Modelling School Effectiveness

Abstract

In this chapter models of school functioning are discussed. These should be seen within the framework of multi-level educational systems, where the school-level is seen as operating within the context of national structures and policies and as having the function to create facilitating and stimulating conditions for effective instruction at class level. The theoretical models of the school that are discussed are compared to a first impression of the results of empirical school effectiveness research. It appears that each of the models highlights a specific subset of the effectiveness enhancing factors, supported by school effectiveness research. The models that are discussed are: Fend’s theory of the school, schools as professional bureaucracies, schools as learning organizations, and schools as high reliability organizations. In combination with the model that can be induced from the empirical research results, here indicated as the “effective school model,” the models support a selection of relevant school effectiveness enhancing variables. In a summary table these variables are described as results of school management strategies. Several models of the school point are covered and “in-official” organizational behavior that might interfere with rational strategies to enhance effectiveness. Such features of “in-effectiveness” will be analyzed in more detail in Chap. 11.