EFFECTIVE SCHOOL

AND EFFECTIVE
PRINCIPAL
Lecture 2
What does Finnish
(Finland) school
system has that we
don’t have?
 Can you give me your
description on….
good school or bad school?

Excellent school or under

performing school?

effective school or ineffective

school?
Why effective school is
important?
 Effective school /
Need to improve school effectiveness
(school
improvement)
focused on pupil outcomes and
mainly concerned with the the characteristics of schools
processes through which schools and classrooms that are
can raise standards: the changes associated with these
they can make and the strategies outcomes.
they can use to improve pupil
outcomes.
• The terms 'school effectiveness'
and 'school improvement' are
often used interchangeably, and
while they are closely linked in
practice, they are not the same.
• There is therefore a very close link
between the two concepts, as will
be seen in the definition. In short,
school effectiveness is trying to
find out what makes some
schools better than others, while
school improvement is trying to
find out how schools can change
in order to improve.
•The central focus of school
effectiveness research concerns the
idea that "schools matter, that’s
schools do have major effects
upon children's development and
that, to put it simply, schools do
make a difference" (Reynolds &
Creemers, 1990).
 BASIC FRAMEWORK
System Model

input process output

Black box

Students Leadership
Facilities School achievement
Teaching and
Teachers Students’ attitude
learning
leaders Students’ character
School environment
BLACK BOX
•the black box processes
take place that transform
inputs into outputs
•When it is attempted to
further describe these
processes in terms of
which process
characteristics are most
effective in obtaining
desired levels of outputs,
the SYSTEM MODEL
becomes more elaborate.
 Definition

School vs Effective
effectiveness school
• The concept ‘effectiveness’ refers to an
organisation accomplishing its specific objectives
(Beare, Caldwell & Millikan, 1989:11).
• School effectiveness therefore means ‘the school
accomplishes its objectives’.
• School effectiveness can therefore be regarded
as a distinct characteristic of an effective school.
 Internal vs external
effectiveness
•Internal school effectiveness can be regarded
as the school’s technical effectiveness if its
outputs are limited to what happens in or just
after schooling (e.g. learning behaviour,
acquired skills and changes in attitude), while
external school effectiveness can be
regarded as the positive impact of the
school’s outputs on society or on individuals’
lives (e.g. social mobility, earning power and
work productivity).
 Development of theories of school
improvement and effectiveness

many researchers argued that home

During
background, social class and economic status
the
were the main factors influencing a child's
1960s
educational achievements. This argument, that
and
social deprivation casts a shadow over children's
1970s,
schooling was, and is still accepted,

but the question remained about the degree to

which schools themselves affect educational
achievement.
Cont’d
researchers began to examine whether
schools could have a significant impact on
the achievement of young people,
During irrespective of their social background.
the Techniques began to be developed both in
1970s Britain and the United States offering the
and opportunity of analysing what is now often
termed ‘added-value’, This in simple terms
1980s
refers to the additional learning that a school
has brought to the attainment of pupils. How
much progress have they made? How much
learning has the school added over a given
period of time.
Cont’d

• The research demonstrated that

some schools add more learning
than others; some schools are
therefore more effective than
others. It also allowed
comparisons to be made
between schools with different
catchment areas, and between
schools serving similar
communities across the country
(sometimes referred to as
‘statistical neighbours’).
 Cont’d

• Researchers were interested in understanding

why similar cohorts of pupils performed
differently in different schools. The goal of
the research was to be more specific about
why some schools were more effective than
others, and then to use the results to tell all
schools how to become effective – a kind of
knowledge transplant intended to help all
schools become more effective.
 What are the
indicator of effective
school?
Source: Sammons et. al, 1995
Effective leadership

• Almost every single study of school

effectiveness has shown both
primary and secondary leadership to
be a key factor
• no evidence of effective schools with
weak leadership has emerged
• Leadership is not simply about the
quality of individual leaders
• It is also about the role that leaders
play, their style of management,
their relationship to the vision,
values and goals of the school, and
their approach to change.
• different styles of leadership can be associated
with effective schools, and a very wide range of
aspects of the role of leaders in schools have been
highlighted.
• Bossert et al (1982) concluded "no simple style of
management seems appropriate for all schools ...
principals must find the style and structures most
suited to their own local situation" (p38).
• three characteristics have frequently been found to
be associated with successful leadership: strength
of purpose, involving other staff in decision-making,
and professional authority in the processes of
teaching and learning.
a)Firm and purposeful
• Effective leadership is usually
firm and purposeful
• headteacher (or principal in
American studies) to be the key
agent bringing about change in
many of the factors affecting
school effectiveness (Gray, 1990;
United States Department of
Education, 1987).
• outstanding leaders tend to be
proactive
Cont’d
• heads place a great emphasis on recruitment and
also point to the importance of consensus and unity
of purpose in the school's senior management team
• E.g. Recruitment: Staff stability – capable of
working together towards effectiveness
• Brokerage: the ability to mediate or 'buffer' the
school from unhelpful change agents, to challenge
and even violate externally-set guidelines (Levine
&Lezotte, 1990; Hopkins, Ainscow & West, 1994).
Cont’d

• Successful efforts to obtain

additional resources, :or
example through grants, or
contributions from local
business and the
community
• support from outside
agencies for school
improvement: establish and
sustain regular contact with
these networks
b) A participative approach
•Participative decision
making – management
team, teachers
•Collaborative culture
•delegation of some of the
responsibilities of
leadership
Effective principal
The Impact of an Effective Principal Schools with highly
effective principals have:
• Standardized test scores that are 5 to 10 percentile points
higher than schools led by an average principal
• Fewer student and teacher absences • Effective teachers
who stay longer
• Ineffective teachers typically replaced with more effective
teachers
• Principals who are more likely to stay for at least three years
Effective principals have the most impact in elementary
schools and in high-poverty, high-minority schools. (From Hull,
2012)
c) The leading professional
• This implies involvement in and knowledge about
what goes on in the classroom, including the
curriculum, teaching strategies and the monitoring of
pupil progress (Rutter et al, 1979;Mortimore et al,
1988a).
• In practice this requires the provision of a variety of
forms of support to teachers, including both
encouragement and practical assistance (Levine &
Stark, 1981; Murphy, 1989).
Cont’d

• It also involves the head projecting a 'high‘ profile

through actions such as frequent movement
through the school, visits to the classroom and
informal conversation with staff (Sizemore et al,
1983; Mortimore et al, 1988a; Pollack et al,1987;
Teddlie et al, 1989).
• Known as Instructional Leadership
Characteristics of an Effective Principal
Principals who are highly effective are more
likely to:

• Have more than three years of leadership experience

overall
• Have at least three years of leadership experience at
that school
• Share leadership responsibilities, rather than just
delegate paperwork
• Have a clear sense of instructional goals
Cont’d

• Give ongoing, informal feedback and support

toward goals
• Conduct unannounced, informal teacher
evaluations or classroom visits and give feedback
afterwards
• Have school boards and superintendents who
exhibit a clear vision of what constitutes a good
school and create a framework that gives principals
both autonomy and support to reach those goals
(From Hull, 2012)
Effective Principals Support Teachers
Teachers say that principals provide instructional
support by:
• Emphasizing the value of research based strategies and
applying them effectively to their own school
• Encouraging teacher collaboration
• Providing more time for teacher planning
• Observing teachers’ work
• Offering constructive feedback
• Providing instructional guidance
• Developing an atmosphere of caring and trust (From Hull, 2012)
Effective Districts Support Principals
Principals believed that districts have the greatest
role in improving their effectiveness by providing:
• Strong guidance on curricular and instructional
improvements
• Guidelines to help shape and support motivation for change
within their own schools
• Clear expectations for certain leadership practices
• A clear vision of what constitutes a good school
• Autonomy to make decisions within the framework of the
strategic plan
Cont’d
• Tools and processes that principals can use to ensure
instruction is aligned with the district’s goals and
standards
• High-quality professional development for principals
and teachers
• A culture and support for the use of data beyond
simple test scores to improve student outcomes
Districts also can improve principal effectiveness by
regularly identifying promising principal candidates
within schools and helping create a smooth transition
when a principal decides to leave. (From Bottoms &
Schmidt-Davis, 2010)