"Good School, Bad School"
Evaluating Performance and Encouraging Improvement

How can one tell a 'good' school from a 'bad' one? How should schools be judged? How best might they be improved? Drawing on research, this work takes a fresh and critical look at some of the reforms such as: How sound are inspection procedures? What happens after a school has been inspected? How much do schools actually improve over time?

* How can one tell a 'good' school from a 'bad' one?
* How should schools be judged?
* How best might they be improved? Questions about the quality of schooling have dominated the political agenda for much of the past decade. As a direct result new policies have been introduced involving more performance indicators, league tables of exam results, more frequent inspection and the closure of 'failing' schools. Studies of school effectiveness and school improvement have much to contribute to these questions. Drawing on the latest research, John Gray and Brian Wilcox take a fresh and critical look at some of the reforms. How can one ensure that a broader view of what education is about is retained in the face of narrow performance indicators? What contribution can value-added approaches make to ensuring that schools in disadvantaged areas are judged more fairly? How sound are inspection procedures? What happens after a school has been inspected? How much do schools actually improve over time? And what prospects are there for turning round 'failing' schools rather than simply closing them?

Preface Introduction PART ONE: SETTING FRAMEWORKS The Quality of Schooling: Frameworks for Judgement Developing Frameworks for Monitoring and Evaluation from Research on School Effectiveness PART TWO: GATHERING 'HARD EVIDENCE' HMI's Interpretations of Schools' Examination Results (with postscripts for the nineties) Performance Indicators: Flourish or Perish? Developing Value added Approaches to School Evaluation: the Experiences of three LEAs Estimating Differences in the Examination Performances of Secondary Schools in six LEAs: A Multi Level Approach to School Effectiveness PART THREE: THE CONTRIBUTION OF SCHOOL INSPECTION TO SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT Inspection and School Improvement: Rhetoric and Experience from the Bridge Reactions to Inspection: A Study of Three Variants The Methodologies of School Inspection: Issues and Dilemmas The Inspectors Recommended ... A Follow up Study in Six Secondary Schools PART FOUR: LOOKING TO THE FUTURE The Statistics of School Improvement: Establishing the Agenda The Challenge of Turning Round Ineffective Schools Notes References Index.