Exploring school effects across southern and eastern African school systems and in Tanzania

The Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) II data are analysed, using multilevel modelling techniques, to explore the key issues underlying the development of school effectiveness models. Differences between schools in Grade 6 pupils' reading and mathematics achievements are examined and the percentage of variance in pupil outcomes attributable to school and country levels is estimated before and after adjusting for various factors. A wide range of explanatory factors has been investigated, such as pupil gender, age, socio-economic status, homework, absence, grade repetition, school location, resources, leadership and community involvement. Only a minority of these factors was found to be statistically significantly related to pupil achievements. Tanzanian educational stakeholder views on the implications of the SACMEQ II analysis findings are also reported. In conclusion the findings suggest that a contextualised approach incorporating stakeholders' views is needed to build understanding of school effectiveness in low-income countries.