Odrednice uspješnosti osnovnih škola u Republici Hrvatskoj: rezultati empirijske provjere
Determinants of School Effectiveness in Primary Schools in the Republic of Croatia: Results of Empirical Investigation

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this study was to explore to what extent effectiveness of primary schools can be explained by certain school characteristics, as well as to define the best determinants of school effectiveness. A total of 844 regular primary schools in the Republic of Croatia participated in the study, and 94,428 4th and 8th grade pupils were examined. Fourth-grade pupils completed objective tests in Croatian, Math, Science, integration of knowledge in different subjects and first foreign language, and eighth-grade pupils completed exams in Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Geography, History, integration of knowledge in science and social subjects, Croatian and first foreign language. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted with average achievement of schools in 4th and 8th grades as criterions and different sets of school characteristics as predictors, which included school size, characteristics of status, management, program and teaching and school climate indicators. Results show that school effectiveness at the end of 4th and 8th grade can be explained by the examined characteristics, and their explanatory power was greater in 4th grade. The majority of characteristics pertaining to status, program and teaching contribute significantly to the explanation of school effectiveness, and characteristics pertaining to basic administrative and status determinants of school functioning have the greatest predictive strength. The implications of these findings in the context of explaining and improving school effectiveness in attainment of educational goals are discussed.

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