This paper presents the methods and the main results of the 6 studies which were conducted in order to test the validity of the comprehensive model of educational effectiveness. The synthesis of these studies reveals that some support to the model has been provided. It is also demonstrated that 2 characteristics of the comprehensive model…

The initiatives for educational effectiveness experienced 3 waves of movements. Each wave had its own paradigm in conceptualizing the nature of education and its effectiveness and formulating related initiatives for improvement of educational practice in the classroom. This article aims to discuss how the conceptualization and characteristics of…

The purpose of this article is to improve our understanding of data-driven decision-making strategies that are initiated at the district or system level. We apply principal-agent theory to the analysis of qualitative data gathered in a case study of 4 urban school systems. Our findings suggest educators at the school level need not only systemic…

The implementation of the ISO 9000 international quality management system in education has become a debated trend. Building on the literature, this study did not attempt to end the debate over ISO 9000 in education but looked at the problem with a new perspective. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that relate to the time required…

School safety has become an important area of concern for school improvement. This study examined the effects of staff training as means of improving school responses to student threats of violence. A multidisciplinary sample of 351 staff from 2 school divisions completed pre-post training surveys as part of a 1-day training program using the…

This article examines school leadership in the context of Taiwanese educational reform since the mid-1990s. The goal of the inquiry is twofold: to explore the conflicts that school administrators have confronted in facilitating school reform and to analyze the strategic and innovative leadership practices that have facilitated improvements in…

Effectiveness studies have largely concentrated on the school as the unit of analysis, although an increasing number have directed their attention to the teacher as the main unit of interest. But policy is often directed through organisations at the district level or what is sometimes known as the Education Authority (EA). Few studies have…

The Ministry of Education in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced that changes will be made in the ways in which its schools are managed. At present, most decisions are made centrally by the Ministry of Education, but moves have begun to decentralize some responsibilities and decisions to schools. The success of such reform is likely to be…

This study elaborates the "what works?" question by exploring the effects of variability in program implementation quality on achievement. Particularly, the effects on achievement of computerized assessment of reading were investigated, analyzing data on 51,000 students in Grades 1-12 who read over 3 million books. When minimum implementation…

School effectiveness research often uses multilevel models in which only direct effects of characteristics of schools on pupil achievement are modelled. Recently, more attention is given to conceptual models that assume indirect and antecedent effects. In this paper, we elaborate on these models and show that the findings from school effectiveness…

Ten-year-old students in an experimental group and a control group were tested for metacognitive abilities in reading comprehension before and after implementation of treatment in the experimental group. The teachers of the students in the experimental group were trained in metacognitive strategy instruction and in optimizing instruction time for…

Canadian data from the 1998 Cross-National Survey on Health Behaviors in School-Aged Children were analyzed to examine the effects of school experiences on personal health (physical health, mental health, self-esteem, helplessness, and body image) and interpersonal relationships (number of close friends and making friends) among adolescents.…

There is still little consensus on whether and how teaching is affected by small and large classes, especially in the case of students in the later primary years. This study investigated effects of class size on teaching of pupils aged 7-11 years. We used a multimethod approach, integrating qualitative information from teachers' end-of-year…

This research provides policy-makers, researchers, and educators at all levels with a glimpse of the contextual influence on effective school improvement (ESI) in 8 European countries. What are the factors at the contextual level, particularly at the national level, which influence ESI? Are there any similarities or differences between the…

Several factors in the H. J. Walberg Educational Productivity Model, which assumes that 9 factors affect academic achievement, were examined with a limited sample of 1st-year students in the University of Groningen. Information concerning 8 of these factors--grades, motivation, age, prior achievement, home environment, support from peers,…