EFFECTIVE SCHOOLS

Effective Schools

Effective Schools

Question 1

Effective School Environmental Characteristics

Many important concepts and variables should be considered in the educational studies. Educational effectiveness is one of them. During the last two decades, research in educational effectiveness has grown rapidly in many countries. This paper reports on an observation system for measuring school professionals, effective school environment characteristics, and student behavior in school common areas. The observation system was developed to measure the outcomes of school-wide interventions aimed at improving middle school practices. Effective school environmental characteristics in an effort to decrease problem behaviors and increase positive behaviors in middle school students. Almost two thirds of aggressive incidents at school occur outside of the classroom in a school common area. Middle school students feel particularly unsafe in school areas that are lacking adult supervision(Thomas, 2007). The observation system focuses on common areas of the school— places where students spend time before and after school starts, during passing times between classes, and during school breaks such as hallways, the cafeteria, outdoor areas, the gym or game room, and school entryways and bus areas. The aims of this article are to describe the observation system procedures, reliability, and sensitivity to detect differences and associations of observed staff practices and school environment characteristics with student behavior. The use of such descriptive and correlational information from baseline data can inform researchers and educators about potential mechanisms of school-wide efforts for student behavior improvement (MacPherson, & McKillop, 2002).

The organization and structure of middle schools often pose additional challenges to early adolescents' successful development. The majority of aggressive incidents among youth occur at school, and most often not reported to adults. Concurrently students experience a substantial decline of teacher support across the middle school years, which is unfortunate given that student perception of teacher support associated with fewer behavior problems (Lincoln, & Guba, 2005). Lower delinquency and less peer victimization occurred in schools with rules that were clear and perceived by students to be fair. Instead, schools commonly use punitive consequences that remove students from the classroom and school activities. This removal is not effective at reducing problem behavior and academic progress. Removal from school (suspensions and expulsions) increases as a sanction in middle school. The increased emphasis on punitive discipline exacerbates behavioral problems at school. Indeed, in far too many cases, the results of these efforts are to exacerbate emotional and behavioral problems and to contribute to rejection by nondeviant peers and the formation of friendships with other rejected students. These conditions also contribute to delinquency among aggressive students. Improvements needed in middle school environments so that a more positive influence on social outcomes for youth can be achieved (Quin, 2002).

Staff Member Practices and Student Behavior

In a meta-analysis of 165 school-based programs aimed at preventing delinquency (86 of the studies involved schools), the largest effect sizes in reducing delinquency were for programs that involved school-wide behavior management interventions. Interventions that focused on the school social environment had significant effects on delinquency, alcohol and drug use, truancy, school ...