Title: What Factors Make a School Effective? - The Edvocate
Headings: 
What Factors Make a School Effective?
Common elements of success
Other elements of student success
Matthew Lynch

Content: The third characteristic of a successful school is the ongoing screening of student performance and development. Schools should use assessment data to compare their students with others from across the country. Effective use of assessment data allows schools to identify problematic areas of learning at the classroom and school levels, so that solutions can be generated as to how to best address the problems. The fourth characteristic of a successful school is the existence of goals and direction . Administration should actively construct goals and then effectively communicate them to appropriate individuals (i.e., students, teachers, community-at-large). School principals must also be open and willing to incorporate innovation into goals for school processes and practices. It is important to invite input from all stakeholders in the process of developing school goals. Student performance has been shown to improve in schools where all in the school community work toward goals that are communicated and shared among all in the learning environment. The fifth and final factor of a successful school is the extent to which the school is secure and organized. For maximum learning to occur, students need to feel secure.