Product reviews for High Performers

Alistair Smith has written several highly readable books for teachers and parents. On this occasion he worked with the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust to identify 20 outstanding secondary schools in England. Multiple criteria were used to make the selection and these hold up well under critical scrutiny. Five of the 20 schools were -˜ourlier' schools in that they perform at an exceptionally high level or had made dramatic improvement, or were highly innovative.

Smith uses a technique that will be appreciated. Rather rhan one-at-a-time case studies with an overarching synthesis, which can make tedious reading, each chapter is a synthesis of what he found, grouped around different themes. He uses the image of The Flying Wa llendas highwite performers as an integrating device, which may be entirely appropriate given the current nature of school leadership. Smith acknowledges the limitations of his research in which he was the only interviewer at each school. He asked the same 10 questions to leadership teams, middle managers and classroom teachers.
The findings are summarised in 10 areas related to core purposes: student outcomes; student learning; classroom learning; curriculum offerings; professional development; staff roles, responsibilities and profile; the school as a community; engagement with parents and carers; and engagement with the wider community. He provides recommendations for school leaders, middle managers and teachers.

The outcome is a book whose every page is packed with helpful tips, useful guidelines and a range of tactics and strategies. As those who endorsed the book point out, one can pick up the book and open any page to find something worthwhile, with illustrations from several of the outstanding schools Smith visited. I found it difficult but also unnecessary to attempt to read it from start to fin ish. I cou ld find nothing in the book that was less applicable in Australia than England, except for the occasional reference to Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education) and preparing for Ofsted inspections.

The general nature of the recommendations is illustrated in Chapter 2, -˜The first 10 steps.' For leaders Smith recommends that they should recognise that the journey to high performance may take five to seven years, and plan accordingly; ensure the leadership team is visible and has a strong -˜presence' around the school; obtain quick wins and initiate important slow fixes; secure a framework for discipline and standards, and strive for consistency of response to incidents from all staff; insist on lessons which engage, have pace, structure and challenge; ask hard questions about what's on offer in the curriculum; build a sense of community through shared successes, symbolic moments and interventions; let staff know that if they do their best for students, you will support them, provided their best is good enough and, if not, you will act; get on top of the data, tighten monitoring and accountability and be open and honest to take staff with you; start to build productive partnerships but focus down to the 20 per cent which will give you the 80 per cent return; and build a safe environment with strong school values where students and staff can focus on and enjoy learning.

High Performers: The secrets of successful schools appears at first sight to be fragmented but there is coherence. The findings are consistent with resea rch. There is a healthy scepticism to fads in curriculum and pedagogy. I agree with Tim Brighouse's observation: -˜The beauty of this book is that it brings within your certain grasp what appeared just out of your professional reach.