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In this paper the authors provide a synopsis of their results to date by organising them in response to four questions. These are questions about: leadership actions that account for sustained improvement or effectiveness in their school over at least several years; how the influence of these actions is exercised; differences among heads' leadership associated with school sector, phase of work and student intake characteristics; patterns of actions taken by heads toward school improvement. For each of these questions they also point to additional research that would be valuable, and their own next steps as well as the research of others.

This paper extends the introduction to the authors' study of successful school leadership and how it influences pupil outcomes begun in the Editorial introduction. Critical to an appreciation especially of the external validity of their results is an understanding of the policy context in which the English leaders in their study found themselves; this is a policy context dominated by concerns for external accountability and increases in the academic performance of pupils. In addition to describing this context, the paper summarises the conceptual and methodological framework that guided the early stage of their research and outlines their mixed-methods research design.

This paper provides an overview of the quantitative features of research design adopted in the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF; formerly DfES) funded, longitudinal mixed method study intended to investigate the impact of school leadership on pupil outcomes. It outlines the way quantitative analyses of national assessment and examination datasets have been used to identify a sample of highly effective and improving schools for further investigation. Some examples of the findings from the interim analyses of survey responses by headteachers and key staff are highlighted in relation to patterns of leadership practices of the improvement group of the school. The categorisation of schools into three distinctive improvement and effectiveness groups reveals statistically and educationally significant differences in certain features and practices. There are important relationships between school context and the school improvement group, and between school context and headteachers' time in post.

Presents results from a district-commissioned, value-added project conducted with 107 primary schools in Surrey, England. Explores use of baseline assessment to measure pupil progress across Key Stage 1 in various core curriculum areas. Multilevel analysis revealed that children's scores on the nine reception screening subscales were linked with their later KS1 achievement. (21 references) (MLH)

This paper extends the introduction to the authors' study of successful school leadership and how it influences pupil outcomes begun in the Editorial introduction. Critical to an appreciation especially of the external validity of their results is an understanding of the policy context in which the English leaders in their study found themselves; this is a policy context dominated by concerns for external accountability and increases in the academic performance of pupils. In addition to describing this context, the paper summarises the conceptual and methodological framework that guided the early stage of their research and outlines their mixed-methods research design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an overview of the quantitative features of research design adopted in the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF; formerly DfES) funded, longitudinal mixed method study intended to investigate the impact of school leadership on pupil outcomes. It outlines the way quantitative analyses of national assessment and examination datasets have been used to identify a sample of highly effective and improving schools for further investigation. Some examples of the findings from the interim analyses of survey responses by headteachers and key staff are highlighted in relation to patterns of leadership practices of the improvement group of the school. The categorisation of schools into three distinctive improvement and effectiveness groups reveals statistically and educationally significant differences in certain features and practices. There are important relationships between school context and the school improvement group, and between school context and headteachers' time in post. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the authors provide a synopsis of their results to date by organising them in response to four questions. These are questions about: leadership actions that account for sustained improvement or effectiveness in their school over at least several years; how the influence of these actions is exercised; differences among heads' leadership associated with school sector, phase of work and student intake characteristics; patterns of actions taken by heads toward school improvement. For each of these questions they also point to additional research that would be valuable, and their own next steps as well as the research of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses national assessment and examination data sets in England to test the claim that networked learning activity contributes to raising standards of attainment. Results for primary and secondary schools involved in the large and innovative network learning community (NLC) programme in England funded by the National College for School Leadership are compared with the national patterns for all schools across 2003 to 2005. The results indicate that there has been considerable variation in the extent of improvement in attainment results over the three years. Improvement patterns for NLC schools are generally in line with the rising national trend. There is no convincing evidence that NLC primary schools as a whole have improved more rapidly or narrowed the attainment gap in relation to national results between 2003 and 2005. For secondary schools there are some indications for Key Stage 3 that the change in English results shows greater improvement than the national pattern for a majority of schools, but this is not the case for maths or science. The paper also examines the results of a survey of NLC participants' perceptions. These show that most have a generally positive view of the professional learning promoted, the improvement of practice in their schools and the impact on pupil engagement and motivation, but that perceptions of the influence on pupil attainment and behaviour are somewhat less favourable, Again there is considerable variation amongst respondents suggesting that both involvement in and the influence of NLC activity varies within and between schools and individual networks. Heads and deputies generally have more favourable views than other respondents. It is concluded that the main benefit of networked learning has been to enhance professional practice but that caution should be exercised in making claims concerning the potential role of networked activity in raising attainment. While some schools and networks have shown marked improvement across a range of outcomes, the findings indicate that there is no overall NLC effect on attainment outcomes; rather, there is considerable variation at the school level within and between networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results from an LEA-commissioned value-added project conducted with 107 primary schools in Surrey. The project was designed to explore the use of baseline assessment at entry to reception classes to measure pupil progress across Key Stage 1 (KS1). Pupil performance in KS1 assessments of the core curriculum areas English (reading and writing), mathematics and science were analysed. The results of multi-level analyses, the impact of pupil background factors, the feedback of results to schools and the way Surrey Education Service and schools are using the information in school improvement activities are described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]