Making schools effective

Getting Beneath the Veil of Effective Schools: Evidence from New York City

We find that traditionally collected input measures--class size, per pupil expenditure, the fraction of teachers with no certification, and the fraction of teachers with an advanced degree--are not correlated with school effectiveness. In stark contrast, we show that an index of five policies suggested by over forty years of qualitative research--frequent teacher feedback, the use of data to guide instruction, high-dosage tutoring, increased instructional time, and high expectations--explains approximately 50 percent of the variation in school effectiveness.