Improving Schools : Performance and Potential

by Gray, John; Hopkins, David; Reynolds, David; Wilcox, Brian; Farrell, Shaun; Jesson, David; Gray, John

• ISBN13: 9780335203987
• ISBN10: 0335203981
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-05-01
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Summary

* The government has made raising standards in schools a key priority. How have schools been responding? * How rapidly have schools been improving and what strategies have they developed?Based around a major research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, Improving Schools looks at what has been happening across the country in recent years. It draws on unique data about changes in schools' effectiveness over time, exploring the reasons why exam results have continued to rise and what schools have been doing in the name of improvement.Through a series of case studies the research looks at what happened over a five-year period in a wide range of schools facing very different challenges. Some served disadvantaged communities, others more affluent suburbs. Some had 'serious weaknesses' but overcame them; others were already doing well by anyone's standards but continued to improve.What 'worked' in these schools? How far did they simply concentrate on matters of organization, planning and ethos? How many of them got round to tackling issues of classroom teaching and learning? What did they plan to do next? And what further challenges should they anticipate?Teachers and researchers alike will find this a highly readable account of the limits and possibilities of school improvement in action.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	vi
List of Figures and tables	vii
The rise of school Improvement	1	(6)
Part I Frameworks and Assumptions	7	(44)
A nation on the move?	9	(12)
How to improve: debates, controversies and traditions	21	(16)
Frameworks for judging school improvement	37	(14)
Part II Case studies of schools	51	(64)
Struggling to change	55	(19)
Getting into the pack	74	(16)
A simple case of leadership	90	(9)
Moving (and staying) ahead	99	(16)
Part III Patterns of change?	115	(38)
Starting-points and patterns of change	117	(12)
Some correlates of school improvement	129	(7)
Building for improvement	136	(17)
References	153	(8)
Name index	161	(2)
Subject index	163