Jaap Scheerens

School effectiveness research and the development of process indicators of school functioning

Educational systems can quite easily be described in terms of a context‐input‐process‐output model. Likewise systems of educational indicators ‐‐ i.e. statistics on key aspects of educational systems that are of evaluative relevance ‐ can be categorized as context, input, process and output‐indicators. Process‐indicators are the subject of this paper. The rationale for selecting the process‐indicators chosen here was to look for those school‐ and teaching characteristics that are positively associated with educational achievement. The research literature on school and teaching effectiveness is the most relevant for this. An attempt has been made to formulate a comprehensive model of school and teaching effectiveness and to use this as the basis for a list of the most promising process‐indicators. Some of the key process‐variables that are proposed include stimulating environmental factors, achievement oriented policies, educational leadership, amount of instruction, learning opportunities, structured teaching, collaborative planning and evaluative potential of schools. The problems of constructing and using process‐indicators based on these variables are discussed from the perspectives of macro‐, meso‐ and micro‐level applications of educational indicator systems.

Conceptualizing school effectiveness

The theoretical status of existing school effectiveness models is analyzed by using perspectives from organizational theory and models of classroom effectiveness. This leads to the formulation of a basic framework for conceptualizing school effectiveness that includes variables at the levels of the school, the context of the school and the classroom, while background variables of pupils are also taken into account. One of the conclusions is that hypothesis construction and empirical research on cross-level relationships within this basic framework are of central importance to enhance our understanding of school effectiveness.

Career Competencies for the Modern Career.

Career development gains new meaning in the context of employability demands in a knowledge economy. In this context, increased mobility, a dynamic work environment, and an increased level of career support from employers are seen as characteristics of a modern career. All of these characteristics put emphasis on individual and self-management in career development. This article presents the results of an empirical study that addressed the general question as to which competencies employees need to possess to realize career self-management. In a survey of 1,579 employees (51% response) in 16 Dutch companies, 6 career factors and competencies of career self-management prove to be relevant for career development: career development ability, reflection on capacities, reflection on motives, work exploration, career control, and networking. Among the explanatory variables that are considered, mobility perspective and career support at work and private life appear to be associated most strongly (statistical significance at .01) with career competencies.

Conceptual Models and Theory‐Embedded Principles on Effective Schooling

ABSTRACT In this article models and theories on effective schooling are reviewed. Modelling is based on the various disciplinary oriented approaches to educational effectiveness. As such production functions, instructional effectiveness models and integrated, multi‐level educational effectiveness models are discussed. Various conceptual and formal representations of facilitation across levels are seen as the most interesting area for further model‐driven research. In the second part of the article four organization theories are discussed, all of which are seen as specific interpretations of the rationality paradigm: rational control theory and bureaucratic structuring; contingency theory; public choice theory; and retroactive planning. A fifth theoretical perspective, chaos theory, as applied to organizational functioning, looks more like a complete anti‐thesis of rationality, but can nevertheless be related to the emergence of ordered patterns and to organizational survival. Core mechanisms or theory‐emb...

Alternative models of school effectiveness put to the test

The term “educational effectiveness” designates causal models of educational outcomes that may or may not contain school-level variables. The term “school effectiveness models” is used in the more restricted sense of outcome-oriented models that explicitly contain school-level variables. These models are categorized to a context-input-process-output structure, are multi-level, recognize causal chains, and sometimes include feedback loops. In this chapter the advantages of comprehensive vs. partial school effectiveness models are discussed. Furthermore alternative interpretations of the idea that higher-level variables some way facilitate lower-level variables in the production of educational outcomes are given. The debate concerns: (i) additive vs. interactive models, (ii) direct vs. indirect models, (iii) contextual vs. genuine effects, (iv) additive vs. synergetic interpretations, and (v) recursive vs. non-recursive models. In this chapter the results of empirical research are presented to test the first four completing interpretations. The results indicate that the indirect model is the least productive. The synergetic model looks promising, but more simple interactive models account for almost the same percentage of variance in students outcomes. The actual problem might be that the most likely school effectiveness models are indirect, non-recursive, contextual, synergetic, and interactive at the same time. To avoid complexities in future research decompositions are advocated. And therefore it is contended that organizational variables of interest first be examined on their possible alternative interpretation of cross-level facilitation, before formulating the model.

Basic School Effectiveness Research: Items for a Research Agenda.

ABSTRACT Reviewers of the school effectiveness literature rarely forget to mention the importance of the formation of theory. Yet, the actual practice of school effectiveness research is rather atheoretical. In this article two types of studies are discussed that may strengthen the conceptual and theoretical basis of school effectiveness research: foundational studies, aimed at resolving basic conceptual questions regarding the construct of school effectiveness and fundamental studies aimed at the development and testing of school effectiveness models using available theories from the social sciences. A list of concrete items for the school effectiveness research agenda is the result of this exploration of conceptual and theoretical issues. 1. Commissioned by the Institute for Educational Research (SVO) in the Netherlands

Modeling the influence of school leaders on student achievement: How can school leaders make a difference?

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the means by which principals achieve an impact on student achievement. Research Design: Through the application of structural equation modeling, a mediated-effects model for school leadership was tested, using data from 97 secondary schools in the Netherlands. Findings: The results showed a small positive effect of school leadership on the mean promotion rate in schools, mediated by a development-oriented school organization and favorable classroom practices. The promotion rate may be considered as a measure of efficiency. No indications of direct positive effects of school leader activities on student achievement were found. This might be the result of the relatively small differences in overall student achievement and school leader behavior between the schools studied. Conclusions: The results underline the important role school leaders play in school effectiveness and offer valuable insight in how school leaders actually can make a difference. School leaders were found to have a strong influence on development orientation in schools, which shows similarities with the idea of the “learning organization.” This study points to the importance of school context. The results show that contextual variables have considerable effects on several variables in the model.

Developments in the educational effectiveness research programme

Educational effectiveness as a research programme moved from an input-output paradigm to an input-process-output paradigm and, in view of the fact that so-called contextual school effectiveness is gaining in importance, this might be more properly termed a context-input-process-output-based approach. The aim of this introductory chapter is to put the state of the art of educational effectiveness research into perspective by summarizing the most important developments in output measurement, the identification of relevant input-, process- and contextual conditions and the causal modeling of these categories. Specific consideration is given to the improvement of substantive multi-level models of educational effectiveness and to available theories that could help to reveal the explanatory mechanisms behind these models.

Monitoring school effectiveness in developing countries.

Reviews on school effectiveness research in developing countries indicate that between-school variances are much larger than in industrialized countries. Resource input factors appear to have a larger impact in developing countries, while there are relatively few studies that have focused on instructional processes. Results at this level are not very clear at this stage. Local contexts may shape and interact with conditions that are expected to enhance effectiveness. Given the high stakes that are involved and the degrees of existing variation, school effectiveness studies in developing countries have the potential to be at the cutting edge of empirical school effectiveness research in the near future. Integration and application of the knowledge-base in evaluation and monitoring projects by means of school process indicators is seen as the most responsible way to use the research findings for improvement purposes.

The use of theory in school effectiveness research revisited

From an international review of 109 school effectiveness research studies, only 6 could be seen as theory driven. As the border between substantive conceptual models of educational effectiveness and theory-based models is not always very sharp, this number might be increased to 11 by including those studies that are based on models that make reference to specific broader conceptual principles. From this perspective, the most important conceptual/theoretical approaches are the dynamic model of educational effectiveness (Creemers & Kyriakides, 2006), micro-economic theory, and organizational scientific perspectives, like the Quinn and Rohrbaugh (1983) competing values framework. As the use of theoretical principles in educational effectiveness research is likely to remain eclectic rather than encompassing and re-constructional rather than pro-active, piecemeal improvement of conceptual models is seen as an effective approach to furthering the field, next to the search for theory-based explanatory mechanisms.