Chapter 5: The Organization of Effective Secondary Schools

Abstract

From its inception in the 1960s, the major focus of large-scale quantitative investigations of school effects has been on the issue of equal opportunities in education for disadvantaged and minority students. For two decades, school effects research attempted to identify the best way to deploy new federal resources for advancing educational equity. Beginning with the publication of the Equality of Educational Opportunity Report by James Coleman and others in 1966, this type of research was based on two different (but not inconsistent) conceptual frameworks. One, with an economic orientation, focused on school effectiveness as a series of input-output analyses (i.e., production functions) that were meant to estimate the impact of such fiscal resources as average teachers' salaries, books in the library, and class size on the average achievement of students in particular schools. Another strand, involving mainly sociologists, pursued issues of social stratification. Work using this second framework examined the role of education in status attainment. With years of schooling as the key independent variable, the primary focus was on the consequences of schooling for occupational and social mobility. 1 Both strands of school effects research in its early manifestation were conceptualized with a functionalist orientation based on human capital theory. Although seeking answers to ostensibly different questions, these two streams of work shared a common viewpoint: They conceived the organizational structure of a school as a "black box." As such, the in-

School Violence: The Role of Parental and Community Involvement

“…As theorized, schools with a sense of community will be resilient to crime-producing factors. Specifically, communal school organization is conceptualized as a community with members who know, care, and have common goals for the school (Lee, Bryk, & Smith, 1993;Payne, 2008Payne, , 2012Payne, Gottfredson, & Gottfredson, 2003). Schools that exhibit these communal characteristics have informal relationships and group participation to achieve goals.…”

The Influence of School Context Factors on the Induction Support as Perceived by Newly Qualified Teachers

“…In small schools, the social network is more compact, which enhances (informal) interpersonal relationships, teacher collaboration, and close relationships between teachers and students. In such contexts, staff are more likely to engage in common activities and teachers have greater autonomy (Fowler and Walberg, 1991;Lee et al, 1993;Maslowski, 2001;Opdenakker and Van Damme, 2007). In larger school organisations, it is likely that more formal rules and procedures set the basis for activities; relationships may be more formal and staff members may have less autonomy (Lee et al, 1993;Maslowski, 2001).…”

“…In such contexts, staff are more likely to engage in common activities and teachers have greater autonomy (Fowler and Walberg, 1991;Lee et al, 1993;Maslowski, 2001;Opdenakker and Van Damme, 2007). In larger school organisations, it is likely that more formal rules and procedures set the basis for activities; relationships may be more formal and staff members may have less autonomy (Lee et al, 1993;Maslowski, 2001). This implies that school size could influence the way support is provided to and experienced by BTs.…”

Youth Perceptions of Voting Participation in the Midst of Catalonia’s Active Struggle for Independence

“…Initial exploration showed that school averages of SES, political interest, and shares of immigrants were unrelated to our dependent variables, nor did they alter observed effects for other school-level predictors; they were excluded from further consideration. We do, however, control for school size as smaller school size has been linked with higher levels of student engagement (Lee, Bryk, & Smith, 1993; Lee & Smith, 1995). Moreover, we account for school type because semiprivate or private schools (especially Catholic schools) are more likely to foster civic skills (see Campbell, 2008a).…”