SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS: A RE‐EXAMINATION OF THE RESEARCH EVIDENCE
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb009890 |
| Published date | 01 February 1984 |
| Date | 01 February 1984 |
| Pages | 146-156 |
| Author | JOHN L. COLLARD |
| Subject Matter | Education |
THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION
VOLUME XXII, NUMBER 2 SUMMER, 1984
SCHOOL EFFECTIVENESS: A RE-EXAMINATION
OF THE RESEARCH EVIDENCE
JOHN L. COLLARD
Research studies of school effectiveness over the past decades have produced incon-
sistent and mutually contradictory findings. Early studies reached optimistic conclu-
sions that the level of school inputs were directly related to the levels of student
achievement. These were contradicted by subsequent studies which maintained that
schools have little effect on student achievement which is independent of
background and social context. More recent studies have questioned the research
techniques of their predecessors and have cautiously emphasized the relationship
between process variables and achievement. The inconsistent findings of the various
research studies serve to highlight the conceptual and methodological problems
involved in the area of school effectiveness. There is a lack of consensus among
researchers about which measures are valid indicators of school effectiveness and
the heavy concentration upon easily measured cognitive performances constitutes a
limitation and imbalance in the studies. Future studies need to operationally define
school effectiveness in a manner which will enable a range of measures to be taken
which are valid, reliable and comprehend the full range of school effects if stronger
conclusions are to be drawn. More sophisticated research techniques are also
needed to identify process variables which relate to school effectiveness.
INTRODUCTION
A review of the research reports of the effects of schools upon student
achievement reveals a range of inconsistent and mutually contradictory
findings. The research studies of the Fifties and early Sixties were largely
optimistic, in that they concluded that there was a direct relationship
between the quality of school services provided to a pupil and his subse-
quent achievement, and that higher quality school services were
associated with higher levels of achievement.1 This optimism has been
challenged by other researchers who have concluded that schools have
little effect on a child's achievement that is independent of his background
and social context and that variations in achievement scores are more
likely to be a result of background factors than schooling.2 These
pessimistic conclusions were derived from studies which predominantly
employed an input-output model of school effectiveness and have subse-
quently been challenged by other researchers who have been critical of the
sampling technique, achievement measures and models of schooling used
in previous studies.3 These later studies have re-affirmed the ability of
JOHN L. COLLARD is Deputy Principal at Vaucluse College, Richmond, Victoria, 3121.
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