Edited by Margaret Maden
In 1996, the National Commission on Education in the United Kingdom published Success Against the Odds, a description of how 11 schools in disadvantaged areas were producing high student achievement. RoutledgeFalmer is now publishing Success Against the Odds: Five Years On, which revisits these schools to determine whether those schools remain successful. Most have done even better but there is "significant variation in the amount and kind of success." The Selly Park Technology School for Girls in Birmingham, located in a primarily Muslim community, had the second highest rise in GCSE scores in England between 1997 and 2000. By contrast, the Even Fair Furlong Primary suffered from discipline problems during the five-year period and only last summer showed significant gains in student achievement, doubling its aggregate scores in English and Math. Though no one blueprint emerges as a guarantee for success, the authors did find several common factors in schools that did well. The head teachers (principals) of each school possessed a wide spectrum of leadership styles but all had at least ten years' experience. The most important factor was the school staff's commitment and quality. This primarily meant a carefully selected teaching force, but several schools also utilized support staff and parental volunteers imaginatively. (Not surprisingly, the No Excuses project of the Heritage Foundation, which examined 21 high-performing schools in low-income areas in the United States, also found that principal leadership and a high-quality teaching staff lead to successful schools.) Success Against the Odds: Five Years On can be ordered from RoutledgeFalmer at http://www.routledgefalmer.com/main.html and from www.amazon.co.uk for $27.95.
