Prescriptions for Effective Elementary Schools Don't Fit Secondary Schools.

Abstract

ver the last few years, research has identified organizational characteristics that seem make some schools unusually effective. But because the bulk of this research has been conducted at the elementary level, it is important ask how applicable these findings are secondary schools. Research now under way at Research for Better Schools highlights the differ ences between elementary and second ary schools and suggests that the basic organizational structure at the second ary level may necessitate different ap proaches improving effectiveness and even different definitions of effective-During our study, project staff visited a random sample of 50 schools 27 elementary and 23 secondary in southeastern Pennsylvania. Because the area includes both urban and isolated rural areas along with all conditions in between, this broad sample is useful for learning about variation in the organiza tion of schools at different grade levels.’ The major source of data for the studyWilliam A. Firestone is Director of Field Studies, Research for Better Schools, Inc., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Robert E. Herriott is an independent Research Sociolo gist, Concord, Massachusetts.was a questionnaire filled out by teach ers. On the average, usable responses were obtained from 86 percent of the teachers in each school.The results of the study suggest that some of the features that characterize effective schools are significantly less prevalent at the secondary level than in elementary schools (Figure 1). Our ma jor climate measure focuses on agree ment on instructional goals. Teachers were asked rank the importance to you as a member of your school of achieving seven student outcomes. Within each school, teacher rankings were compared for similarity. 2 There is significantly less agreement at the sec-DECEMBER 1982 51