Roelande Hofman

Professional Communities and Student Achievement--A Meta-Analysis

In the past 3 decades, the concept of professional community has gained considerable momentum in the theoretical and empirical studies in this field. At the same time, the concept has faced conceptual and methodological difficulties in that as yet no universal definition has been formulated and that its operationalization differs in the various empirical studies conducted on the subject. This study presents a comprehensive synthesis of the theories currently available and their implications for the conceptualization and operationalization of the professional community concept including a meta-analysis of the studies that investigated the effect of professional community on student achievement. Our meta-analysis reported a small but significant summary effect (d = .25, p < .05), indicating that within a school environment professional community could enhance student achievement. Furthermore, the need for the conceptual and empirical validation of the concepts key dimension was discussed.

School governance, culture, and student achievement

This paper examines the influence of different social contexts of schooling on the effectiveness of schools, and is based on the premise that higher organizational levels influence all that takes place in the levels below them. This research depicts the core levels of school governance, school community, classroom culture, and their impact on student learning, and specifically studies the influence of the administrative and governance structures of public and private schools on the underlying level of the community of these schools. In turn, it is expected that the school community influences the educational culture of the primary learning process of pupils in classrooms. The results of multilevel analyses show that the differences in the maths achievement of pupils can be explained, in part, by these social contexts of learning. Furthermore, the findings show that coherence between school governors, school leaders, teachers and the school community (parents) produces a sense of community that, in turn, shapes conditions in schools that have a positive effect on pupil achievement. Differential effects of schooling in public and private education are mediated by the school governance characteristics of these schools, especially the differences in influences of the school community (parents) on the policy of the school board.

The effectiveness of cohesive schools

This paper presents the findings of research into leadership and management of secondary education using configuration theory. Based on data from almost 100 secondary schools (school leaders and department heads), three different styles of management are distinguished. These leadership or management styles are based on the extent to which school leaders and departments heads make use of a set of six coordination mechanisms based on Mintzbergs configuration theory. Multilevel analysis has been used to determine the extent to which these leaderships styles affect student performance. Results show that one leadership style fits the definition of an effective type of management. In schools with such a leadership style, students reach higher achievement levels in mathematics than students in the other schools.

Contextual Influences on School Effectiveness: The Role of School Boards

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research project is to investigate if characteristics of school boards and their administrative control do explain variance among schools in pupil achievement in the cognitive domain. A combination of findings of research on school effectiveness and organizational effectiveness, gives the ground for the framework of school boards’ administrative control used in this study. A random sample of 133 school boards and one specific primary school, selected out of the total number of schools they oversee, was drawn. The findings show that characteristics of school boards do explain variance in cognitive achievement. Even after controlling for student background and school characteristics, school boards do make a difference. School boards that involve school team and parents (committee) in their decision‐making process manage schools with relatively better results in the cognitive domain.

Variation in effectiveness between private and public schools: the impact of school and family networks

Abstract Building upon the assumption that cohesion between different levels of the school is essential to the schools’ effectiveness, the hypothesis is tested that a close kinship between school and parental community causes a positive effect on student outcomes in primary schools. Recent theories regarding the effects of ‘functional communities’ on academic achievement mainly focus on the characteristics of the parental community that surrounds a school. Recognizing, however, that schools differ regarding their responsiveness to the role of parents and other actors around the school, our expectation is that a definition of functional community which comprises interactions between characteristics of the parental network around the school and the governance structure of the school offers a better explanation of variation in student achievement. Based on a national sample of 90 schools for primary education in the Netherlands, our analysis shows that the differences in math achievement for public and priva...

Comparing key dimensions of schooling: towards a typology of European school systems

‘Institutional context’ has come to play an important role in the explanation of differences in ‘effectiveness’ between schools. But what is meant by such a concept differs from system to system. In this study we typify education systems based on indicators of institutional contexts such as: the financial base of public‐private education/schools, differences in their governance structure, locus of control, and the degrees of freedom of (parental) school choice available in countries. We develop configurations of education systems based on these institutional context characteristics and establish the relationships between quality and equity of West European education systems and certain institutional characteristics.

Smart Management in Effective Schools: Effective Management Configurations in General and Vocational Education in the Netherlands

Purpose: In this study the authors focus on different (configurations of) leadership or management styles in schools for general and vocational education. Findings: Using multilevel (students and schools) analyses, strong differences in effective management styles between schools with different student populations were observed. Conclusions: The authors present a description of relevant management factors in different educational contexts.

School Self-Evaluation Instruments: An Assessment Framework.

Many instruments for school self‐evaluation have become available in primary education; however, they vary in focus, quality and type (e.g., questionnaires, tests, observations, classroom consultation, quality maps, quick scans, etc), creating problems for schools in selecting instruments fitting their specific situations. Research has been conducted to design a reliable and valid assessment framework for school self‐evaluation instruments. Three research questions will be addressed in this study. First, what contents and criteria should lay the foundation of an assessment framework for school self‐evaluation instruments? Second, what scientific criteria should be taken into account to construct a reliable and valid framework that produces consistent assessments? Third, how can such a framework be most useful for schools? Several research methods were employed; including a literature scan approach, including theoretical perspectives of accountability and school improvement, a focus‐group approach, and a try‐out to test the first draft framework. The try‐out shows a fairly high inter‐rater reliability. However, it is concluded that a fair within‐group comparison of the instruments on the Internet should include subgroup‐specific overviews dependent on the focus of the school self‐evaluation instrument (accountability, school improvement, or both focuses).

Internal versus external quality management

This article presents the findings of research into quality management in Dutch elementary schools using theories of school accountability and school improvement as fundamentals. The study is based on data gathered from almost 1000 school leaders. It attempts to determine whether different types of quality management exist in primary schools. Schools are classified into four types of quality management. The results show that one cluster of schools developed an advanced type of quality management. When compared with the other clusters, schools of this type are unique in many ways. First of all, from the perspectives of school accountability and improvement these schools are the most active in terms of determining and improving their quality. Furthermore, this type of quality management produces a higher quality of teaching–learning than the other three types of quality management. Apart from this, it is interesting that the results of the study show that there are only slight discrepancies between quality assesments by the schools themselves (internal) and the judgements of the Inspectorate of Education (external). Furthermore, all four types of school support the quality indicators that the Inspectorate uses to asses the schools’ quality management. However, interestingly, the more advanced type of quality management supports these indicators significantly more strongly than the other types.

Educational Innovation, Quality, and Effects : An Exploration of Innovations and Their Effects in Secondary Education

Despite the extensive literature on educational innovations, there is only limited empirical research available into the impact of innovations on student achievement. In this article, the following research questions will be answered: What form do innovations in secondary education take, are there types of innovative schools, and what effect do these innovations have on school quality and student careers? The findings show that types of innovative schools differ significantly on quality assessments aspects of the Inspectorate of Education, quality of “time,” and of the “teaching-learning process.” Furthermore, the school output data showed that in the lower education tracks the more innovative schools obtain good results with their students, whereas in the higher education tracks the less innovative schools perform significantly better.