What Effective Schools Do

Dr. Jerry Wircenski
CTE Project Director

Educators from across the United States and Canada met at the 28^th Annual Effective Schools Conference in March.  The mission of Effective Schools has been to create successful educational environments where all students can reach their academic potential.  The keynote address, given by Dr. Larry Lezotte, focused on what effective schools do.  It was interesting to note that across the audience, regardless of location or grade level, educators agreed that there are some foundations that effective schools all have:

1.       In the effective school, all staff members believe that all students can and will obtain mastery of the intended curriculum and in their professional capacity to enable all students to attain that mastery.

2.       In the effective school, the administrator acts as an instructional leader by persistently communicating the mission to staff, students, parents, and the larger community.  The administrator understands the principles of effective instruction and uses that knowledge in the management of the instructional program.

3.       In the effective school, staff develops a clearly articulated mission, focusing on successful learning for all students.  Through collaboration;, the staff forms a shared understanding of and a commitment to instructional goals, priorities, assessment procedures, and accountability.

4.       In the effective school, teachers manage instructional time to ensure that, for a high percentage of the time, students are actively engaged in teacher-directed learning activities focused on essential skills.

5.       In the effective school, student progress is monitored frequently using a variety of assessment procedures.  Assessment results are used to improve individual student performance and to adapt the instructional program to meet student-learning needs.

6.       In the effective school, an orderly, purposeful, and businesslike atmosphere free from the threat of physical and emotional harm exists.  The school culture and climate are conducive to teaching and learning.

7.       In the effective school, parents and other members of the community are familiar with the school’s mission, and the leadership provides a variety of opportunities for them to support the mission.

These principles can be used to gauge the present effectiveness of a school.  Each member of the school community has a role in advancing the school climate and operation to meet these principles.

For more information about Effective Schools to  www.effectiveschools.com.  A valuable resource on this topic is What Effective Schools Do: Re-Envisioning the Correlates (Lawrence W. Lezotte and Kathleen McKee Snyder).