This book celebrates twenty years of the International Congress for School Effecti- ness and Improvement. According to Judith Chapman's report in the first issue of the Australian Network News (1989, p. 1): The initiative for ICES was taken by Dale Mann, former Chairperson (197685) of the Department of Educational Administration, Teachers'College, Columbia University, who served as the first Chairperson (198485) for the National Council for Effective Schools in the United States . . . [who] felt it timely to bring policy-makers, researchers and planners together. By mid-1987 eight countries, the USA, England, Wales, Scotland, Australia, Sweden, Canada and South Africa had shown sufficient interest for an international congress to be conducted in late 1987 or early 1988. The planning group at Columbia was int- ested in a Congress in two parts: (1) a conference on school effectiveness open to all with an interest and with papers presented in the normal fashion for such events, and (2) a decision-making meeting at which the organization would be formally cons- tuted and decisions made. (Chapman, 1989, p. 1) In January 1988, the first Congress was held at the University of London. Policy makers, practitioners and scholars from 14 countries, including the initial 8, together with Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands and Norway, attended the Congress and adopted the name International Congress for School Effectiveness.

This handbook provides a comprehensive, international review of school effectiveness and school improvement research. It documents the progress of the field over the past quarter century and clearly identifies the improvements in research techniques and the ability to consider context as a major feature. It also provides both theoretical constructs and practical applications and case studies that are transnational as well as local. The book details the thoughts of not only the proponents of school effectiveness research, but those that have been critical of it.

The handbook contains chapters from most of the key contributors to this research from the USA, the UK, Hong Kong and Europe. It also includes a number of chapters that document the progress of the field in regions of the world that are less known, including the Asian-Pacific region, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.

Inhalt
Volume 1. Preface. Section 1: A Review of the Progress. 1:20 years of ICSEI: The Impact of School Effectiveness and School Improvement on School Reform; T. Townsend. 2: Four Decades of Body-Surfing the Breakers of School Reform: Just Waving, Not Drowning; H. Beare. 3: Generic and Differentiated models of Educational Effectiveness: Implications for the Improvement of Educational Practice; L. Kyriakides. 4: Improving school effectiveness: Retrospective and Prospective; J. MacBeath. 5: School Effectiveness research in Latin America; J. Murillo. 6: 'Effective for What; Effective for Whom?' Two Questions SESI Should Not Ignore I. Bogotch et al. 7: Pursuing the Contextualisation Agenda: Recent progress and future prospects; M.Thrupp et al. Section 2: A World Showcase: School Effectiveness and Improvement from All Corners. The Americas. 8: A quarter century of school effectiveness and improvement research in the United States; C. Teddlie and S. Stringfield. 9: History of the school effectiveness and improvement movement in Canada over the past 25 years; L. Sackney. 10: School Improvement in Latin America: Innovations over 25 years (1980-2006); B. Avalos. Europe. 11: Growing together: School Effectiveness and School Improvement in the UK, L. Stoll and P. Sammons. 12: Educational Effectiveness and Improvement: The development of the field in mainland Europe; B.P.M. Creemers. Asia and the Pacific. 13: School Effectiveness and Improvement in Asia: Three Waves, Nine Trends and Challenges Yin Cheong Cheng and Wai-ming Tam. 14: School effectiveness and improvement in Taiwan; Hui-Ling Wendy Pan. 15: School effectiveness and improvement in Mainland China; Daming Feng. 16: The Maturing of a Movement: Tracking Research, Policy and Practice in Australia; B. Caldwell. 17: Schooling Reform: Reflections on the New Zealand Experience; H. Fancy. Africa and The Middle East. 18: History of the school effectiveness and improvement movementin Africa; B. Fleisch. 19: School Autonomy for School Effectiveness and Improvement: The Case of Israel; A. Volansky. 20: Recent Initiatives in School Effectiveness and Improvement: The Case of Turkey; I. Guven. 21: Recent Initiatives in School Effectiveness and Improvement: The Case of the Islamic Republic of Iran; Azam Azimi. Section 3: Resources, School Effectiveness and Improvement. 22: The relationship between student attainment and school resources, R. Levacic. 23: Accountability, funding and school improvement in Canada; C. Ungerleider and B. Levin. 24: Cost and financing of education and its impact on coverage and quality of services and efficiency and equity in Sub-Saharan African Countries; A. Mingat. 25: Resources and School Effectiveness and Improvement; J. Spinks. Volume 2. Section 4: Accountability and Diversity, School Effectiveness and Improvement. 26: School effectiveness, school improvement and the accountability and standards agenda - a European Survey; D. Reynolds. 27: Evolution of school performance research in the USA: From school effectiveness to school accountability and back; S. Kochan. 28: Education decentralisation and accountability relationships in Latin American and the Caribbean Region; E. di Gropello. 29: Equity, Efficiency and the Development of South African Schools; N. Taylor. 30: Policy Perspective on School Effectiveness and Improvement at the State Level: The Case of South Australia; S. Marshall. 31: Diverse populations and school effectiveness and improvement in the USA; S. Lasky et al. Section 5: Changing Schools Through Strategic Leadership. 32: School Leadership, School Effectiveness and School Improvement: Democratic and Integrative Leadership; L. Moos and S. Huber. 33: Leadership and School Reform Factors; R.J. Marzano. 34: The Emotional Side of School Improvement: A Leadership Perspective; K. Leithwood. 35: Leadership and School Effectiveness and Improvement; H. Silins and B. Mulford. 36: Leadership Development for School