Monitoring school effectiveness: Conceptual and practical possibilities and dilemmas in developing a framework

How to monitor and enhance school effectiveness is one of the major concerns in current education reforms in different areas of the world. From the advances in school effectiveness research, this paper aims to illustrate the existing conceptual and practical possibilities and dilemmas in developing a framework for monitoring school effectiveness. From the multiplicity of school functions in the new century, there may be different types of school effectiveness including technical/economic, human/social, political, cultural, and educational effectiveness at the individual, institutions, community, society, and international levels. There are also eight management models for school effectiveness (including the goal model, system-input model, process model, satisfaction model, legitimacy model, ineffectiveness model, organizational learning model and total quality management model) and therefore their cognate indicators for monitoring are different. According to the types of school effectiveness and the models of school management, various conceptual possibilities and dilemmas may exist in monitoring school effectiveness. The paradigm for monitoring should be shifted from the simplistic conception to a multi-type and multi-model conception. Based on the choice of indicators, the purpose of monitoring, and the type of evaluation, the paper further proposes a matrix for exploring the critical practical issues, dilemmas, and possibilities in monitoring school effectiveness. Implications are drawn from these conceptual and practical possibilities and dilemmas for developing a framework for monitoring school effectiveness at different levels. Hopefully, they can benefit the current educational reforms in the Region and other parts of the world.