The Cardiff programme: An effective school improvement project based upon school effectiveness research

Can Schools Change? I. Outcomes at Six London Secondary Schools

“…Studies of this kind might be undertaken in a variety of different contexts: in schools where we might expect "naturally occurring" change, for example after the appointment of a new Headteacher; in school s involved in one of the increasing number of school improvement programmes, such as the GRIDS project (Abbott, Birchenough & Steadman, 1989); or within an action-research paradigm, where researchers and school staff work together to promote and monitor change (for example, that reported by Reynolds, Davie & Phillips, 1989). In the the research reported here we studied schools in the first and last of these categories to assess the implementation and effects of change.…”

Influencing Educational Practice through Performance Indicators

“…This is emphatically not to say that classroom provision cannot change without external pressure. Clearly teachers change their behaviour in response to classroom situations and react to new ideas (Reynolds et al, 1989) -just as would be expected if one accepts that teachers are responsible people trying hard to do a good job in complex (Lewin, 1993), chaotic (Gleick, 1987) situations where the predictable consequences of one's actions are only clear in the short term.…”

Innovations in Curriculum and Administration School Climate and Other Factors in Greek Primary Schools:their Relationship and Impact on Students' Outcomes

“…In the upshot, the findings of the present study may provide important crosscultural information for those who use the OCDQ-RE instrument to measure school climate and those who are planning to develop a new one for Greece or other countries. More generally, it is claimed that this study will support the more recent efforts of those in the field who attempt systemic change, restructuring of school organisation (Lieberman et al, 1991;Murphy, 1991;Miles, 1993;0'Neil, 1993) in the US, and school based improvement programmes (Hargreaves et al, 1989;Reynolds et al,1989) in Canada and the UK.…”

“…Reviewing the literature, Ranyard (1970), and Schwandt (1978) found that many research efforts focused upon the relationship between organisational climate and a large number of other school variables, such as student progress and achievement (Guy, 1969), school effectiveness , leadership style of the headteacher (Cook, 1965;Roosa, 1968), teacher motivation, and job satisfaction. Continually revising and modifying instruments (Clover, 1984;and Hoy et al, 1991), researchers study the relationships between teacher and headteacher behaviour and the leadership styles of headteacher (Ahmad, 1981;Ogbuokiri, 1983;Abu-Saad, 1995), and the socio-economic level (SEL) of the school community (Brookover, 1978), as well as school effectiveness (Reynolds et al, 1989;Reynolds, 1990;Murphy, 1992;Cheng, 1986), organisational commitment (Tarter, 1990), and faculty trust (Witkoskie, 1991).…”

“…Absence of these supports seem to be the main characteristics of the least innovative schools. Research evidence suggests that the confidence that comes with collégial sharing and support leads to a greater readiness for changes and school improvement (Rosenholtz, 1989;Mortimore et al, 1988;Reynolds, 1989). Campbell (1984) has also noted the importance of teacher collegiality to curriculum development and implementation.…”