Effective Schools: Interpreting the Evidence

This paper develops a theoretical context with which to understand the evidence on effective schools. I begin by specifying a central problem in the operation of inner-city schools--that good teachers are difficult to recruit and almost impossible to retain because the rewards of teaching do not outweigh the frustrations. Exceptions to this are identified in effective schools--schools that are distinctive in important ways. Principals of effective schools have a unitary mission of improved student learning, and their actions convey certainty that these goals can be attained. Such actions include recruiting outstanding teachers who have goals similar to their own and to those of other staff, organizationally buffering teachers to ensure that their efforts are directed toward raising student achievement, monitoring the academic progress teachers make, supplying additional technical assistance to needy teachers, and providing--mostly in concert with teaching colleagues--the opportunities to establish strategies to achieve instructional goals. Because the work of these principals pivots around improving student achievement, teachers have specific, concrete goals toward which to direct their efforts and know precisely when those efforts produce the desired effects. They are further encouraged by a supportive collegial group that lends ideas and assistance where needed. In turn, by achieving goals of student learning, teachers are provided with necessary motivation to continue to produce. The more teachers succeed with students, the greater their certainty that it is possible to succeed and the greater their experimentation procuring success.