The International Handbook of Educational Effectiveness and Improvement draws together leading academics and researchers in the field to reflect on the history, traditions and the most recent developments in this dynamic and influential field. This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of: the foundations of the field the evolution of educational effectiveness theory and methodology the links with other research disciplines the links between policy and practice. In conclusion, the handbook sets out a new agenda for future educational effectiveness research. This handbook is an essential resource for those interested in the effectiveness of educational systems, organisations and classrooms. It offers academics, researchers, students and policy-makers new insights into the latest thinking and evidence about educational effectiveness.

This book provides a contemporary overview of school effectiveness and improvement. It charts the development theory and research in this area and looks at the contribution made to policy and practice. It also challenges some assumptions that have become ingrained into the theoretical and methodological traditions of the field. By challenging these orthodoxies, it provides a framework that sets a new agenda and repositions the field to meet the emerging challenges of the twenty-first century. It argues that traditional measures of school effectiveness are challenged as systems have attempted to adapt to a complex range of emerging agendas. New theoretical perspectives are required which consider 'education' and a 'broader set of outcomes'. This shift requires a rethink of how effectiveness and improvement have been understood by the field, and a reconstruction by policy makers and practitioners. Attention must be given to promoting equity as well as effectiveness so that one school or student's gain no longer means another's loss. The field must develop new methodologies if inequities are to be challenged and a broader set of outcome measures are to be developed. The two questions guiding this book are: How can educational effectiveness and improvement research and practice support the development of a more equitable education service? What are the key indicators of educational effectiveness and improvement and what are the new methodologies required to facilitate a shift from 'school' effectiveness and improvement to 'educational' effectiveness and improvement? This book uses lenses of research, policy and practice to explore these key questions and articulate what such a repositioning may look like and how it may be achieved. It will prove invaluable for teachers, school leaders and anyone involved in policy and educational research.

This book provides a contemporary overview of school effectiveness and improvement. It charts the development theory and research in this area and looks at the contribution made to policy and practice. It also challenges some assumptions that have become ingrained into the theoretical and methodological traditions of the field. By challenging these orthodoxies, it provides a framework that sets a new agenda and repositions the field to meet the emerging challenges of the twenty-first century. It argues that traditional measures of school effectiveness are challenged as systems have attempted to adapt to a complex range of emerging agendas. New theoretical perspectives are required which consider 'education' and a 'broader set of outcomes'. This shift requires a rethink of how effectiveness and improvement have been understood by the field, and a reconstruction by policy makers and practitioners. Attention must be given to promoting equity as well as effectiveness so that one school or student's gain no longer means another's loss. The field must develop new methodologies if inequities are to be challenged and a broader set of outcome measures are to be developed. The two questions guiding this book are: How can educational effectiveness and improvement research and practice support the development of a more equitable education service? What are the key indicators of educational effectiveness and improvement and what are the new methodologies required to facilitate a shift from 'school' effectiveness and improvement to 'educational' effectiveness and improvement? This book uses lenses of research, policy and practice to explore these key questions and articulate what such a repositioning may look like and how it may be achieved. It will prove invaluable for teachers, school leaders and anyone involved in policy and educational research.

Methodological Advances in Educational Effectiveness Research is an important new work by some of the leading researchers in the field of Educational Effectiveness Research (EER). The book provides a state of the art snapshot of the methodology of EER now and clearly demonstrates the way it is applied in both research and evaluation. It shows how developments in the research methodology area such as the use of multilevel modelling approaches to analyse nested data have promoted the knowledge-base of educational effectiveness. But at the same time, as the authors show, the knowledge-base of educational effectiveness and the attempt to establish theoretical models do paradoxically challenge the development of methodologically appropriate studies including ways of analysing data.

Guiding readers though the effective and appropriate use in educational effectiveness of:

• Longitudinal Studies
• Experimental Studies
• Mixed Research Methods
• Meta-analyses of effectiveness studies
• Using IRT to measure outcomes and factors
• Using Generalisability Theory to test the quality of data
• Multilevel modelling, and
• Structural Equation Modelling Techniques

The authors draw in the expertise of scholars from around the world to show the mathematical background of each technique, the current and future applications, and Specific examples of applying this orientation to help the readers design their own effectiveness studies using specific methodological tools.

Methodological Advances in Educational Effectiveness Research is an important new work by some of the leading researchers in the field of Educational Effectiveness Research (EER). The book provides a state of the art snapshot of the methodology of EER now and clearly demonstrates the way it is applied in both research and evaluation. It shows how developments in the research methodology area such as the use of multilevel modelling approaches to analyse nested data have promoted the knowledge-base of educational effectiveness. But at the same time, as the authors show, the knowledge-base of educational effectiveness and the attempt to establish theoretical models do paradoxically challenge the development of methodologically appropriate studies including ways of analysing data.

Guiding readers though the effective and appropriate use in educational effectiveness of:

• Longitudinal Studies
• Experimental Studies
• Mixed Research Methods
• Meta-analyses of effectiveness studies
• Using IRT to measure outcomes and factors
• Using Generalisability Theory to test the quality of data
• Multilevel modelling, and
• Structural Equation Modelling Techniques

The authors draw in the expertise of scholars from around the world to show the mathematical background of each technique, the current and future applications, and Specific examples of applying this orientation to help the readers design their own effectiveness studies using specific methodological tools.

Early Childhood Matters documents the rapid development of early years education and care from the late 1990s into the new millennium. It chronicles the unique contribution of the EPPE research to our understanding of the importance of pre-school.

The Effective Pre-school and Primary Education (EPPE) project is the largest European study of the impact of early years education and care on children's developmental outcomes. Through this ground-breaking project a team of internationally-recognised experts provide insights into how home learning environments interact with pre-school and primary school experiences to shape children's progress.

The findings of this fascinating project:

• provide new evidence of the importance of early childhood experiences
• show how these experiences influence children's cognitive, social and behavioural development
• give new insights on the importance of early years education
• will be relevant to a wide audience who are interested in policy development, early years education and care, and 'effectiveness' research
• examine how the combined effects of pre-school, primary school and the family interact to shape children's educational outcomes.

This insightful book is essential reading for all those interested in innovative research methodology and policy development in early childhood education and care. It provides new evidence on good practice in early years settings and will have a wide appeal for students and those engaged in providing accredited courses of study at a range of levels in early childhood.

Early Childhood Matters documents the rapid development of early years education and care from the late 1990s into the new millennium. It chronicles the unique contribution of the EPPE research to our understanding of the importance of pre-school.

The Effective Pre-school and Primary Education (EPPE) project is the largest European study of the impact of early years education and care on children s developmental outcomes. Through this ground-breaking project a team of internationally-recognised experts provide insights into how home learning environments interact with pre-school and primary school experiences to shape children s progress.

The findings of this fascinating project:

• provide new evidence of the importance of early childhood experiences
• show how these experiences influence children s cognitive, social and behavioural development
• give new insights on the importance of early years education
• will be relevant to a wide audience who are interested in policy development, early years education and care, and effectiveness research
• examine how the combined effects of pre-school, primary school and the family interact to shape children s educational outcomes.

This insightful book is essential reading for all those interested in innovative research methodology and policy development in early childhood education and care. It provides new evidence on good practice in early years settings and will have a wide appeal for students and those engaged in providing accredited courses of study at a range of levels in early childhood.

This book is based on the largest and most extensive empirical study of contemporary leadership in primary and secondary schools in England. The results demonstrate that heads of successful schools improve the quality of student learning and achievement through who they are - their values, virtues, dispositions and competencies - as well as their timely use of change and improvement strategies.

"Successful School Leadership" provides a comprehensive analysis of the values and qualities of head teachers. It assesses the strategies they use and how they adapt these to their particular school context in order to ensure positive increases in the learning, well being and achievement of their students. The authors: Identify a basic set of leadership practices resulting from their findings Analyse and describe the leadership values, qualities and behaviours related to different phases in schools' improvement journeys Provide illustrative case studies of primary and secondary schools that highlight context sensitive strategies Provide a contemporary overview of international research and thinking about successful school leadership Recognize similar and distinguishing features between schools in different socio-economic groups This book is valuable reading for...school leaders and senior teachers, educational policy makers and advisors, as well as anyone involved or interested in education and its leadership.

Teachers Matter offers the most definitive portrait of teachers' lives and work to date. At a time when teaching standards are high on the political and social agenda, the quality and commitment of teaching staff is seen as paramount and they are viewed as pivotal to the economic and social well being of society. But: What are the influences that help or hinder teachers' commitment?Is there an association between commitment and pupil attainment?Why are teachers' identities important?What are teachers' needs and concerns in different professional life phases?Does school context count? Based on a DfES funded study of 300 teachers in 100 primary and secondary schools in England, the authors identify different patterns of influence and effect between groups of teachers, which provide powerful evidence of the complexities of teachers' work, lives, identity and commitment, in relation to their sense of agency, well-being, resilience and pupil attitudes and attainment. This, in turn, provides a clear message for teachers, teachers' associations, school leaders and policy makers, in understanding and supporting the need to build and sustain school and classroom effectiveness. The book addresses issues such as the importance of career development, the relationships between school leadership, culture and teachers' lives, maintaining a work-life balance, identity and well-being and the connection between commitment, resilience and effectiveness in the classroom. Original and highly relevant, Teachers Matter is invaluable reading for teachers, head teachers, researchers and teacher educators.

`This book is a very useful text for anyone studying comparative education systems as well as those who seek to understand more fully the complexities and frustrations that lie beneath the underuse of the leadership skills and talents of women in schools, colleges and higher education in a number of European contexts: England and Wales, France, The Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway and Spain' - School Leadership & Management `There are few books of which one can say 'all secondary teachers and governors should read this book' but this is one of them. I would recommend it to primary colleagues too....Its messages about school effectiveness can uniquely be applied to school improvement because there is data about how the same children fared under different regimes in different subject areas in the same school' - School Leadership & Management This major new school effectiveness study is a thought-provoking investigation of the concept of secondary school effectiveness. Based on a three-year study of secondary schools' GCSE performance, the authors point to the importance of looking at: trends over time; effectiveness for different groups of students; and subject differences. They highlight the importance of moving beyond 'league table approaches' and the need to focus on individual departments using value-added approaches. Forging Links illustrates the complexities of judging school performance. The findings make a significant contribution to our understanding of the factors and processes which help some schools and departments to enhance student progres