An Examination of 10 Years of Research on Exemplary Schools

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter reviews the evolution of research since Coleman and Plowden and at important new findings for the future. It examines exemplary schools research and offers approaches for improving schools at both the elementary and secondary levels. It is based in large part on a longitudinal study of 30 elementary schools in Maryland. The initial report of the study was titled Process Evaluation: A Comprehensive Study of Outliers. The chapter looks at how the outlier schools were identified and examines the characteristics that distinguished them. It provides opinion on how such findings ought to be utilized in other schools. The most important characteristic that has emerged out of all those identified is leadership. Leadership is an important quality at all levels of schooling from primary school through university. Leadership style is normally best communicated through performance rather than words. Leaders of unusually successful schools not only indicate the desire that the school should be exceptional, but they demonstrate it continually by their own actions and the methods by which they mediate a hundred different kinds of experiences they encounter on a daily basis. This kind of behavior is believed to be the key to creating exemplary schools. Because the behavior of these leaders tends to be site-specific and individually specific, it is difficult to generalize policies that would be useful for policymakers in creating exemplary schools where they do not exist.