Transferring best evidence into practice: Assessment of evidence-based school management

Dormann Christian, Binnewies Carmen, Koch, Anna Rosa, van Ackeren Isabell, Clausen Marten, Preisendörfer Peter, Schmidt Uwe & Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia Olga

Abstract

Improving the quality of the German educational system has become a pivotal interest among several stakeholders. In parallel, the concept of evidence-based management (EBMgt) has emerged. The present paper deals with establishing the concept of evidence-based school management (EBSMgt). Previous research has established EBMgt as consisting of three dimensions: (a) external evidence ori-entation (EE), (b) internal evidence orientation (IE), and (c) evidence substitute orientation (ES; Stumm, Mohr, & Dormann, 2010). We applied the scales devel-oped by Stumm et al. to a sample of N = 2,573 teachers and to N = 296 school principals and their deputies employed at N = 168 schools in the state Rhineland-Palatinate (RLP) of Germany. The types of schools considered refl ect 92.3 % of the schools in RLP. Principal component analyses for teachers and for principals con-fi rmed the three-dimensional structure of EBSMgt. Alphas were satisfactory for IE (teachers: .87; principals: .74) and for EE (.79 & .69, resp.), but they were low-er for ES (.53 & .59, resp.). Furthermore, variance component analyses revealed shared perceptions within schools (ICC1) for EE. ICC1 for IE and ES was weaker. Multilevel modeling revealed meaningful relations for the three scales with vari-ables used for validation purposes (e.g., previously used evidence and usefulness ratings of evidence). Dichotomizing the three scales and cross-tabulation yield-ed several EBSMgt "types", of which the ideal EBSMgt type (high IE & EE, low ES; 19.75 %) and the evidence-averted type (low IE & EE, high ES; 18.47 %) were most common. A major contribution of the present study is the provision of the three scales, which allow assessing EBSMgt in terms of diff erent types of school management. This provides a foundation for future studies to identify ways to improve EBSMgt and to investigate its various consequences. (5) (PDF) Transferring Best Evidence into Practice: Assessment of evidence-based school management.