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“World Class” School Improvement: An Analysis of the Implications of Recent International School Effectiveness and School Improvement Research for Improvement Practice

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The Practice and Theory of School Improvement

Abstract

In this chapter David Reynolds presents an analysis of the implications of recent international school effectiveness and school improvement research for improvement practice. In so doing he transcends the somewhat artificial boundaries that grew up in the eighties and early nineties between school effectiveness researchers and school improvement practitioners. Such distinctions are, as Reynolds argues, a thing of the past, as those who are at the “cutting edge” of ‘managing educational change’ transcend both disciplines. Reynolds describes the contribution both fields of activity have made to a new merged paradigm. His analysis of the new paradigm leads to a series of policy recommendations for ‘world class’ school improvement i. e. importance of school context; avoidance of re-inventing the wheel; increase in international orientation; and the necessity to intervene at ‘levels below that of the school’. In concluding Reynolds suggests a number of other directions that the new school improvement paradigm could embrace in the future.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unversity of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    David Reynolds

Authors
  1. David Reynolds
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Education and Skills, London, UK

    David Hopkins

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© 2005 Springer

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Reynolds, D. (2005). “World Class” School Improvement: An Analysis of the Implications of Recent International School Effectiveness and School Improvement Research for Improvement Practice. In: Hopkins, D. (eds) The Practice and Theory of School Improvement. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4452-6_13

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