A school-based management mechanism for school effectiveness and development

The paper aims to report on an integration of my recent research and thinking on school effectiveness and school-based management and to develop a school-based management mechanism for continuous pursuit of school effectiveness and development. The matrix of school effectiveness in terms of four categories and seven different conceptions provides a framework for examining the basic issues of conceptualization, measurement and maximization of school effectiveness. Furthermore, a dynamic perspective can be used to reconceptualize school effectiveness and explore the relationship of school effectiveness to school-based management and strategic management. The characteristics of school-based management based on a strategic management system can reflect the emphases of different conceptions of school effectiveness and constitute a mechanism for pursuing long-term school effectiveness, even in different categories. Based on the matrix of school process and the principle of congruence, the management concept should be shifted from the cell management to the layer management in establishing an effective school-based management mechanism for school development. This article also reports the experience on training school administrators to establish such a school-based management mechanism.