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The Society for the Advancement of Excellence in Education provides non-partisan education research and information to policy-makers, education partners and the public. Our purpose is to encourage higher performance throughout Canada's public education system.
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Looking Inside: Successful Schools in Action
Helen Raham, Fall 1999
Our findings make it clear that schools can make the difference in what students learn....
Whether a school improved depended upon what the adults in the school did."
We all know there are wide differences in school outcomes. Even among schools with similar students and challenges, some stand out as achieving better results for their students. Until recently, the factors that contribute to this have been largely unknown.
A new study of 40 public schools of similar demographics in Washington State helps to provide this link between practice and outcomes. Researchers examined 30 elementary schools which significantly improved their achievement results from 1997-99 and 10 schools which did not. The study was looking for differences in practices among these two groups.
Authors Paul Hill and Robin Lake, of the University of Washington Graduate School of Public Policy, report: "Our findings make it clear that schools can make the difference in what students learn... Whether a school improved depended upon what the adults in the school did."
Key activities and strategies of the rapidly improving schools:
* Effective changes in teaching methods were focused and school-wide, not random or limited to a few teachers.
* Improving schools concentrated on developing their children's skills in a few core subjects and skill areas. Schools that failed to increase scores were less focused on skills and reluctant to eliminate activities that teachers enjoyed but were less productive.
* Improving schools operated as teams- the best-conceived strategies fail unless every teacher executes them even when the door is closed.
* Professional development was school development -training and resources were used strategically to support the school's specific improvement plan.
* Performance pressure was viewed as positive, leading to determination to show gains; none of the 30 schools were complacent about their achievement scores.
* Improving schools were more likely to include parents in the effort to raise achievement, asking for help, explaining the requirements, coaching parents in strategies and enlisting help in specific areas.
As the individual school increasingly becomes the unit of improvement in the system, the findings of this Washington study are noteworthy.
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