This research study investigates co-ordination strategies within schools, their relationships to both teacher and student commitment to school, and the relationship between student commitment and student achievement in Switzerland. Two different kinds of co-ordination strategies, structural and cultural, can be distinguished. Structural co-ordination strategies have to do with formal, lasting arrangements that allow an organisation to operate. These include roles, rules, procedures, and authority relations. Cultural co-ordination strategies are related to the nature of communications and the consensus on organisational goals in the school.
Cultural mechanisms shape what teachers want to do.
Multiple regression analyses carried out with different indicators of teacher and student commitment to school showed that school coordination strategies can make a difference, although the effects were rather small. HOME Journals Catalogue Journal Cover Page Issue Contents Educational Research and Evaluation 1999, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. In this article the outcomes are presented of explorative path analysis on data collected with grade 8 students and classrooms in eight Western and two Central European education systems. HOME Journals Catalogue Journal Cover Page Issue Contents Educational Research and Evaluation 1999, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. Due to its national extensions, the German study allows longitudinal analyses.