Do school context, student composition and school leadership affect school practice and outcomes in secondary education?

British Educational Research Journal

Volumn 33, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 179-206

  Opdenakker, Marie Christine ^a,b   Van Damme, Jan ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LEUVEN   (Belgium)

^b UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33947240838     PISSN: 01411926     EISSN: 14693518     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01411920701208233     Document Type: Article

References (98)

1. Andrews, M., Duncombe, W. & Yinger, J. (2002) Revisiting economies of size in American education: are we any closer to a consensus? Economics of Education Review, 21, 246-262.
2. Barker, R. & Gump, R. (1964) Big school, small school: high school size and student behaviour (Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press).
3. Borland, M. V. & Howsen, R. M. (2003) An examination of the effect of elementary school size on student academic achievement, International Review of Education, 49, 463-474.
4. Bosker, R. J. & Witziers, B. (1996) The magnitude of school effects. Or: does it really matter which school a student attends? paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, April.
5. Bosker, R. J., de Vos, H. & Witziers, B. (2000) Theories and models of educational effectiveness (Enschede, Twente University Press).
6. Brandsma, H. P. & Stoel, W. G. R. (1987) Schoolleiders in het voortgezet onderwijs. Een exploratieve studie naar de determinanten en effecten van schoolleiderskenmerken [School leaders in secondary education. An explorative study into the determinants and effects of school leader characteristics], in: J. Scheerens & W. G. R. Stoel (Eds) Effectiviteit van onderwijsorganisaties (Lisse, Swets & Zeitlinger), 99-113.
7. Brookover, W., Beady, C., Flood, P., Schweitzer, J. & Wisenbaker, J. (1979) School social systems and student achievement - schools can make a difference (New York, Praeger).
8. Bryk, A. S., Lee, V. E. & Holland, P. B. (1993) Catholic schools and the common good (Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press).
9. Byrne, B. M. (1989) A Primer of LISREL. Basic applications and programming for confirmatory factor analytic models (New York, Springer-Verlag).
10. Caldas, S. J. (1993) Re-examination of input and process factor effects on public school achievement, Journal of Educational Research, 86, 206-214.
11. Cervini, R. (2003) Relationships between school composition, school process and mathematics achievement in secondary education in Argentina, Revista Electrónica de Investigación Educativa, 5(1). Available online at: http://redie.ens.uabc.mx/vol5no1/contents-cervini2.html (accessed on 9 December 2003).
12. Clark, C. M. & Peterson, P. L. (1986) Teachers' thought processes, in: M. C. Wittrock (Ed.) Handbook of research on teaching (3rd edn) (New York, Macmillan), 255-296.
13. Cohen, D. K., Raudenbush, S. W. & Loewenberg Ball, D. (2003) Resources, instruction, and research, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 25, 119-142.
14. Coleman, N. J., Campbell, E., Hobson, C., McPartland, J., Mood, A., Weinfall, F. & York, R. (1966) Equality of educational opportunity (Washington, DC, Department of Health, Education and Welfare).
15. Cotton, K. (1995) Effective schooling practices: a research synthesis. 1995 Update. School Improvement Research Series. Northwest Regional Education Laboratory.
16. Cotton, K. (1996) School size, school climate, and student performance (Close-up #20) (Portland, OR, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory). (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 397476).
17. Creemers, B. P. M. (1991) Effectieve instructie: een empirische bijdrage aan de verbetering van het onderwijs in de klas [Effective instruction: an empirical contribution to the improvement of education in the classroom] ('s Gravenhage, SVO).
18. Cuban, L. (1988) The managerial imperative and the practice of leadership in schools (Albany, NY, State University of New York Press).
19. Cuban, L. (1993) How teachers taught: constancy and change in American classrooms: 1890-1990 (2nd edn) (New York, Teachers College Press).
20. Dar, Y. & Resh, N. (1986) Classroom composition and pupils' achievement (London, Gordon & Breach).
21. de Jong, R., Westerhof, K. J. & Kruiter, J. H. (2004) Empirical evidence of a comprehensive model of school effectiveness: a multilevel study in mathematics in the first year of junior general education in the Netherlands, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 15, 3-31.
22. Driessen, G. & Sleegers, P. (2000) Consistency of teaching approach and student achievement: an empirical test, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 11, 57-79.
23. Duru-Bellat, M. & Mingat, A. (1998) Importance of ability grouping in French 'collèges' and its impact upon pupils' academic achievement, Educational Research and Evaluation, 4, 348-368.
24. Fowler, W. J. (1995) School size and student outcomes, Advances in Educational Productivity, 5, 3-26.
25. Fowler, W. J. & Walberg, H. J. (1991) School size, characteristics, and outcomes, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 13, 189-202.
26. Friedkin, N. & Necochea, J. (1988) School system size and performance: a contingency perspective, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 10, 237-249.
27. Fullan, M. (1982) The meaning of educational change (New York, Teachers College Press).
28. Gardner, V. A. (2001) Does high school size matter for rural schools and students?, paper presented at the annual conference of the New England Educational Research Organization, Portsmouth, NH, April.
29. Grisay, A. (1996) Evolution des acquis cognitifs et socio-affectifs des élèves au cours des années de collège [Evolution of cognitive and affective development in lower secondary education] (Liège, Université de Liège).
30. Haller, E. J., Monk, D. H., Spotted Bear, A., Griffith, J. & Moss, P. (1990) School size and program comprehensiveness: evidence from high school and beyond, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 12, 109-120.
31. Haller, E. J., Monk, D. H. & Tien, L. T. (1993) Small schools and higher-order thinking skills, Journal of Research in Rural Education, 9, 66-73.
32. Hallinger, P. & Heck, R. H. (1996) Reassessing the principal's role in school effectiveness: a review of the empirical research, 1980-1995, Educational Administration Quarterly, 32, 5-44.
33. Hallinger, P. & Heck, R. H. (1998) Exploring the principals' contribution to school effectiveness: 1980-1995, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 9, 157-191.
34. Hallinger, P., Bickman, L. & Davis, K. (1996) School context, principal leadership and student reading achievement, Elementary School Journal, 96, 527-549.
35. Hill, P. W., Rowe, K. J. & Holmes-Smith, P. (1995) Factors affecting students' educational progress: multilevel modelling of educational effectiveness, paper presented at the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement, Leeuwarden, January.
36. Howley, C. (1994) The academic effectiveness of small-scale schooling (an update) (ERIC Digest) (Charleston, WV, ERIC Clearinghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools). (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 372897).
37. Howley, C. B. (1995) The Mathew principle: a West Virginia replication?, Education Policy Analysis Archives, 3, 1-25, Available online at: http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v3n18.html.
38. Howley, C. (1999) The Matthew project: state report for Ohio (Columbus, OH, Ohio State University). (Eric Document Reproduction Service No. ED 433 175).
39. Irwin, C. C. (1986) What research tells the principal about educational leadership, Scientica Paedagogica Experimentalis, 23, 124-137.
40. Jöreskog, K. G. & Sörbom, D. (1993) LISREL 8: user's reference guide (Chicago, IL, Scientific Software International).
41. Kallestad, J. H., Olweus, D. & Alsaker, F. (1998) School climate reports from Norwegian teachers: a methodological and substantive study, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 9, 70-94.
42. Krai, M. (1997) Instructie en leren in combinatieklassen. Een onderzoek naar effectiviteitsverschillen tussen combinatieklassen en enkelvoudige klassen in het basisonderwijs [Instruction and learning in multi-grade classes. A study on differences in effectiveness between multi-grade and single-grade classes in primary education] (Nijmegen, ITS).
43. Lam, J. F. (1996) Tijd en kwaliteit in het basisonderwijs: ontwikkeling van een onderzoeksinstrumentarium [Time and quality in primary education: development of a set of research instruments] (Twente, Universiteit Twente).
44. Lancksweerdt, P. (1991) Getlov (Gemeenschappelijke Testbatterij Lager Onderwijs). Onderzoeksverslag over de gegevens van de leerlingen van het 6de leerjaar lager onderwijs uit de vrije P.M.S.-centra in Oost-Vlaanderen schooljaar 1989-1990 [Getlov (Test battery for primary education). Research report about the data of six-grade students in primary education from private school guidance centres of East Flanders] (Deinze, Vrij P.M.S.-centrum 1).
45. Lee, V. E. & Loeb, S. (2000) School size in Chicago elementary schools: effects on teachers' attitudes and students' achievement, American Educational Research Journal, 37, 3-31.
46. Lee, V. E. & Smith, J. B. (1993) Effects of school restructuring on the achievement and engagement of middle-grade students, Sociology of Education, 66, 164-187.
47. Lee, V. E. & Smith, J. B. (1997) High school size: which works best and for whom? Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 19, 205-227.
48. Leiter, J. (1983) Classroom composition and achievement gains, Sociology of Education, 56, 126-132.
49. Leithwood, K. A. & Montgomery, D. J. (1982) The role of the elementary school principal in program improvement, Review of Educational Research, 52, 309-399.
50. Leithwood, K. A., Begley, P. T. & Cousins, J. B. (1990) The nature, causes and consequences of principals' practices: an agenda for future research, Journal of Educational Leadership, 49, 8-12.
51. Leithwood, K. & Jantzi, D. (1999) Transformational school leadership effects. A replication, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 10, 451-479.
52. Levačić, R., Malmberg, L., Steele, F. & Smees, R. (2004) The relationship between school climate and head teacher leadership, and pupil attainment: evidence from a sample of English secondary schools, paper presented at the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, January.
53. Levine, D. & Lezotte, L. (1990) Unusually effective schools: a review and analysis of research and practice (Madison, WI, National Center for Effective Schools Research and Development).
54. Luyten, H. (1994) School size effects on achievement in secondary education: evidence from the Netherlands, Sweden, and USA, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 5, 75-99.
55. Luyten, H. & Van der Hoeven-Van Doornum, A. (1995) Classroom composition and individual achievement. Effects of classroom composition and teacher goals in Dutch elementary education, Tijdschrift voor Onderwijsresearch, 20, 42-62.
56. Mitchell, D. E. & Tucker, S. (1992) Leadership as a way of thinking, Educational Leadership, 49(5), 30-35.
57. Mok, M. & Flynn, M. (1996) School size and academic achievement in the HSC examination: is there a relationship? Issues in Educational Research, 6, 57-78.
58. Opdenakker, M.-C. (2004) Leerling in Wonderland? Een onderzoek naar het effect van leerling-, lesgroep-, leerkracht- en schoolkenmerken op prestaties voor wiskunde in het secundair onderwijs [Student in Wonderland? A study on the effect of student, class, teacher, and school characteristics on mathematics achievement in secondary education] (Leuven, Acco).
59. Opdenakker, M.-C. & Van Damme, J. (2000) The importance of identifying levels in multilevel analysis: an illustration of the effects of ignoring the top or intermediate levels in school effectiveness research, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 11, 103-130.
60. Opdenakker, M.-C. & Van Damme, J. (2001) Relationship between school composition and characteristics of school process and their effect on mathematics achievement, British Educational Research Journal, 27, 407-432.
61. Opdenakker, M.-C. & Van Damme, J. (2002) Effecten van school-, klas- en leerlingkenmerken op de attitude voor wiskunde. Een Studie in het kader van het Vlaams luik van TIMSS-Repeat [Effects of school, class and student characteristics on attitude towards mathematics. A study of TIMSS-Repeat Flanders] (Leuven, K.U.Leuven, Centrum voor Secundair en Hoger Onderwijs).
62. Opdenakker, M.-C. & Van Damme, J. (2006) Teacher characteristics and teaching styles as effectiveness enhancing factors of classroom practice, Teaching and Teacher Education, 22, 1-21.
63. Opdenakker, M.-C., Van Damme, J. & Minnaert, A. (2005) Are there equal opportunities in our classes and schools? An investigation into the relationship between class composition, indicators of the learning environment and the class climate, effort, and academic achievement of classes. Manuscript under review.
64. Opdenakker, M.-C., Van Damme, J., De Fraine, B., Van Landeghem, G. & Onghena, P. (2002) The effect of schools and classes on mathematics achievement, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 13, 399-427.
65. Pajares, M. F. (1992) Teachers' beliefs and educational research: cleaning up a messy construct, Review of Educational Research, 62, 307-332.
66. Parkerson, J. A., Lomax, R. G., Schiller, D. P. & Walberg, H. J. (1984) Exploring causal models of educational achievement, Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 638-646.
67. Peters, K. & Sleegers, P. (1996) De taakperceptie en taakoriëntatie van schoolleiders [The task perception and task orientation of school leaders], paper presented at the 'Onderwijs Research Dagen', Tilburg, Netherlands, June.
68. Pittman, R. B. & Haughwout, P. (1987) Influence of high school size on dropout rate, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 9, 337-343.
69. Postlewhaite, T. N. & Ross, K. N. (1992) Effective schools in reading. Implications for educational planners (The Hague, IEA).
70. Raywid, M. A. (1999) Current literature on small schools (ERIC Digest) (Charleston, WV, ERIC Clearninghouse on Rural Education and Small Schools). (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 425 049).
71. Rumberger, R. W. & Palady, G. J. (2004) The effects of school size on student learning and dropout and transfer rates, paper presented at the annual conference of the Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA, April.
72. Sammons, P., Hillman, J. & Mortimore, P. (1995) Key characteristics of effective schools: a review of school effectiveness research (London, Office for Standards in Education).
73. Sammons, P., Thomas, S. & Mortimore, P. (1995) Accounting for variations in academic effectiveness between schools and departments, paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research, Bath.
74. Sammons, P., Thomas, S. & Mortimore, P. (1997) Forging links: effective schools and effective departments (London, Paul Chapman).
75. Scheerens, J. (1989) Wat maakt schalen effectief? [What makes schools effective?] (s'-Gravenhage, SVO).
76. Scheerens, J. (1990) School effectiveness research and the development of process indicators of school functioning, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 1, 61-80.
77. Scheerens, J. & Bosker, R. (1997) The foundations of educational effectiveness (Oxford, Pergamon).
78. Scheerens, J. & Creemers, B. P. M. (1989) Conceptualizing school effectiveness, International Journal of Educational Research, 13, 691-706.
79. Scheerens, J. & Creemers, B. P. M. (1996) School effectiveness in the Netherlands: the modest influence of a research programme, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 7, 181-195.
80. Shuell, T. J. (1996) Teaching and learning in a classroom context, in: D. C. Berliner & R. C. Calfee (Eds) Handbook of educational psychology (New York, MacMillan), 726-764.
81. Smyth, E. (1999) Pupil performance, absenteeism and school drop-out: a multi-dimensional analysis, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 10, 480-502.
82. Snijders, T. A. B. & Bosker, R. J. (1999) Multilevel analysis. An introduction to basic and advanced multilevel modeling (London, Sage).
83. Spielhofer, T., O'Donnell, L., Benton, T., Schagen, S. & Schagen, I. (2002) The impact of schools size and single-sex education on performance (LGA Research Report 33) (Slough, National Foundation for Educational Research).
84. Stiefel, L., Berne, R., Iatarola, P. & Fruchter, N. (2000) High school size: effects on budgets and performance in New York City, Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 22, 27-39.
85. Stoel, W. G. R. (1995) De taakinhoud, taakomvang en de taakbelasting van schoolleiders in het basisonderwijs [The managerial behaviour of primary school headteachers], Tijdschrift voor Onderwijsresearch, 20, 133-153.
86. Stringfield, S. C. & Slavin, R. E. (1992) A hierarchical longitudinal model for elementary school effects, in: B. P. M. Creemers & G. J. Reezigt (Eds) Evaluation of educational effectiveness (Groningen, ICO), 35-69.
87. Tanaka, J. S. (1987) How big is big enough: sample size and goodness of fit in structural equation models with latent variables, Child Development, 58, 134-146.
88. Thrupp, M. (1999) Schools making a difference. Let's be realistic (Buckingham, Open University Press).
89. Van Damme, J., De Fraine, B., Van Landeghem, G., Opdenakker, M.-C. & Onghena, P. (2002) A new study on educational effectiveness in secondary schools in Flanders: an introduction, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 13, 383-397.
90. Van Damme, J., Van Landeghem, G., De Fraine, B., Opdenakker, M.-C. & Onghena, P. (2004) Maakt de school het verschil? Effectiviteit van scholen, leraren en klassen in de eerste graad van het middelbaar onderwijs [Does the school make the difference? The effect of schools, teachers, and classes in the first grades of secondary education] (Leuven, Acco).
91. Van de Grift, W. (1987) Zelfpercepties van onderwijskundig leiderschap en gemiddelde leerlingprestaties [Self-perceptions of educational leadership and mean student achievement], in: J. Scheerens & W. G. R. Stoel (Eds) Effectiviteit van onderwijsorganisaties (Lisse, Swets & Zeitlinger), 83-98.
92. Van de Grift, W. & Houtveen (1999) Educational leadership and pupil achievement in primary education, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 10, 373-389.
93. Weinert, F., Schrader, F.-W. & Helmke, A. (1989) Quality of instruction and achievement outcomes, International Journal of Educational Research, 13, 895-932.
94. Wheaton, B., Muthén, B., Alwin, D. & Summers, G. (1977) Assessing reliability and stability in panel models, in: D. R. Heise (Ed.) Sociological methodology 1977 (San Francisco, CA, Jossey-Bass), 84-136.
95. Willms, J. D. (1985) The balance thesis: contextual effects of ability on pupils' O-grade examination results, Oxford Review of Education, 11, 33-41.
96. Willms, J. D. (1986) Social class segregation and its relationship to pupils' examinations results in Scotland, American Sociological Review, 51, 224-241.
97. Witziers, B. & Bosker, R. (1997, January) A meta-analysis on the effects of presumed school effectiveness enhancing factors, paper presented at the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement, Memphis, January.
98. Witziers, B., Bosker, R. & Krüger, M. (2003) Educational leadership and student achievement: the elusive search for an association, Educational Administration Quarterly, 39, 398-425.