If schools don't work for children, school leaders must act decisively. Until recently, it was conventional wisdom that school performance is directly related to the income and social status of its students, and that chronic poor performance for some schools is the acceptable norm. Policymakers and practitioners, with the help of researchers, are now challenging this paradigm. Three factors are prompting attention to ineffective schools. The information economy demands unprecedented skill levels of today's students.
Some schools add more value to student learning than others.
We have evidence that schools are capable of planned improvement. Taken together, these suggest that positive intervention in our weakest schools may be a productive course. Governments are increasingly taking an active part in constructing a safety net for such schools. Two recent guides i provide policymakers with the most current thinking gathered from a broad range of international perspectives on this question. They offer insights and strategies to restore under-performing schools to health.