School Effectiveness in Developing Countries - A Summary of the Research Evidence

Performance indicators....will seldom if ever tell an unambiguous tale.

Quality of educational experience will always be an elusive entity which
evades precise delineation.

Wilcox suggests a range of possible indicators, including client satisfaction (using
questionnaires) and qualitative indicators based on observation by advisers or inspectors
in addition to achievement scores. The notion of 'value added' is important in making
comparisons of assessment test results. In other words, the effectiveness of a school
depends not just on the final results of the students, but on what improvements in
performance have been achieved by those students while at the school. Indicators should
take account of the social and economic contexts of the schools.

Vulliamy (1987, pp 220-221) takes the view that in discussing effectiveness we should
always ask "effectiveness for what and for whom?", and argues that

The notion of effectiveness presupposes a consensus on the desired
outcomes of schooling, which tends to disembody schools from their
wider social, political and economic context......In the Papua New

Guinean context, for example, it may be that a school with relatively poor
examination results is providing a relatively better preparation than other
schools for those of its students who are likely to return home to their
villages.

It is true that most school effectiveness research uses examination or other test results as
the indicator of quality. Nevertheless, according to Singh (1991, p70),

The accumulation of research findings and evaluations of development
projects have brought together a wealth of knowledge about the essentials
for quality schooling.

Singh quotes Throsby & Gannicott (1990) that the following statements encapsulate the
state of thinking on quality in education:

* trained teachers make a difference

* class size is not relevant

* the provision of instructional materials is one of the most cost-effective
ways of raising the quality of education

* education is most effective if initial instruction uses the mother tongue

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