School Effectiveness Research and the Development of Process Indicators of School Functioning

Abstract

Educational systems can quite easily be described in terms of a context‐input‐process‐output model. Likewise systems of educational indicators ‐‐ i.e. statistics on key aspects of educational systems that are of evaluative relevance ‐ can be categorized as context, input, process and output‐indicators. Process‐indicators are the subject of this paper. The rationale for selecting the process‐indicators chosen here was to look for those school‐ and teaching characteristics that are positively associated with educational achievement. The research literature on school and teaching effectiveness is the most relevant for this. An attempt has been made to formulate a comprehensive model of school and teaching effectiveness and to use this as the basis for a list of the most promising process‐indicators. Some of the key process‐variables that are proposed include stimulating environmental factors, achievement oriented policies, educational leadership, amount of instruction, learning opportunities, structured teaching, collaborative planning and evaluative potential of schools. The problems of constructing and using process‐indicators based on these variables are discussed from the perspectives of macro‐, meso‐ and micro‐level applications of educational indicator systems.