Contextual Differences in Models for Effective Schooling in the USA

Abstract

Effective schools research has become a popular basis for a large and increasing number of school improvement models and studies. There is consensus among many school administrators and school effectiveness advocates on five correlates of school effectiveness popularized by Edmonds: basic skills acquisition, high expectations for student achievement, strong instructional leadership, frequent monitoring of student progress, and orderly environment. This chapter provides a brief summary of methods from recent studies of school effectiveness in Louisiana. It provides a listing of the contextually sensitive characteristics of effective schools from different socioeconomic status (SES) levels. Data from many studies indicate that there are a number of characteristics of effective schools that should be found regardless of the SES of the school. These include: clear academic mission and focus, orderly environment, high academic engaged time-on-task, and frequent monitoring of student progress. The teachers in the low-SES effective schools were the least experienced of the groups of low-SES schools.