‘Race’, class and school effects

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Abstract
The late 1980s saw a proliferation of statistical work in the field of ‘school effects’. The development of new quantitative techniques (such as multi‐level modelling) allowed researchers to gauge schools’ relative ‘effectiveness’ whilst making allowance for the different background characteristics of their pupil populations. The first major study to look at the effectiveness of multi‐racial schools (Smith and Tomlinson 1989) received a good deal of publicity. This article critically evaluates the study from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives. We highlight problems of methodology and interpretation, illustrating the complexity of the field and emphasising the dangers of simplification in a politically charged area where social research may be taken up and misused in ways which sustain existing inequalities of opportunity. We conclude that school effects research, although potentially very important, is still in its infancy. Results must be considered with caution, especially in the light of ethnographic research that demonstrates the power of social processes, some of which are hidden from statistical scrutiny.

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