Effective schools, and then some.

Effective Schools research is a huge topic because it is not just one thing. There is no great 5 page article that summarizes what you need to know about ‘effective schools’.  It includes (amongst others):  teaching practices, school environment (safety), assessment practices, role of the principal, engagement and expectations, special education, community, etc.  As you can imagine when the library receives this as a question, we need to ask a lot of probing questions to learn what  the teacher really means and wants and sometimes we have to guide them towards a manageable topic (espcially if this is for an AQ essay).

If this is a topic of interest to you, here are some recently reviewed sites or documents that are great places to start your research and the first 3 are Ontario sites!:

1. Characteristics of  high- or low-achieving English-language Schools (EQAO Research Bulletin #8);
2. Supporting Leadership Excellence in Ontario Schools (The Institute of Education Leadership; open the research page for reports on characteristics of high performing school systems in Ontario) ;
3. What did you do in School Today? Teaching Effectiveness: A Framework And Rubric (by Sharon Friesen, includes 5 principles of effective teaching practice) ;
4. The School Principal as Leader: Guiding Schools to Better Teaching and Learning, (by the Wallace Foundation, includes 5 principles of what effective principals do).

Rowan

 

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