Conceptualizing Essential Components of Effective High Schools

ABSTRACT

Three decades of reform aimed at improving disadvantaged student achievement have not substantially narrowed achievement and graduation gaps. This article reviews the research around eight essential components of effective high schools emerging from a review of the effective schools and high school reform literature, and provides a framework for how these components are implemented and integrated. We submit that far-reaching high school improvement is rooted in these components: schools succeed because they are woven into the school’s organizational fabric to create internally consistent and mutually reinforcing reforms; their success is explained by more than the simple sum of their parts.

Funding

This research was conducted with funding from the Institute of Education Sciences (R305C10023). The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the sponsor.

Notes

^1. The authors recognize this review does not encompass the full body of literature on effective high schools, but for the scope of this article, we limit our review to peer-reviewed journals.

Additional information

Funding

This research was conducted with funding from the Institute of Education Sciences (R305C10023). The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the sponsor.