School Effectiveness Research Articles

The Impact of Family Parent-child Games and Attachment Relationships on Children's Social Adaptability

This paper explores the impact of family parent-child games (PCG) and attachment on children's social adaptability in depth. PCG, which include a variety of types, positively affect children's cognitive development, emotional development, social skills (SS) training, and adaptive behavior. Attachment are divided into secure, avoidant, and resistant types, among others. A secure attachment (SA) helps children establish a positive self-concept, promotes exploratory behavior, enhances cognitive development, regulates emotions, and develops SS, which are also crucial to children's adaptive behavior. PCG and attachment influence each other and jointly affect children's adaptability. A positive family environment (FE) is conducive to the development of both. Strategies to promote children's social adaptability include enhancing the quality and frequency of PCG, establishing secure attachment, and leveraging the collaborative effects of family, school, and society. In summary, family PCG and attachment significantly impact the development of children's social adaptability. Parents should value and cooperate with schools and society to create a favorable growth environment for children.

Supporting Transition Resilience Among Newcomer Groups (STRONG): Examining effectiveness and acceptability in urban public schools.

The Supporting Transition Resilience Of Newcomer Groups (STRONG; Hoover et al., 2019) program was developed to support mental health among newcomer refugee and immigrant students by (1) promoting positive adjustment during resettlement through a trauma-informed, strengths-based approach, contextualized to meet the needs of refugee and immigrant youth; and (2) improving access to services through school-based programming. The purpose of this study was to examine the acceptability and effectiveness of STRONG on the mental health and resilience of refugee and immigrant students using a group randomized waitlist control design. A sample of 64 newcomer students (Mage = 13.9, SD = 3.11; 41% female) was recruited to participate in the STRONG program, representing 19 different countries of origin and diverse ethnicities (44% Latiné; 34% Asian; 13% Middle Eastern/North African; 8% African/Black). Additionally, teachers or administrators from each participating STRONG school completed interviews, while group facilitators (e.g., clinicians and bilingual teachers) were invited to participate in focus groups. This study provides preliminary evidence that STRONG supports newcomer mental health, with students in the immediate treatment group showing reductions in anxiety/depression and externalizing symptoms compared to the waitlist. Qualitative findings provide additional support for the acceptability and benefits of this intervention. However, coping efficacy unexpectedly decreased, and several interactions with school type (e.g., high school vs. elementary) emerged. Additional research is warranted to further evaluate this promising intervention for newcomer youth.

An investigation to evaluate the effectiveness of a primary school's improvement plan focusing on maths attainment and progress through problem solving.

An investigation to evaluate the effectiveness of a primary school's improvement plan focusing on maths attainment and progress through problem solving.

School Effectiveness, Equity, and Multilingual Learners: Examining the Status of Multilingual Learner Education Through School Accreditation

School Effectiveness, Equity, and Multilingual Learners: Examining the Status of Multilingual Learner Education Through School Accreditation

What’s driving girls’ adolescent marriage decline in Rakai, Uganda? The interplay between adolescent pregnancies and social determinants, 1999 – 2018

ABSTRACT Few studies have sought to untangle the influence of social determinants and pregnancy on adolescent marriage declines. Using longitudinal data from 15- to 17-year-old girls in the Rakai Community Cohort Survey, we assessed how education, socio-economic status, orphanhood and pregnancy contributed to trends in adolescent marriage. We examined descriptive trends and logistic regressions of the associations between social determinants and adolescent marriage and conducted causal mediation analysis to assess the extent to which pregnancy mediated the effect of education on marriage. Between 1999 and 2018, adolescent marriages and pregnancies dropped substantially (24–6% and 28–8%). Girls’ secondary schooling was strongly associated with lower marriage risk (aOR marriage = 0.09; 95% CI = 0.07–0.12), accounting for time. Lower pregnancy rates partially explained the effect of secondary schooling on lower adolescent marriage (aOR indirect effect = 0.55; 95% CI = 0.421–0.721). Findings affirm the importance of education in preventing adolescent marriages but call attention to the role of pregnancies in influencing adolescent marriages.

When the Burden Lifts: The Effect of School and Day Care Reopenings on Parents’ Life Satisfaction

AbstractThe availability of childcare services eases parents’ daily lives and research has shown that it positively affects well-being, especially for mothers. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted established childcare arrangements, with school and day care closures adding to parental burdens. Despite extensive discourse on the influence of these closures on parental well-being, few studies have empirically analysed the effects of the increase in childcare responsibilities associated with the closures on the well-being of parents. We seek to address this gap by examining the impact of school and day care reopenings on parental well-being. We expect that parents’ life satisfaction will increase when schools and day care facilities are reopened—and that this effect is particularly strong for mothers. Leveraging the variation in the time of reopenings across Germany’s federal states, we employ a difference-in-differences and a difference-in-difference-in-differences approach to assess changes in well-being. The research design accounts for state-level differences and potential confounding factors related to the pandemic. By using data from the German IAB-HOPP study, which offers timely measures of life satisfaction, we aim to quantify the effects of reopenings on parental well-being. Results show only a small and marginally positive effect of reopenings on average life satisfaction among parents. However, this is due to a strong and significant effect of reopenings on mothers’ life satisfaction and no significant effect for fathers. Our findings contribute to research on the division of unpaid labour and childcare and support the notion that public childcare provision is crucial, particularly for mothers’ life satisfaction.

Investigating principals’ roles in stem teachers’ effectiveness

This study aimed to assess the impact of principals' role on STEM teachers’ effectiveness among public senior secondary school teachers in the southern region of Nigeria. The research was guided by four key objectives: to evaluate the influence of principals' supervisory practices on teacher effectiveness, to examine the impact of principals' communication practices on teacher effectiveness, to investigate the correlation between principals' involvement of teachers in decision-making and teacher effectiveness, and to determine the overall level of teaching effectiveness among the teachers in the area. An ex-post-facto research design utilizing correlational and descriptive methods was employed, with data collected from 180 teachers selected through simple random sampling from a population of 328 teachers in public secondary schools in the southern region of Nigeria. The Principals’ Role in Teacher Effectiveness Questionnaire (PRTEQ) was used for data collection. The findings revealed a significant relationship between the quality of supervisory practices provided by principals and teacher effectiveness, a significant correlation between principals' communication practices and increased teacher effectiveness, and a significant relationship between principals' involvement of teachers in decision-making and their effectiveness. Additionally, the study found a high level of teaching effectiveness among the teachers in the area. Based on these findings, it is recommended that principals enhance their supervisory practices, communication, and involvement in decision-making to further improve teacher effectiveness in public secondary schools.

Phenomenographic Analysis of School Principals’ Understandings of Teachers’ Idiosyncratic Deals

Purpose: Idiosyncratic deals (i-deals) is a concept that describes agreements between an employer or its representative and individual employees on personalized arrangements that benefit both the employee and the organization. The aim of this study is to determine how many different ways school principals understand the i-deals they make with teachers. Method: Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with sixteen school principals who were diversified in terms of the sector (public/private), school level, and gender. This study was conceived in the tradition of phenomenography within the framework of qualitative methodology. Phenomenography is a research method that aims to reveal how many different ways a group of participants experience and understand a particular phenomenon. Findings: Results indicate that participants understood these agreements in five different ways: (A1) An acceptable practice to motivate teachers if it does not lead to certain problems. (A2) A practice I would not prefer to the systems I use for problematic issues in my school. (A3) In some cases, it is a practice that teachers deserve. (A4) Although it carries some risks, it is still a necessary practice to increase motivation and remove obstacles to performance, and (A5) A necessary practice to benefit from teachers with key skills. Consistent with the logic of phenomenographic design, these understandings were ordered hierarchically based on the extent to which one understanding encompasses the other. Implications for Research and Practice: Informing all stakeholders of i-deals —particularly the founders who set employment policies in their private schools and all teachers who are sometimes opponents of i-deals granted to their colleagues— about the importance and function of i-deals and the benefits they can provide to school effectiveness will help school principals in their efforts to implement these personalized arrangements.

Inhibitors for the provision of quality education in the selected rural secondary schools from school governance perspective

Over the years, South Africa has experienced a downward trend in the quality of education at the inception of democracy. Statistics from the Department of Basic Education on the matric results from 2014 to 2016 indicate a downward trend in learners' academic performance from the Eastern Cape Province. This is even though SGB is amongst the major stakeholders tasked to promote the quality of education in schools. This paper, therefore, explored the inhibitors to the quality of education in three rural secondary schools in Buffalo City Metro Education District from a point of school governance perspective. Since this study was premised on a qualitative approach, semi-structured interviews were used to collect data from participants. Twenty-two participants were drawn from eighteen SGB members, two secondary school principals, and two Education Development Officers. This paper used the school effectiveness framework as a lens to explain the inhibitors to the quality of education in the selected rural secondary schools from a school governance perspective. Findings reveal a lack of capacitation of SGB by school leadership and the Department of Basic Education (DBE), divergent views about the role of school leadership in ensuring effective school governance, and how SGB is involved in financial matters Therefore, this paper recommends that the DBE organize extensive training programmes to capacitate school leaders and SGB members on school governance issue, provide supervisory roles in the management of school funding regularly in line with the provision of the SASA 1996

Совершенствование шахматного образования с помощью интерактивных стратегий обучения: комплексный подход

<p>This study aims to identify the correlation between interactive teaching strategies and chess teaching effectiveness in Armenian primary schools. Traditional chess teaching methods often involve rote memorization and abstract rules, while interactive strategies emphasize active learning and practical application of learned knowledge. The authors advocate the inclusion of interactive methods in chess education, such as heuristic conversation, the use of information and communication technologies, modeling, collaborative learning, problem solving, and reflection. The article examines various empirical studies and theoretical approaches that support the effectiveness of interactive learning strategies in developing critical thinking, active student participation, and knowledge retention. 476 students of 5th grade from 42 schools of Armenia (50,2% male) took part in the study, they had learned chess in previous three years (in 2-4th grade). The study's results demonstrate that all indicators of interactivity, according to students' perceptions, significantly correlated with the results of the chess test. Analysis of the results allows us to confirm the hypothesis about the correlation between interactive learning strategies and the effectiveness of chess learning. We propose reconsidering pedagogical approaches, restructuring curricula, and providing training and professional development opportunities for chess teachers to effectively implement interactive methods in their teaching.</p>

Kepemimpinan Transformasional Untuk Kepala Sekolah Indonesia: Konsep Dan Pengukurannya

This study explores the application and significance of transformational leadership among school principals in Indonesia. Transformational leadership is considered a pivotal approach for improving the role of principals in driving positive change within educational institutions, impacting teachers, students, and the entire school community. Drawing on transformational leadership theories by Bass and Avolio (2003), the Principal Leadership Questionnaire (PLQ) is adapted specifically for the Indonesian context, measuring dimensions such as Professional Interaction, Participative Decision-Making, Individual Support, Intellectual Stimulation, and Moral Perspective. This instrument has undergone rigorous validation and reliability testing, confirming its suitability for evaluating teachers' perceptions of principals' leadership effectiveness in Indonesian schools. The study highlights the relevance of transformational leadership in addressing challenges unique to Indonesia's educational landscape, including resource limitations and geographic disparities. It concludes by emphasizing the need for principals to adopt transformational leadership to foster a collaborative school climate and calls for further research on adaptive leadership practices within local contexts. Keywords: Transformational Leadership, Principal Leadership Questionnaire, School Principal, Indonesia’s Education, Applied Psychology.

A maturity model for performance management in education systems: Evidence from Morocco

Performance Management is a major concern to various stakeholders in Education System, it is considered to be key driver to improve school effectiveness and learning quality. However, the complexity of education Systems, has made it challenging to apply an effective PM model. This study paper introduces a maturity model with six dimensions, fifteen Capability Areas and forty-two Best-Practices to assess education systems’ organizational capacity for performance management. It provides deep insights into their structural and functional characteristics and serves as a framework for decision-makers to identify and implement missing practices while enhancing existing ones. The maturity model was developed following the Design Science Research methodology to ensure both rigor and relevance. A bottom-up approach guided its design, integrating insights from extensive literature reviews and lessons learned from benchmark countries. The evaluation process employed a qualitative approach, using focus groups with a carefully selected cohort of academics, experts, and practitioners. The Moroccan case study serves as part of the “Reflection and Learning” phase, providing an initial test for the model and paving the way for further empirical research. Future studies will aim to test, refine, and extend the model, facilitating its application across diverse educational contexts.

Multiple Mediating Roles of Self-Efficacy and Hope in the Relationship Between Teachers' Spiritual Well-Being and Job Satisfaction in Türkiye.

Teachers' job satisfaction is a fundamental factor shaping school effectiveness and productivity. Therefore, identifying the psychological factors that influence job satisfaction is crucial in efforts to enhance teachers' job satisfaction. In this study, we aimed to reveal the multiple mediating roles of self-efficacy and hope in the relationship between teachers' spiritual well-being and job satisfaction.To achieve this aim, we tested our theoretical model with data collected from 356 teachers. The findings suggest that teachers' hope, and self-efficacy partially mediate the relationship between theirspiritual well-being and job satisfaction. These results indicate that teachers' levels of spiritual well-being play an effective role in enhancing job satisfaction via psychological resources such as self-efficacy and hope. In this context, educational leaders should consider teachers' spiritual and psychological needs, organize school environments accordingly, and foster a positive institutional culture.

Classroom Climate Effectiveness in State Vocational High Schools in Padang City

Education plays an important role in creating quality human resources. To create quality human resources, they must have good learning outcomes and good learning outcomes are influenced by one of them by the classroom climate. Therefore, the problem that will be studied in this study is "How effective is the classroom climate seen in terms of 1) student cohesiveness, 2) student activity, 3) timeliness of assignment collection, 4) difficulty in students understanding learning, 5) democracy in the classroom, 6) student discipline, 7) completeness of learning resources, 8) comfort of the learning process in State Vocational High Schools in Padang City?". The type of research used is quantitative descriptive with a population of all students of State Vocational Schools in Padang City totaling 14,159 people, with a sample of 108 people. The size of the sample was determined using the Slovin formula and taken using the proportional stratified random sampling technique. The research instrument used was a questionnaire with a Likert Scale model about class climate which amounted to 45 items. Before the questionnaire is used, its validity and reliability have been tested. From the results of the data processing, it was obtained that the effectiveness of the classroom climate in public vocational high schools in Padang City in the aspects of 1) cohesiveness with an average score of 4.40 is in the effective category, 2) involvement with an average score of 4.25 is in the effective category, 3) difficulty with an average score of 3.77 is in the effective category, 4) speed with an average score of 4.06 is in the effective category, 5) Democracy with an average score of 4.25 is in the effective category, 6) Clarity of rules with an average score of 4.34 is in the effective category, 7) Completeness of resources with an average score of 4.22 is in the effective category, 8) Comfort of the physical environment with an average score of 4.12 is in the effective category. Based on these results, the author suggests that the Effectiveness of Classroom Climate in State Vocational High Schools in Padang City be maintained and needs to be improved again so as to increase the effectiveness of the classroom climate by students which is very effective.

The School Improvement Framework for Indonesia

Indonesia is determined to improve the quality of education. Many topdown policies have been issued to direct the necessary improvement, from making education compulsory from grade 1 to grade 9 in 1977, to the withdrawal of the high-stakes exam policy in 2021. However, none of these policies encourages schools to conduct school improvement plans tailored to their needs. Instead, they tend to be directed towards school effectiveness or quality assurance. The present research aims to formulate a school improvement framework of domains and indicators culturally and institutionally suitable for Indonesian settings. The study implements a systematic literature review methodology to extract and synthesise the most pertinent and prevalent domains from a corpus of relevant literature on school improvement frameworks. Four overarching domains of recommended focal points for school improvement efforts are determined: (1) Teaching and Learning, (2) Leadership and Management, (3) Assessment, and (4) Community and Culture. The research underscores the foundational role of pertinent data collection in these domains. Furthermore, the study discusses the implications of these emerging domains for the academic community and policymakers, highlighting how the proposed framework can significantly contribute to refining school improvement practices and policies in Indonesia. Detailed subdomains and domain indicators serve as theoretical implications to be elaborated in further research.

Quality Teaching in Ekiti State Secondary Schools: An Application of Ordinal Logistic Regression

This study investigates the quality of teaching in secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria, using ordinal logistic regression to examine the impact of teacher demographics and teaching practices on student performance. The research focuses on teachers from six selected secondary schools within Ado-Ekiti, comprising a sample of 295 educators. Data were collected through a structured questionnaire administered via Google Forms and shared on WhatsApp platforms of the respondents. The study analyzes factors such as age, gender, educational background, teaching experience, lesson planning, technology integration, teaching methods, assessment practices, feedback provision, and professional development. Descriptive statistics and ordinal logistic regression were employed to assess the significance of these variables on student performance outcomes. Results indicate that older teachers and female educators positively influence student performance, while frequent integration of technology and rigid lesson planning negatively impact outcomes. The study also finds that regular feedback and active student participation significantly enhance performance. However, attending professional development workshops and the availability of teaching resources showed unexpected negative associations with student performance, suggesting potential issues with the applicability or effectiveness of these resources and training. The study highlights the importance of adaptive teaching methods, supportive administrative practices, and active student engagement in improving educational quality. These findings provide valuable insights for policy makers and educators aiming to enhance teaching effectiveness and student learning in secondary schools in Ekiti State.

Does school leadership affect teacher work engagement in Turkish schools? Investigating the mediating effect of teacher job satisfaction: A multilevel structural equation modelling analysis

Emerging research highlights the central role of leadership in the effectiveness of Turkish schools, particularly in influencing teacher engagement, a key factor in achieving better school outcomes. This study investigated how and under what conditions school leadership is beneficial for teachers’ work engagement using data collected from 368 public secondary school teachers in Turkey. A model was developed to explore the direct and indirect relationships among school leadership, teacher job satisfaction, and work engagement, and it was tested at both the teacher and school levels. A multilevel structural equation model analysis was used to test the developed model. The results indicated that school leadership has a significant impact on teachers’ job engagement, regardless of the school where they work. Furthermore, job satisfaction played a mediating role in the relationship between school leadership and work engagement at both levels. The effect of school leadership on teachers’ work engagement at both levels occurs on the condition that job satisfaction acts as a mediator. This result makes a valuable contribution to the existing literature. Based on the results of the study, we also offer some suggestions for policy makers and school leaders to increase teacher work engagement by emphasising teacher job satisfaction.

Can all roads lead to competency? School levels effects in Licensing examinations scores.

At the foundation of research concerned with professional training is the idea of an assumed causal chain between the policies and practices of education and the eventual behaviours of those that graduate these programs. In medicine, given the social accountability to ensure that teaching and learning gives way to a health human resource that is willing and able to provide the healthcare that patients and communities need, it is of critical importance to generate evidence regarding this causal relationship. One question that medical education scholars ask regularly is the degree to which the unique features of training programs and learning environments impact trainee achievement of the intended learning outcomes. To date, this evidence has been difficult to generate because data pertaining to learners is only rarely systematically brought together across institutions or periods of training. We describe new research which leverages an inter-institutional data-driven approach to investigate the influence of school-level factors on the licensing outcomes of medical students. Specifically, we bring together sociodemographic, admissions, and in-training assessment variables pertaining to medical trainee graduates at each of the six medical schools in Ontario, Canada into multilevel stepwise regression models that determine the degree of association between these variables and graduate performances on the Medical Council of Canada Qualifying Examinations (Part 1, n = 1097 observations; Part 2, n = 616 observations), established predictors of downstream physician performance. As part of this analysis, we include an anonymized school-level (School 1, School 2) independent variable in each of these models. Our results demonstrate that the largest variable associated with performance on both the first and second parts of the licensing examinations is prior academic achievement, notably clerkship performance. Ratings of biomedical knowledge were also significantly associated with the first examination, while clerkship OSCE scores and enrollment in a family medicine residency were significantly associated with the Part 2. Small significant school effects were realized in both models accounting for 4% and 2% of the variance realized in the first and second examinations, respectively. These findings highlight that school enrollment plays a minor role relative to individual student performance in influencing examination outcomes.

School Starting Age, Fertility, and Family Formation: Evidence From the School Entry Cutoff Using Exact Date of Birth

In the past 50 years, the age at first birth in Norway and other European countries has shifted, leading to concerns that individuals begin childbearing too late to reach their intended family size. This article analyzes the effect of school starting age on fertility and family formation by utilizing Norway's age-based school entry policy. Using individual-level register data and a regression discontinuity design, we find that being born after the age cutoff for school start results in an increased age at first birth of 2.9 months for women and 4.0 months for men, whereas completed cohort fertility was unchanged. Similarly, being born after the cutoff increased the age at first marriage by 4.7 months for women and 2.4 months for men, with no effect on the overall probability of having a partner. Results show that age at completed education and earnings development are important mechanisms in this fertility postponement. Additionally, we analyze detailed age- and parity-specific effects, providing important insights into how age at starting school affects fertility timing but not overall fertility.

The Role of Participatory Leadership in Developing Creativity and Increasing Teachers’ Motivation toward Teaching in Saudi Schools

This study examines the relationship between participatory leadership, creativity development, and teacher motivation in Saudi schools, addressing a gap in the theoretical literature. The aim of this study is to understand how leadership styles impact educational outcomes. A descriptive quantitative research design was utilized, involving a thorough review of relevant literature and the administration of a closed-ended questionnaire to a sample of 100 teachers. The questionnaire was designed based on previous studies and validated through a pilot study, achieving a Cronbach's alpha of 0.897 for overall reliability. The results indicate a strong positive relationship between participatory leadership and both creativity development and teacher motivation, with a correlation coefficient of 0.974 (p = 0.000). This finding is consistent with existing literature that emphasizes the benefits of collaborative decision-making and professional development in enhancing job satisfaction and organizational success. The high level of agreement among teachers (mean = 4.09) underscores the significance of participatory leadership in fostering a supportive and innovative educational environment. In conclusion, the study highlights the pivotal role of participatory leadership in enhancing teacher motivation and creativity, which are essential for improving educational outcomes in Saudi schools. The study recommends that school principals adopt participatory practices, involve teachers in decision- making, and offer professional growth opportunities. Training programs on participatory leadership should be implemented, and further research should examine the long- term impacts on student performance and overall school effectiveness.