Purpose - This study examined the impact of a holistic school improvement model on overall school effectiveness, More specifically, it attempted to answer two questions: 1) Are there any significant differences in school performance between the control group and the experimental group before and after the experiment? 2) Is there any significant improvement in the experimental group school effectiveness before and after the experiment? Methodology - As a part of a four-year longitudinal research project, the study used a quasi experimental research design to examine the impact of a holistic school improvement model on enhancing overall school effectiveness in Oman. The sample consisted of 16 intact classes selected from 8 schools (4 experimental and 4 control groups), with a total of 2378 students (1157 from grade nine classes and 1221 from grade seven classes). The experimental group schools were exposed to a wide range of school improvement activities within a four-year period. A series of workshops on activating the 13 elements of the Innovation Sustainability Wheel (ISW) were delivered to all administrators and teachers at the target experimental group schools, in addition to empowering students through enrichment programs in five subject areas. Data was collected from the Omani Ministry of Education school performance indicators, which included five subject matter achievement tests aggregated over three years. Findings - The study revealed significant differences in overall school performance across the four years between the control and experimental schools, in favour of the experimental group. Moreover, a significant progression of school effectiveness was observed in the two grade levels of the experimental group. Significance - The findings are significant in terms of providing educational systems with a workable mechanism for identifying key areas of weaknesses and means of improvement; establishing a chain of actions for activating all interrelated elements that act as driving forces for sustainable change; ensuring that the indicators of school improvement should include both operational processes and students’ learning outcomes; and contributing to the knowledge base in the area of school improvement in terms of a research-based model that has potential implications for practitioners and policy makers.

This study investigated the perceived knowledge and actual practice of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) among post basic education teachers in Omani schools, along with the influence of gender and length of teaching experience years on teachers’ practice of this approach. It also explored the different challenges faced by teachers when implementing CLT. A total of 122 EFL Omani teachers took part in this study. The respondents completed the following: (1) a twenty-five item questionnaire concerning CLT principles; and (2) a questionnaire regarding the challenges of CLT. The results revealed that Omani EFL teachers have a high degree of awareness of the principles of CLT. However, they practice this approach at a moderate level, while their gender and length of teaching experiences have little impact on their actual practice of this approach. The findings further indicated that the implementation of CLT in Omani classrooms is hindered by: (1) teachers’ lack of training in CLT; (2) lack of time to prepare communicative activities; (3) students’ low levels of proficiency in English; (4) large class sizes; and (5) difficulties assessing the linguistic aspects of the language. This resulted in the drawing up of a number of recommendations.

In light of the need for improving the quality of education and extending the boundaries of students’ learning potential, the Sultanate of Oman has exerted efforts in reforming and restructuring its education system during the past four decades. However, most of the reform initiatives focused on either subsystems or certain driving forces in the education system, and thus, did not result in a sustained school improvement (Osman, 2011). This status quo has led to initiating a large cope project which aims to systemically activate the impact of all interrelated elements in the school system that promote the empowerment of student learning in the Sultanate of Oman. As part of this project, this study aims to examine the collective impact of the proposed model (The Innovation Sustainability Wheel- ISW) on students’ academic performance. The sample included a total of 5513 students from eight schools, divided into two groups: the experimental consists of 2906, and a control group of 2607 students (grades 5 -9). The students’ performance was tested over three years in five subject areas (Math, Science, English, Arabic and IT). The findings revealed that students of the experimental group outperformed their counterparts in the control group both collectively and in each single subject area.