose, infusing quality into the educational "product," and working toward zero defects…