The Chilean education system is an emblematic case of school management privatization, with the majority of schools operating under government funding, but private administration. This article addresses the incidence of this dimension on school leadership, showing the differences and continuities established among primary school principals in the…

Teachers spend most of their time in school in classrooms, and their instruction and teaching practices may be affected by classroom context such as class size. We examine whether teacher effects interact with classroom context such as class size. Specifically, we seek to determine whether teacher effects are more pronounced in small classes than…

The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether and, if so, how formal teacher competence relates to the relationship between pupil reading achievement and teachers judgements' of pupils' reading achievement. The data come from the Swedish participation in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) 2001 in…

This article reports on Nevada's Reading First program and positions it as a source of reflection for future worldwide literacy reform efforts. Qualitative methodology was used for this analysis. Students' literacy achievement improved throughout the program until the last year of implementation. Students who remained at a Reading First…

In this study, we examine to what extent psychosocial student outcomes in primary school children vary between classes, and whether elements of teaching can explain some of this variation. Starting with a sample of 379 kindergarten children out of 24 classes, academic achievement and behaviour problems were assessed in 2 consecutive years.…

The present study examined whether a short but regularly used program of relaxation, applied to Primary and Secondary school children, could (a) reduce noise levels (in decibels), (b) reduce pupils' experienced stress levels, and (c) increase the pupils' ability to concentrate, as measured by teachers' estimates. Noise levels in 5 classrooms (84…

Constructivist ideas have influenced recent major innovations in Dutch secondary education and new curricula for reading and math in primary education, for example, pay much more attention to metacognition than before. In our study, we compared the growth of student metacognition in varying learning environments, direct instruction, and cognitive…

Most research on bullying in schools has focussed on characteristics of bullies or victims, and their families. Relatively little has investigated the school's contribution to pupil bullying. Information was obtained from teachers in 22 Norwegian primary schools on bullying and 3 aspects of professional culture. The school highest in bullying had…

This article explores the concept of compositional effects in school effect studies, their generation and some of the difficulties that arise in their interpretation. Some basic issues are addressed using data from a New Zealand study of secondary schools, and further illustration of some of the "pitfalls" is provided from an English study of…