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: 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. Respect is a quality that is promoted and is a fundamental aspect of a safe school. There are also a number of trained staff and programs, such as social workers, who work with problem students before situations get out of hand. Other elements of student success
Apart from the five factors of a successful school already mentioned, the size of the school seems to be a school effectiveness factor. Research has found that the smaller the school, the better students perform, especially in the case of older students. This is the rationale behind the concept of schools-within-schools.