Improving schools and educational systems : international perspectives Setting the context Introduction Alma Harris and Janet Chrispeels A brief history of school improvement research in the USA Charles B. Teddlie and Samuel Stringfield School improvement : phases 2 and 3 Success for all Robert Slavin and Nancy A. Madden The high reliability schools project : some preliminary results and analyses David Reynolds Samuel Stringfield and Eugene C Schaffer Using the power of difference in school improvement projects Paul Clarke Mel Ainscow and Mel West Effective school improvement : similarities and differences in improvement in eight European countries Louise Stoll Bert P.M. Creemers and Gerry Reezigt School improvement : phase 4 Changing secondary schools is hard : lessons from 10 years of school improvement Lorna Earl Nancy Torrance and Stephanie Sutherland Building instructional quality : inside out and outside in perspectives on San Diegos school reform Linda Darling Hammond ... [et al.] Standards based reform and small schools of choice : how reform theories converge in three urban middle schools Chrysan Gallucci ... [et al.] Education district development in South Africa : a new direction for school improvement Brahm Fleisch The challenge of systemic change in complex educational systems : a district model to scale up reform Janet Chrispeels and Margerita Gonzales The creation of knowledge networks : collaborative enquiry for school and system improvement David Jackson Towards the 5th phase school improvement : future directions for the field Janet Chrispeels and Alma Harris