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The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) is among a number of agencies tackling the difficulties involved in developing school performance indicators that are more meaningful than performance league tables while being easy to compute and understand. Several local education authorities (LEAs) have been working with researchers to develop 'value-added' indicators to show the progress made by pupils during their school careers. The NFER and 14 LEAs are working together on the contextualisation of GCSE results which involves relating examination performance to factors other than prior attainment.

The focus of attention in British schools is beginning to move away from school effectiveness and towards school improvement, and while research in the field is at an early stage, a number of themes are emerging. Schools need to have a clear sense of direction. A school development plan (SDP) linking targets and strategies to available resources is the key to turning a school's vision into reality. The best SDPs include timescales and success criteria and are supported and endorsed by governors. Established processes for reviewing a school's work are essential to the successful implementation of such plans.