A Literature Review of School Practices to Overcome School Failure. OECD Education Working Papers, No. 68
Author: Faubert, Brenton
Date: 2012-02-08
Type: Information Analyses
Subjects: Foreign Countries,School Effectiveness,Educational Quality,Equal Education,Educational Improvement,Evidence,Academic Achievement,Academic Failure,Educational Policy,Educational Practices,Best Practices,Instructional Effectiveness,Pedagogical Content Knowledge,Leadership

The purpose of this report is to review the body of literature concerned with reducing school failure by improving equity in schools and classrooms. The literature review will be used to inform the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Project "Overcoming School Failure: Policies that Work" and hopefully, future educational reforms across OECD countries that aim to improve equity in schools and to reduce failure. Specifically, the terms of reference for this assignment set the focus of the literature review on the most relevant literature on the subject of in-school policies and practices for overcoming school failure and answering two general questions: 1) what are the policies and practices that best support reducing school failure and improving equity? And 2) what is the empirical evidence of their impact on reducing school failure and improving equity? This review finds that pedagogical knowledge matters and is central to reducing school failure and achieving equitable outcomes. The evidence points to the great potential in systematically linking instruction and assessment strategies with curriculum. School leaders (administrators, teachers) play a critical role in fostering conditions for success by encouraging effective pedagogical knowledge, establishing effective learning supports, and maintaining appropriate learning conditions while minimizing distractions. The role of data in decision making is emerging as a critical element in advancing students to their goals, school planning, and shaping/aligning strategy, policy and practice at all levels of an education system. The amount of empirically assessed research available on each topic varies. For example, empirical research on effective instructional and assessment practices far outweighed the empirical research on curriculum practices. Overall, what emerged from the literature search were the over-arching and interconnected themes of pedagogy, leadership, school and classroom learning supports, and school and classroom conditions which also make-up the thematic categories of the summative overview in Section 2. Empirical research providing unambiguous answers to "what", "when", "why", and "how" policies and practices are effective in improving student achievement remains limited. The research is clear that there is no silver bullet that can reduce school failure and improve equity. Instead, a layered approach of policies and practices at the school and classroom level is recommended, some intended to focus on the core of teaching and learning (instruction, curriculum, assessment, leadership and data use) while others create the network of supports required to maintain teacher focus on student learning (professional learning, reduced school and classroom size, and interventions that build resiliency). Crucially, these layers must form part of a larger design properly aligned to support efforts across all levels of the education system. Annexed are: (1) Research Questions and Terms of Reference; (2) Search Methodology; and (3) Hattie's Effect Size Barometer. (Contains 5 footnotes.)