Open University Press Improving Schools: Performance and Potential

Based around a major research project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, this text looks at what has been happening across the country in recent years. It draws on data about changes in schools' effectiveness over time, exploring the reasons why exam results have continued to rise and what schools have been doing in the name of improvement. Through a series of case studies the research looks at what happened over a five-year peiod in a wide range of schools facing very different challenges. Some served disadvantaged communities, others more affluent suburbs. What "worked" in these schools? How far did they simply concentrate on matters of organization, planning and ethos? Teachers and researchers alike should find this a readable account of the limits and possibilities of school improvement in action.