Merging Traditions

Book excerpt: In recent years two simple questions have come to dominate the policy-making agenda. How does one tell a 'good' school from a 'bad' one? And how does one set about improving schools? In this volume leading British researchers in school effectiveness and school improvement explore recent research evidence from their respective perspectives, and seek to identify ways of integrating the two traditions. The result is a distinctive mix of approaches and perspectives harnessed to the cause of improving both the quality of research and the quality of the practice of judging and improving schools. This collection is at the leading edge of the field with new material on the international dimension and theory generation on school improvement, amongst other current issues. It is thus a timely successor to School Effectiveness (Cassell) by Reynolds and Cuttance.