A revision of school effectiveness analysis
N.T. Longford
Abstract
Statistical modelling of school effectiveness data was originally motivated
by the dissatisfaction with the analysis of (school-leaving) examination
results that took no account of the background of the students
or regarded each school as an isolated unit of analysis.
The application of multilevel analysis was generally regarded as a breakthrough,
although more recent assessments of how they satisfy the goals of school
effectiveness studies, to compare the performances of schools, are much more
guarded. This article shows that the association of the school effects
with randomness is not necessary, because strength can be borrowed across
the analysed schools even when they are associated with fixed effects.
The methods are illustrated on a reanalysis of the data
from an early study of school effectiveness.
It addresses the problem of excess zero outcomes by treating them
as censored (truncated).
Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics 37, 157--179;
February 2012.