The aim of this thesis is to investigate the motivation for the proposed Education Management Development Centres (EMDCs). It also addresses what improvements to the current system EMDCs are supposed to make and how EMDCs hope to enhance collaboration between the Western Cape Education Department and local schools. It also look at the role of the proposed EMDCs and specifically focus on how they hope to promote better inter-sectoral support between the Western Cape Education Department and local schools.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Instructional Systems, Leadership, and Workforce Development. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 2009. / Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-105). Issued in print and online. Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations.

Dissertation (Ed.D.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2009. / Directed by Ulrich Reitzug; submitted to the Dept. of Educational Leadership and Cultural Foundations. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jun. 4, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 131-146).

Thesis (Ph. D. (Education))--Rhodes University, 2005.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1999. / Title from title page screen, viewed July 27, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Elizabeth Lugg (chair), Paul Baker, Amee Adkins, Ramona Lomeli. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 183-189) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2001. / Title from title page screen, viewed April 4, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Paul Baker (Chair), Dianne Ashby, Deborah Curtis, Susan Lenski, Glenn Schlichting. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 214-219) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--Illinois State University, 1996. / Title from title page screen, viewed May 31, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Robert Arnold (chair), Paul Baker, Kenneth Strand, Norman Durflinger. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-74) and abstract. Also available in print.

This study, Pioneer Schools Effectiveness and Improvement in Saudi Arabia: The Case of the Secondary Educational Institutions, is the first systematic investigation of school effectiveness (SE) and school improvement (SI) in relation to the Kingdom’s ambitious Pioneer Secondary Schools Programme (PSP) first introduced in 2000. It selected all eight boys’ Pioneer Schools in the Educational District of Al Madinah Al Munawwarah, as a case study to determine, a decade after its inception, how four key groups now understand and describe the attributes of an effective school: principals, teachers, students and parents. Its unique approach is to utilise a mixed research method by combining both quantitative statistical analysis and qualitative approaches, and using hermeneutics in the latter in order to triangulate the findings. The study departed from the once traditional approach which relied heavily on quantified test results or achievement scores to determine SE and methods of SI. Instead, this study posed three fundamental research questions ad generated lists of identifiable indices of priorities and outlooks of the four respondent groups in relation to SESI for the schools in question. The findings of this study consistently show that, from the perspective of those surveyed and interviewed, much more has to be done in pioneer schools in Saudi Arabia before they can be considered truly effective schools in international terms. Moreover, the discussion of the data generated draws the further conclusion that international educational research on SESI issues points to a much more involved and sophisticated process than is suggested by the priorities and outlook of the respondents of this study in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Providing relevant and quality schooling for all South African learners is the paramount goal of the South African National Department of Education. South Africa 's historical and current socio-economic contexts provide many challenges for both the Department of Education and schools in this endeavour to provide quality teaching and learning. These challenges impact directly and indirectly on what happens in the classroom. Since 1994 a plethora of education and training policy has been introduced in South Africa to redress historical imbalances; to introduce a new education and training framework and approach; and to provide guidelines, principles and procedures for addressing some of the challenges that impact on schools. The National Whole School Evaluation Policy provides the legislative framework for the establishment of a quality assurance process in South African schools based on accountability and support. The subsequent Integrated Quality Management System attempts to provide a framework for integrating school evaluation and performance measurement. Policy frameworks are in place to guide quality assurance and school improvement, however, the reality of implementing this at a grass roots level is particularly challenging. The General Motors (GM) South Africa Foundation, a non-governmental development organisation, established by General Motors (GM) South Africa, commenced with the piloting the Learning Schools Initiative to investigate some of the challenges of whole school development and evaluation. This research documents the Learning Schools Initiative's intervention with the initial two pilot secondary schools situated in Port Elizabeth (Nelson Mandela Bay) over a four-year period. It reviews the relevant school reform and school development literature and adopts a critical realist evaluative research approach to investigate the key mechanisms that promote whole school development and change in this context. In keeping with this approach, the results of the research are analysed and discussed within a context-menchanism-outcome configuration that involves the identification of the key mechanisms that bring about desired outcome/s in a specific context. Seven key generative mechanisms are identified as critical at a school and classroom level (i) school culture, (ii) school structures, (iii) effective leadership and management, (iv) personal growth and meaning, (v) restoration of relationships, (vi) professional development of educators, and development of capacity to work together, and (vii) support and accountability. The need to structure school development interventions around the triggering of identified key mechanisms is also identified as an important overarching mechanism. Suggestions are made for further research required to facilitate a deeper understanding of how to bring about meaningful change that results in quality teaching and learning in South African schools.