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: Effective leaders are visible, able to successfully convey the school’s goals and visions, collaborate with teachers to enhance their skills, and are involved in the discovery of and solutions to problems. The second factor is having high expectations of students, as well as teachers. High expectations of students have repeatedly been shown to have a positive impact on students’ performance. More attention should be paid to high expectations of teachers. In other words, teachers who are expected to teach at high levels of effectiveness are able to reach the level of expectations, particularly when teacher evaluations and teacher professional development is geared toward improving instructional quality. 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).