Educational achievement and effective schools: examples of best practice

Abstract

In this article, we present key aspects of a research project entitled ‘Students’ Cultural Diversity and School Efficacy: A Repertory of Best Practice in Compulsory Learning Centers.’ First, we present our concept of cultural diversity and a reflection regarding ‘best school practices’ and the notion of ‘student achievement at school.’ In the second part, we analyze two practices which may seem quite different from each other: learning communities and a program of attention to diversity, which illustrate several ways of adopting an intercultural approach. The repertory of good practices mentioned can serve as an insightful resource for teachers.

Keywords:

• student diversity
• innovative teaching strategies
• school effectiveness
• educational achievement
• best practice

Notes

1. Funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, through the program Research & Development & Innovation, R + D + I (I + D + I, in Spanish) (Reference: SEJ2006-1017).

2. By learning centers we refer to schools. Although in Spanish we use the equivalent word which is ‘escuela’ or ‘colegio,’ it is more frequent to refer to them as ‘centros educativos’, which is more comprehensive and entails primary and secondary education, and also public and private schools.

3. The school effectiveness movement was initiated in the 1970´s, in North America, with the major aim of linking theory and empirical research relating to educational effectiveness and the improvement of education.

4. According to Landeta (1999), the Delphi technique is based on a group process used to survey and collect the opinions of experts on a particular subject, in order to reach a certain consensus around that subject. The experts answer questionnaires in two or more rounds. After each round, a facilitator provides an anonymous summary of the experts’ responses from the previous round as well as the reasons they provided for their judgments. Thus, experts are encouraged to revise their earlier answers in light of the replies of other members of the panel, or to justify their decision to maintain their initial answers.

5. Resource and Training Centers in Spain are aimed at professional development providing continuous training for in-service teachers. Their role is that of an advisor, and they work as consultants for schools, giving professional advice, analyzing needs, and organizing courses on current issues.

6. Facilitators were people who did not work directly in school education but had some knowledge about the topic.

7. As stated at the beginning of this article, the School Improvement Movement attempts to understand how a school can carry out satisfactory processes of change that will benefit all students by optimizing the teaching and learning processes.

8. Available soon on the group’s web site: www.uned.es/grupointer.es.