First Published in 2008. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

This book looks at the foundations of school self-evaluation from a scientific as from a practical perspective. Planning concepts, restructuring of education systems, organizational theory on schools, evaluation methodology and models of school effectiveness and school improvement are discussed as contributing to the overall conceptualization of school self-evaluation. A broad range of approaches is presented and methodological requirements are discussed. School self-evaluation contains controversial issues that reflect tension between the need for objectivity in a context that is permeated by values and potential conflicts of interests. Similar tensions may be seen to exist with respect to the static and "reductionist" aspects of available data collection procedures in a complex and dynamic situation and the appeal for external accountability on the one hand and improvement oriented self-refection on the other. The mission of the book is to clarify these tensions and offer ways to deal with them in practical applications. The school effectiveness knowledge base is offered as a substantive educational frame of references that serves an important function in selecting relevant factors for data collection and the use of the evaluation results.

`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