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D fferences between secondary schools: A study about school context, group compos t on, school pract ce, and school effects w th …
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School Effectiveness and School Improvement 
An International Journal of Research, Policy and Practice
Volume 17, 2006 - Issue 1
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Original Articles
Differences between secondary
schools: A study about school
context, group composition, school
practice, and school effects with
special attention to public and
Catholic schools and types of
schools
Marie-Christine Opdenakker  & Jan Van Damme
Pages 87-117 | Received 28 Jun 2004, Accepted 08 Apr 2005, Published online: 16 Feb 2007
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 https://doi.org/10.1080/09243450500264457
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Abstract
The results indicate that in Flanders secondary schools of di erent
denomination and of di erent school type (based on their curriculum
o erings) di er with respect to several characteristics. With respect to the
educational framework, learning environment and learning climate
di erences between schools are small and di erences are more situated
within schools. Multilevel analysis reveals that almost 19% of the variance
in mathematics achievement is at school level. The e ect of denomination
is small and disappears when student background (which is related to
school practice) is taken into account. The e ect of school type remains
important when controlled for student background and denomination.
Group composition, the social and learning climate, and the opportunity to
learn seem to matter and explain almost 90% of the school e ect. They
also explain more than four fths of the e ect of school type (and
denomination together) which accounts for 65% of the school level
variance.
Additional information
Acknowledgements
The writing of the paper was funded by the Flemish Minister of
Education and Training, in the context of the programme “Policy
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between secondary schools: A study about school context, group compos t on, school pract ce, and school effects w th …
ducat Dofferences
a d
a
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01.04.2020
 
Research
Centres”
and by
a grant
the Catholic
University of Leuven.
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Notes
1. In Flanders, at the start of secondary education, the great majority of
the students follow the A-stream or the general track. (A small minority
take a remedial or prevocational programme.) The students in the
general track can make a subject choice for 5 to 7 hrs a week. The
subjects chosen can be grouped into four categories: classical languages
(Latin and/or Greek), general subjects, technical-theoretical options, and
technical-practical options. The majority of the classes (75%) in the
second grade are formed by groups of students with the same subject
choice.
2. Kallestad, Olweus, and Alsaker (1998) propose an aggregate reliability
coe cient of .35 as a minimum.
3. We refer to Opdenakker (2004) for more detailed information on
school and class variables mentioned in this study.
4. More information on this component analysis can be found in
Opdenakker and Van Damme (2000a, 2001).
5. The mathematics teacher was asked to score each item with the
categories (3) a typical item students have studied during the school year
(and that can be asked in the exams), (2) a question that the students
should be able to answer on the basis of the subject matter taught
during the school year, or (1) an item that does not belong to the subject
matter taught.
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fferences between secondary schools: A study about school context, group compos t on, school pract ce, and school effects w th …
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6. We refer the reader to Opdenakker (2004), Van Damme et al. (2002),
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Opdenakker
(2002),
and Opdenakker
et al. (in press) for more
detailed information on the classroom practice variables (learning
environment and class climate).
7. The results are based on the reduced dataset of 47 schools.
8. The literature is inconclusive with respect to the e ectiveness of this
school characteristic. Some studies refer to the positive e ect of a large
school size (e.g., the outlier study using data from the IEA Reading
Literacy Study by Postlethwaite & Ross, 1992), while others refer to the
positive e ect of a small school size for all the students (cohesiveness,
increased sense of belonging, and mission) (Fowler & Walberg, 1991; Lee
& Smith, 1997) or especially for the achievement of minority and poor
students (Stiefel, Berne, Iatarola, & Fruchter, 2000). There are also some
studies (e.g., Kral, 1997) which indicate that both small and large schools
have positive characteristics (large schools have good leadership and
evaluation practices, while small schools have a high sense of belonging
and cohesiveness) and that the overall e ect of school size on
achievement is zero (Luyten, 1994).
9. Compared to the results of the empty model based on data of the
total group of students of the second grade A-stream with available and
usable student variables (4,403 students, 265 mathematics classes, 156
teachers, and 55 schools) (54% was situated at student level, 21% at class
level, 6% at teacher level, and 19% at school level, see Table 1), the
variance estimated at class level is increased and the variance estimated
at teacher level is decreased. The reduction of the number of teachers
per school, by which the number of teachers per school is small and the
rather small number of classes per teacher can be an explanation for
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secondary schools: A study about school context, group compos t on, school pract ce, and school effects w th …
at e sD fferences
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u be
o c asses pe teac e ca be a e p a at o o
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10.
di erence
between
the “multitrack
school” type and the
“autonomous middle school” type is marginally signi cant at .05 level.
11. Because all other types of schools contrast with the “TSO/BSOschool” type, we used this type of school as the reference category in the
presentation of the results. This has no e ect on the deviance and the
parameter estimates of the other variables in the model.
12. The school characteristics used in this section are based on the ones
mentioned in previous sections and are derived from structural equation
modelling with latent variables (LISREL). Information on this can be
found in Opdenakker (2004). Co-operation between teachers (COOPERATION) is based on “COOPTC” (loading: .65) and “CONSULT_TMCL”
(loading: .41), participative professionally-oriented leadership
(P&PLEADER) is based on “EDUC_TASKS” (loading: .55) and “PARTICIP”
(loading: .57), the relational climate at school (RELCLIM) is based on “SINTEGR1” (loading: .73), “S-INTEGR2” (loading: .87), “S-RELTREACH1”
(loading: .51), and “S-RELTEACH2” (loading: .39), and the learning climate
at school (LEARNCLIM) is based on “S-STUDY_OR_M” (loading: .54) and
“ORDLCLIM” (loading: .47).
13. The teacher salaries are paid by the government and are the same
for teachers of the private and of the public schools.
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