This report summarizes activities of the pilot year (1981-82) of the Louisiana School Effectiveness Study (LSES), a five-year exploration of those factors that make some of Louisiana's schools more effective than others in educating students. The pilot year of the project was conducted in the Caddo Parish School System and accomplished two tasks:…

A report is provided of an evaluation of two "Senior Colleges" designed to offer viable alternatives to traditional secondary education for students above the age of compulsory schooling. The evaluation involved several researchers working independently and information collected using a variety of both quantitative and qualitative…

Increasing dropout rates, marked decline in college preparatory enrollment, and reports of students' growing dissatisfaction with school prompted this exploration of the dimensions underlying teaching and the ways that microeconomics might positively influence teaching effectiveness. The literature review supports 10 advantages offered by student…

Whether by state mandate, institutional initiative, or the requirements of accrediting bodies, community colleges and other institutions of higher education are giving increased attention to assessment and evaluation. In the region accredited by the Middle States Association (MSA) of Colleges and Schools, for example, several community colleges…

These two reports present the results of internal and external evaluations of Vancouver Community College (VCC). First, the self-study report identifies ways of improving the college's effectiveness, including: (1) the clarification of VCC's priorities and their relationship to external pressures and aspirations for the future; (2) the enhancement…

A study sought to determine: (1) what factors had made a difference in student achievement on the Havasupai reservation in Arizona after the Havasupai had contracted for control of their education system, and (2) whether these phenomena repeated in other Native American schools which had contracted for control. The fact that Native American…

The need for a "systems" approach to school-based social competency training has been highlighted by a national commission and the U.S. Department of Education. The Pupil Involvement/Problem-Solving with People (PI/PSP) curriculum has adapted numerous, well-researched social compentency training models targeted for elementary classroom use.…

This guide provides summaries and analyses of various measures related to school leadership and administrator skills, behavior styles, and characteristics. The guide aims to help schools, districts, and other educational organizations examine their leadership effectiveness. While principals are stressed, some information is provided about…

Two variables, expectations and self-efficacy, were investigated to illuminate their relationship with achievement. The school was the unit of analysis chosen, and three levels of subjects were evaluated--students, teachers, and principals. Students, teachers, and principals within high achieving schools were hypothesized to evidence significantly…

Purporting to test a contingency model for schools, data from 45 Arizona schools and 4 British schools were analyzed and compared to examine relationships between organizational environment, structure, leadership style, and perceived effectiveness. Environmental factors were measured by teacher and administrator responses to four Likert-type…

In the Connecticut School Effectiveness Project, data are collected on seven characteristics of effective schooling: safe and orderly environment, clear school mission, instructional leadership, high expectations, opportunity to learn and time on task, frequent monitoring of student progress, and home-school relations. These data are collected…

The materials in this manual are designed to help workshop leaders prepare for and present a workshop for school board members on identifying and practicing policies that effectively foster improved instruction. In confirming school boards' commitment to school improvement, this workshop also points out the boards' roles in governance, the…

Recent research by Coleman, Hoffer, and Kilgore on the effectiveness of public and private schools may be seriously flawed because of its neglect of input-level differences in student performance and its reliance on cross-sectional testing data as the criterion measure. The sample used by Coleman and his colleagues from the High School and Beyond…

To assess the effects of principal turnover on school organizational structures and effectiveness at elementary and secondary levels, the operations of schools that changed principals were compared to those that retained principals. Studies of organizational dynamics have identified important structural variables that can be applied to school…

The final report of a Florida Grand Jury investigation of the school dropout situation in Dade County is presented in this document. Information contained in the report was drawn from a questionnaire administered to 264 dropouts and potential dropouts, from a second questionnaire administered to 323 elementary school teachers, and from the…