The use of theory in school effectiveness research revisited

Abstract

From an international review of 109 school effectiveness research studies, only 6 could be seen as theory driven. As the border between substantive conceptual models of educational effectiveness and theory-based models is not always very sharp, this number might be increased to 11 by including those studies that are based on models that make reference to specific broader conceptual principles. From this perspective, the most important conceptual/theoretical approaches are the dynamic model of educational effectiveness (Creemers & Kyriakides, 2006), micro-economic theory, and organizational scientific perspectives, like the Quinn and Rohrbaugh (1983) competing values framework. As the use of theoretical principles in educational effectiveness research is likely to remain eclectic rather than encompassing and re-constructional rather than pro-active, piecemeal improvement of conceptual models is seen as an effective approach to furthering the field, next to the search for theory-based explanatory mechanisms.