Effective schools,school segregation,and the link with school achievement

This study examines whether 3 teacher-rated aspects of school effectiveness differ across school segregation profiles in Stockholm, and to what extent these indicators are associated with the academic achievement of 9th-grade students. Analyses were based on 2 cross-sectional data collections performed in 2014 and 2016, respectively (147 school units), one among teachers (n = 2,024) and the other among 9th-grade students (n = 9,151). Multilevel analysis was applied, estimating 2-level random intercept linear regression models. Results show that teachers’ ratings of school leadership, teacher cooperation, and school ethos, as well as student-reported marks differ across school segregation profiles. Findings further reveal significant associations between these school effectiveness indicators and student performance, even when taking student family background and the school’s student body composition into consideration. In part, these associations are also identified within segregation profiles. Moreover, results show that school ethos acts as a mediator between school segregation profile and student achievement.     

Executive Functioning and School Readiness Among Preschoolers With Externalizing Problems: The Moderating Role of the Student–Teacher Relationship

Research Findings: The objective of this study was to examine the student–teacher relationship as a potential moderator of the link between executive functioning (EF) and children’s early school readiness among a clinical sample of preschoolers with externalizing behavior problems (EBP). Participants for the study included 139 preschool children (75.54% boys, M age = 5.01 years, 84.94% Hispanic/Latino) with at-risk or clinically elevated levels of EBP. The student–teacher relationship was assessed using the Student–Teacher Relationship Scale. School readiness data were composed of standardized achievement test scores and teacher reports of kindergarten readiness. EF was measured via parent and teacher reports along with standardized measures of EF, including the Head–Toes–Knees–Shoulders task and 4 standardized subtests from the Automated Working Memory Assessment. Poorer student–teacher relationship quality was predictive of lower teacher-reported kindergarten readiness and higher academic impairment. Main effects were qualified by an interaction between EF and student–teacher relationship quality such that worse EF (parent/teacher reports and standardized performance) was only associated with lower teacher-rated kindergarten readiness for children with poorer student–teacher relationship quality. Practice or Policy: EF appears to be an important predictor of school readiness for preschool children with EBP, particularly for children experiencing poorer student–teacher relationships.     

Improving quality and equity in schools in socially disadvantaged areas

Background: Recent effectiveness studies have investigated the relationship between two dimensions of effectiveness – namely, quality and equity. Specifically, the question of whether effective schools can also reduce the initial differences in student outcomes attributed to student background factors has been examined. In this context, the Dynamic Approach to School Improvement (DASI) makes use of theory and the research findings of effectiveness studies to try to improve school effectiveness in terms of quality and equity.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine whether the implementation of DASI in primary schools in socially disadvantaged areas in four European countries (Cyprus, England, Greece and Ireland) was able to promote student learning outcomes in mathematics and to reduce the impact of student background factors on student achievement in mathematics.

Design and methods: A sample of 72 primary schools across the four countries was randomly split into experimental and control groups. At the beginning and at the end of the school year, mathematics tests were administered to all students of Grades 4–6 (n = 5560; student ages 9–12 years). The experimental group made use of DASI. Within-country multilevel regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the impact of the intervention and search for interaction effects between the use of DASI and student background factors on final achievement.

Results: In each country, the experimental group achieved better results in mathematics than the control group. At the beginning of the intervention, the achievement gap based on socio-economic status (SES) was equally large in the experimental and the control groups. Only in the experimental group did the achievement gap based on SES become smaller. However, DASI was not found to have an effect on equity when the equity dimension was examined by focusing on the achievement gap based on either gender or ethnicity.

Conclusions: Implications of findings are drawn and the importance of measuring equity in terms of student achievement gaps based on different background factors, rather than only on SES, is emphasised. We propose the evaluation of the impact of interventions on promoting equity by the use of various criteria.     

Developing and validating an instrument measuring school leadership

In this study, we developed and validated an instrument that researchers can use to measure the collective effort of principals and teachers who excise their own unique leadership to generate (integrated) school leadership. Based on 644 teachers, we found sound psychometric properties of the scales of the instrument and the instrument as a whole. We also explored the predictive properties of the instrument in predicting student achievement at the school level. Based on 53 schools, we found that the instrument can indeed measure the kind of school leadership that really matters to student achievement. When predicting student achievement (at the school level), the instrument tends to be more sensitive to more difficult school subjects (e.g. mathematics), implying that improvement in school leadership would lead to larger improvement in student achievement (at the school level) in more difficult school subjects.     

The Identification and Development of Giftedness as a Paradigm for School Reform

Based on ideas advocated by Paul F-Brandwein's The Gifted Student as Future Scientist, this article summarizes theories of intelligence leading to his theory of the three-ring conception of giftedness and how that theory led to the development of the Schoolwide Enrichment Model. The Schoolwide Enrichment Model provides a detailed model for total school improvement that can be customized based on the local resources, student population, school leadership dynamics, and faculty strengths and creativity of each particular school. The model consists of three service delivery components: The Total Talent Portfolio, Curriculum Modification Techniques, and Enrichment Learning and Teaching, which are brought to bear on three school structures: The Regular Curriculum, Enrichment Clusters, and the Continuum of Special Services. Implementation of this model provides a organizational framework for schools to become places for talent development.     

Adaptation in the transition to school: perspectives of parents,preschool and primary school teachers

Background: Transition to school is a highly demanding phase at an intellectual, social and emotional level and is, therefore, an opportunity for growth and development. Despite the greater emphasis given to school transition in Portugal over recent years, namely by means of new educational policies, studies on the adaptation processes involved in the transition to primary school are still scarce.

Purpose: The present qualitative study sets out to contribute to the knowledge on the adaptation process of children to school transition (around age 6) in Portugal, by comparing preschool teachers’, primary school teachers’, and parents’ perceptions about success indicators and relevant factors in the transition to school.

Design and method: In order to collect data, 14 focus group interviews with different participants were conducted, three with preschool teachers (N = 18), three with primary school teachers (N = 13), four with parents conducted before the child’s transition to primary school (N = 14) and four with parents conducted after the child’s transition to primary school (N = 20).

Results: While the preschool and primary school teachers stressed factors of a family nature, such as parental involvement and parental support of children, the parents referred more frequently to the overall running of the school and the characteristics and methodology of the teacher as being relevant to the adaptation process in the first year of primary education.

Conclusions: The findings suggest different factors associated with adaptation to school and also offer clues for designing strategies to facilitate such adaptation. New strategies are needed to facilitate the construction of a robust educational family–school partnership.     

Providing school-based learning in elementary school mathematics: the case of a professional development school partnership

Abstract

School–university partnerships also known as professional development school (PDS) partnerships provide potential for universities and schools to establish partnerships that can benefit university faculty, school teachers, university students, and school students. This study examines the impact of a PDS partnership in which the author served as a school-based mathematics coach for two years in a high-need elementary school. Data sources included interviews, surveys, and field notes from classroom observations. Inductive qualitative analyses which were situated in a multi-level framework for researching professional development found that teachers posed more cognitively demanding mathematical tasks and high-level questions in year two compared to year one of this project. Further, student achievement was noted on both state-wide and district-created assessments. Also teachers reported that the school-based approach to professional development led to some teachers taking on more informal leadership roles to support their colleagues’ mathematics instruction. Implications for school-based learning opportunities across the world include the need to establish specific university–school partnerships, and carefully designing research studies to examine the impact of these learning opportunities.     

The preparation of Fijian school leaders: a framework for principal preparation in a South Pacific context

ABSTRACT

Increased school autonomy and a greater focus on achieving school effectiveness and improvement has made it essential to reconsider the role of school leaders (OECD 2009, Creating Effective Teaching and Learning Environments: First Results from TALIS. Paris: OECD Publishing). This recommends that leadership development in this rapidly changing world deserves significant consideration compared to the past. With the increasing interest entrusted to school leadership, this article reports on how school leaders are currently prepared by the higher education programmes offered in two out of three universities in Fiji. Through an extensive literature review as well as through programme documents and policy reviews, this article focuses on current educational leadership post-graduate courses offered at these Fijian universities and highlight areas of strengths as well as suggests recommendations for improvement that are in line with identified needs for effective principal preparation in a Fijian context with key connections made to the larger South Pacific region.     

A study of the effect of sustained,whole‐school professional development on student achievement in science

This longitudinal study of middle school science teachers explored the relationship, if any, between teacher participation in whole‐school, sustained, collaborative professional development and student achievement in science. Eleven teachers from Glendale Middle School participated in the Discovery Model Schools Initiative 2‐week summer institute, followed by monthly release day professional development sessions focused on implementing instruction outlined in the National Science Education Standards. Student achievement was assessed using the Discovery Inquiry Test in Science. The same students completed the test in grades 6–8. Students of teachers at Glendale Middle School significantly outperformed students at the control school. Findings in this study revealed the positive impact that whole‐school, sustained, collaborative professional development programs have on student achievement, indicating that programs of this nature could be a means to narrowing or eliminating achievement gaps in science. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 775–786, 2007     

A comprehensive approach to managing school safety: case studies in Catalonia,Spain

Background: Schools should be safe spaces for students, teaching staff and non-teaching staff. For the concept of ‘safety’ to be meaningful, it must be interpreted broadly to encompass well-being in its widest sense. A common challenge for schools and educational authorities is, therefore, to manage school safety appropriately not only to prevent physical accidents and incidents, but also with the purpose of creating an environment that promotes physical, emotional and social well-being, both individually and collectively.

Purpose: The aim of this research paper is twofold: (a) to explore the concept of safety as it is interpreted by schools and analyse the extent to which schools are committed to the goal of creating safe and healthy school environments; and (b) to identify organisational and management practices that promote the safety of school staff and users.

Design, sample and methods: The research was carried out from a qualitative perspective, based on a study of multiple cases carried out in Catalonia, Spain. The case studies (N = 9 schools) were selected by means of a purposive sampling process in order to obtain a selection of schools covering different education stages and under different types of ownership. The data collection process involved carrying out semistructured interviews (N = 39) with school principals, health and safety officers, teaching staff and non-teaching staff; focus groups with families (N = 2) and a review of general documentation and specific safety documents (N = 58). The data collected were completed and verified by means of interviews with experts (N = 3). The interviews, focus groups and notes arising from the document review were transcribed literally and analysed thematically, following a cross-case analysis structure.

Results: The data analysis indicated that creating safe and healthy environments was not always an explicitly endorsed principle or goal for schools. However, all members of the educational community were involved in ensuring adequate levels of school safety; and diverse management and organisational actions and measures were implemented to ensure physical, emotional and social safety.

Conclusions: We conclude that according to a broad interpretation of safety, which encompasses well-being in its widest sense, a comprehensive school safety management approach had not been fully adopted by schools in the studied sample. Whilst involvement in safety practices was evident, many actions appeared to be carried out without full consideration of the wider promotion of school safety. The study suggests the importance of training and awareness activities for education professionals in order to build and promote safety culture and to facilitate the introduction of a comprehensive school safety approach in the day-to-day management of schools.     

An empirical examination of IRT information for school climate surveys

School climate surveys are widely applied in school districts across the nation to collect information about teacher efficacy, principal leadership, school safety, students' activities, and so forth. They enable school administrators to understand and address many issues on campus when used in conjunction with other student and staff data. However, these days each district develops the questionnaire according to its own needs and rarely provides supporting evidence for the reliability of items in the scale, that is, whether an individual item contributes significant information to the questionnaire. The Item Response Theory (IRT) is a useful tool that helps examine how much information each item and the whole scale can provide. Our study applied IRT to examine individual items in a school climate survey and assessed the efficiency of the survey after the removal of items that contributed little to the scale. The purpose of this study is to show how IRT can be applied to empirically validate school climate surveys.     

Student commitment and school organization in relation to on-task behavior and achievement

Three experiments considered student commitment to school, IQ, and school organization type in relation to student task behavior and to school achievement. The first two correlational studies indicated the relationship between student commitment and student task behavior; the third study used student task behavior, student commitment, IQ, and school organization to predict achievement. This prediction equation was quite robust with a final R² = .85. School achievement is predicted by intelligence and academic time on task in traditionally structured schools, and by intelligence and student commitment in open structured schools. Increasing the amount of teacher directed time would increase achievement in traditional schools, but decrease achievement in open schools.     

Radical student participation: lessons from an urban government primary school in Tigray,Ethiopia

Recent policies in Ethiopia put students at the heart of school improvement through structures for peer leadership and school-level consultation, evaluation and decision-making. This article draws on an ethnographic study of a government school in Tigray, Ethiopia, to explore how the participation and influence of students is achieved and mediated by structures and processes in school. Three key contexts of student participation are explored: positions of peer leadership (monitor, ‘one-to-five’ network leader); public evaluation sessions (gim gima); and the Parent Student Teacher Association (PSTA). Recommendations are made for sharing and strengthening democratic practices and for future research.     

Two worlds,one site: leading practices and transitions to school

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an account of a cross-sectorial study investigating whether shared understandings of practices might enhance continuity during transitions to school. Applying an ontological lens to cross-sectorial leading practices, the paper sheds light on the contextualised realities of transitions to school as a site specific lived experience. The paper begins with an overview of the ways transitions to school practices are understood, including emerging perspectives of transitions as continuity practices. Then, cross-sectorial concepts of leadership and leading are presented to highlight fundamental differences in the ways these practices are enacted across the sectors. The paper presents empirical evidence of the ways leading practices can work to establish shared understandings of transitions to school practices and policies. Given ‘little research has been done on the direct effects of leadership on transitions’ (OECD. [2017]. Starting Strong V: Transitions from Early Childhood Education and Care to Primary School. Paris: OECD Publications, 95) the paper contributes to emerging discourses that construct transitions to school as continuities.     

Teachers’ Marks and Intelligence

ABSTRACT

The authors conducted a third-party study of the student achievement effects of Struggling Schools, a user-generated approach to Comprehensive School Reform (CSR). The design was a quasiexperimental, pre–post matched sample (N = 180) with school as unit of analysis, drawing on 3 years of achievement data from standardized external assessments. Struggling Schools had a statistically significant positive effect on Grade 3 reading achievement (effect size = .48 in 2005–2006 and .60 in 2006–2007). There were enduring achievement effects 2 years after exit from the program. The outcomes indicate that CSR approaches based on capacity building, partnerships with an external agency, and accountability enhance student learning.     

A literature review of school leadership policy reforms

This literature review aims to understand the factors that influence the adoption of school leadership policy reforms and whether there are some common trends that lead to policy changes in this area. The main question driving the study was the following: what are important reasons or contextual factors that have influenced the adoption of school leadership policy reforms? The analysis shows that there is an eclectic set of research that covers school leadership from different perspectives. Each tackle the question of school leadership reform adoption from different angles. A policy perspective associates school leadership reforms to contextual changes in relation to decentralisation, school autonomy, accountability or an increasing emphasis on education outcomes. School improvement perspectives acknowledge the key role of school leadership in education change. The research on school leadership impact has contributed to the adoption of school leadership reforms. The school leadership policy perspective shows that countries have introduced school leadership reforms, with practices varying by country and context. Some have been interpreted as a response to a new public management agenda or to the globalisation of education policies. Findings from this review indicate that whilst there is much research on school leadership, nevertheless, analysis and promotion of policies to support and strengthen school leader roles to support school improvement appears to have received less attention.     

Stakeholders’ perceptions and recommendations of a high school leadership development programme for athletes in Singapore

ABSTRACT

This study examined the perceptions of key stakeholders of a high school athlete leadership development training programme. Participants included 36 athletes (males = 23, females = 13) from two team sports (rugby n = 11 and volleyball n = 6) and two individual sports (bowling n = 8 and table tennis n = 11), as well as four coaches representing each of these sports and four teachers. Individual interviews were conducted for coaches, teachers, and athlete leaders, while athletes took part in focus group interviews. Inductive thematic analysis was used to analyse all data sets. Results showed that the athlete leadership programme developed qualities such as responsibility, role modelling, motivation, communication, perseverance, and team unity that would help athlete leaders perform their roles and responsibilities. The results also highlighted some limitations including earlier involvement from key stakeholders, tailored training for athlete leaders, and a more effective transfer of learning.     

Dynamics of community participation,student achievement and school management: the case of primary schools in a rural area of Malawi

School management in many sub-Saharan African countries has been enhanced through community participation in an attempt to improve education quality. This study uses field research in a rural district of Malawi to assess how community and parent participation differs between schools, the intentions of communities and parents when carrying out activities in schools, and the mechanism promoting active participation in schools. In high-achieving schools, but not in low-achieving schools, communities and parents were actively involved in events aimed at improving student achievement. Communities and parents considered most highly prioritised activities that directly influenced student achievement, including hiring volunteer teachers, arranging extra classes and holding mock examinations. Community participation did not directly improve student achievement. Instead, when communities and parents actively participated in a school, school management improved, ensuring better student achievement. The implications of this finding are discussed in relation to community participation.     

Relationships between school climate,bullying and delinquent behaviours

Given that schools are, potentially, powerful sites for influencing adolescent behaviour, it is important that there is greater understanding of the psychosocial aspects of the school climate that can be leveraged for this purpose. The research reported in this article used structural equation modelling (with data from a sample of 6120 students at Australian high schools) to examine the influence of the psychosocial school-level environment on students’ self-reported experiences of bully victimisation (i.e. being victims of bullying) and engagement in delinquent behaviours. Further, we examined whether bully victimisation mediated the relationships between school climate variables and delinquent behaviours. School connectedness and rule clarity were negatively associated with both bully victimisation and delinquency (p < 0.05), and teacher support was negatively associated with bully victimisation (p < 0.01), confirming the importance of these aspects of the school-level environment. However, affirming diversity and reporting and seeking help both had positive influences on bully victimisation (p < 0.05), raising concerns about the ways in which these aspects of the school-level environment might have been promoted. Importantly, bully victimisation was found to mediate the influence of five of the six school climate constructs on delinquent behaviours (p < 0.001). This study advance our understanding of how specific aspects of the school climate influence the prevalence of bullying and delinquent behaviour, adding weight to the call for educators to actively monitor and enhance psychosocial aspects of the school climate in order to improve student behavioural outcomes.     

A Descriptive Survey of Why Parents Choose Hybrid Homeschools

ABSTRACT

“Hybrid home schools” are schools in which students attend school with other students for 2 or 3 days per week in traditional classroom settings, and are homeschooled the balance of the week. This exploratory study presents self-reported reasons parents choose these schools, using an electronic survey of parents from four such schools (n = 136; 19% return rate). Findings indicate that families in these schools are relatively wealthier and more suburban than parents using tax credit programs, that they value school structures more than particular student achievement outcomes, and that they seek information on accreditation, curriculum, and the religious nature of schools in making their choices.