Collaborative School Turnaround: A Study of the Impact of Federation on Student Outcomes

• In Event: Turnaround Efforts: Evaluations and Policy Implications

Abstract

School turnaround is an important feature of government policy in many education systems and significant resources have been invested in collaborative improvement for our most challenging schools. Federations are collaboratives of schools working under combined leadership, management and governance structures often with the aim of achieving school turnaround. This paper reports findings from a mixed methods study investigating the impact of ‘turn around’ federations on student outcomes. The study involved a combination of multilevel modelling techniques and qualitative case studies and the findings report statistically significant gains in student performance in turn around federations compared a matched sample of their non-federated counterparts and highlight the importance of leadership, management, economies of scale and continuing professional development in achieving this impact.

Authors

• Christopher James Chapman, University of Glasgow

• Daniel R. Muijs, University of Southampton

• James Willis MacAllister, The University of Manchester