Improving School Effectiveness
Published on 1. April 2001
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978-0-335-23218-5 (ISBN)
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Description
* What have we learned after three decades of research into school effectiveness?
* What are the messages for policy-makers, for schools, for classroom teachers, for parents and their children?
* What can we say with confidence about how schools improve?
* What do we want from our schools in the future and how can we achieve it?
This book sets out to answer these questions, reviewing findings from seminal international work and from a major study conducted recently in Scotland, the Improving School Effectiveness Project. It builds up a fascinating picture of what effectiveness is, how it can be measured, and what it means for teachers, parents and pupils. It provides key quantitative data that shows just how schools can and do make a difference (but that their effects tend to be more powerful at different stages in a child's school career, and with differing effects for girls and boys, and for different school subjects). From in-depth work with twenty-four 'case study' schools we are also given much rich qualitative evidence about, for instance, the links between attitudes and attainment within a school, about the ethos of a school and its capacity for change, about the significance of a school development plan in bringing about changes, and about the role and impact of 'critical friends' in pursuing improvement in schools.
Improving School Effectiveness is an important book for everyone who is interested in valuing the effectiveness of and securing improvement in schools: for teachers, heads, inspectors, policy-makers, and students and scholars of school effectiveness and improvement.
* What are the messages for policy-makers, for schools, for classroom teachers, for parents and their children?
* What can we say with confidence about how schools improve?
* What do we want from our schools in the future and how can we achieve it?
This book sets out to answer these questions, reviewing findings from seminal international work and from a major study conducted recently in Scotland, the Improving School Effectiveness Project. It builds up a fascinating picture of what effectiveness is, how it can be measured, and what it means for teachers, parents and pupils. It provides key quantitative data that shows just how schools can and do make a difference (but that their effects tend to be more powerful at different stages in a child's school career, and with differing effects for girls and boys, and for different school subjects). From in-depth work with twenty-four 'case study' schools we are also given much rich qualitative evidence about, for instance, the links between attitudes and attainment within a school, about the ethos of a school and its capacity for change, about the significance of a school development plan in bringing about changes, and about the role and impact of 'critical friends' in pursuing improvement in schools.
Improving School Effectiveness is an important book for everyone who is interested in valuing the effectiveness of and securing improvement in schools: for teachers, heads, inspectors, policy-makers, and students and scholars of school effectiveness and improvement.
More details
Persons
Professor John MacBeath OBE is Chair of Educational Policy and Leadership and Fellow of Hughes Hall at the University of Cambridge. Prior to this he was Director of the Quality in Education Centre at the University of Strathclyde. He has contributed to policy development in Scotland on school self-evaluation and is a member of the Government Task Force on Standards in England. International consultancies include OECD, UNESCO, the European Commission and the Bertelsmann Foundation. He is currently consultant to the Hong Kong Department of Education on School effectiveness and improvement.
Professor Peter Mortimore OBE was the Director of the Institute of Education from 1994 until 2000 and the Pro-Vice Chancellor of London University for 1999/2000. He is internationally renowned for his research on school effectiveness. He is currently the president of the British Educational Research Association. Amongst the books he has co-authored are Fifteen Thousand Hours; School Matters; The Road to Improvement and, most recently, The Culture of Change.
Professor Peter Mortimore OBE was the Director of the Institute of Education from 1994 until 2000 and the Pro-Vice Chancellor of London University for 1999/2000. He is internationally renowned for his research on school effectiveness. He is currently the president of the British Educational Research Association. Amongst the books he has co-authored are Fifteen Thousand Hours; School Matters; The Road to Improvement and, most recently, The Culture of Change.
Content
Introduction
School effectiveness and improvement
the story so far
The policy context
The research design and methods
Attainment, progress and added value
Views of pupils, parents and teachers
vital indicators of effectiveness and for improvement
Extending the quality framework
lessons from case study schools
Change leadership
planning, conceptualization and perception
Do schools need critical friends?
A profit of change
The change equation
capacity for improvement
Beyond 2000
where next for effectiveness and improvement?
References
Index.
School effectiveness and improvement
the story so far
The policy context
The research design and methods
Attainment, progress and added value
Views of pupils, parents and teachers
vital indicators of effectiveness and for improvement
Extending the quality framework
lessons from case study schools
Change leadership
planning, conceptualization and perception
Do schools need critical friends?
A profit of change
The change equation
capacity for improvement
Beyond 2000
where next for effectiveness and improvement?
References
Index.