Effective Schools and Effective Local School Systems

Abstract

Research on effective schools has tended to see the individual school as the relevant unit of analysis. Individual schools exist first and foremost for their students. As a result a school's effectiveness has usually been defined in terms of its efficiency in helping students learn, its holding power and the degree to which discipline problems are minimal. Rotem has a population of approximately 30,000. It has 10 elementary schools, three junior high schools and two high schools. Perhaps the most central characteristic of an effective system is its positive image as active and dynamic. This chapter discusses some of the defining characteristics of effective local educational systems. It examines the relationship between these and some of the defining characteristics of individual effective schools. In choosing whether to concentrate efforts in one or two schools or to work with all the schools, one must also consider the fact that the relationship between achievement scores and image is not linear.