Identifying and validating characteristics of high-performing schools: a quantitative study in Dutch education

What is it about?

This paper identifies and empirically validates the organizational and managerial characteristics of high-performing schools (HPS) and links them to the established High-Performance Organization (HPO) framework. A literature review distilled an item pool that was fielded in a cross-sectional survey of Dutch schools (two primary, one vocational; N=274). Exploratory reliability and construct checks yielded four robust HPS factors—Quality of School Management, Quality of Internal Organization, Quality of Teachers/Staff, and Quality of Educational Approach. All four factors showed strong internal consistency and positive, statistically significant associations with a concise index of school results, and they correlated in theoretically consistent ways with HPO factors, suggesting complementarity between school-specific practices and general high-performance principles. Group comparisons indicated higher HPS scores for the primary-school settings than for the vocational setting; role differences were present on most subscales, while tenure effects were negligible. The study contributes (1) a validated, practically usable HPS measurement instrument; (2) evidence that organizational and leadership practices, beyond classroom pedagogy, relate meaningfully to school outcomes; and (3) a conceptual bridge between school-effectiveness and HPO literatures. For school leaders and policymakers, the results offer an actionable diagnostic to prioritize improvement initiatives at the organizational level and a basis for benchmarking and longitudinal evaluation.

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