Effective six-year high schools : stakeholders' views

The research is a school effectiveness study dealing with stakeholders' perceptions. It addresses six-year high school effectiveness, as it is perceived by key stakeholders in Israel: school principals, teachers, students, and parents. Stakeholders were asked to consider their attitudes towards characteristics that cause them to be satisfied or dissatisfied with the school. The research was undertaken during 2000-2001 in three Israeli six-year high schools. The six-year high school is a new kind of institute in Israel and it does not exist all over the country. This kind of school has two main components - a three-year junior high school and a three-year secondary school. In places having no six-year high schools, there are four-year secondary schools. The study includes three main research questions relating to the perceived characteristics of an ideal Israeli six-year high school, the perceived effectiveness of stakeholders' schools and the satisfaction they have with their own schools. The research is based on three case studies including a survey and interviews. 2 principals and 12 teachers in each school were interviewed (42 interviewees overall) whereas students and their parents were given questionnaires. One of the main things examined was the extent to which this new kind of school enables greater academic and curricular continuity. The study reveals that according to staffs attitudes, six-year continuity does not exist in all schools and there are institutions in which there is no integration between the junior high school and the secondary school. Furthermore, according to stakeholders' perceptions, six-year high schools are ineffective concerning teachers' quality, class size (classes are too crowded), resources management, students' motivation and parental involvement. The school principal has a direct and indirect influence on most characteristics and therefore schools managed by better principals are likely to be more effective. Nevertheless, lack of resources might limit the principal's impact on the whole six-year high school's effectiveness.