School Effectiveness and School Systems.

This paper does not attempt to provide an analysis of the internal factors that make for an effective school. There is a large body of literature on this matter, and much of it makes good sense. Factors such as support for good teaching and teacher development, quality leadership, proper planning, the instructive use of data, planned programs, and high and clear expectations of students all make common sense and appear to be backed by the literature. There is a need for caution on two fronts, however. First schools are diverse and complex social institutions. For example there is a vast difference between a school with students from low income families located in regions with poor economic opportunities and high degrees of community stress, and a school whose enrolments require parents to pay very large fees. It is difficult to see how the literature can generalize to any great extent. As well, schools have complex and volatile sociologies. Climates and cultures can be cyclical and relate to a vast range of factors that students and staff bring to them. This is not to say that schools cannot be made more effective through appropriate interventions. But it does suggest that such interventions should not over emphasise formulas for school improvement. Learning and adapting on the ground, a high degree of local knowledge and understanding, and a good knowledge of the trade of schooling also need to be prominent within the mix. Second, schools are part of a system. This does not seem to be acknowledged in a lot of the literature and research on school effectiveness. Schools’ clientele, for example is heavily influenced by their location within a system, and this also applies to nongovernment schools that formally are ‘independent’. There is an observable tendency for some of the formulas for school effectiveness to