School improvement plans, a tool to improve the quality of education

Abstract

Much has been said about school improvement plans (SIPs), which have been implemented in many countries, with different characteristics and with different results in each of them. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate, through the research carried out, the impact of SIPs on students’ learning and, from that perspective, to determine what characteristics the research should have in order to have a direct impact on students’ learning. To this end, an exhaustive bibliographic review will be carried out to show the effects of the improvement plans in the communities, counties or countries that have implemented them. The result of the above will be to determine, according to the few existing investigations, the elements that SIPs must have in order to have an impact on student’s learning. Keywords: School improvement plans, improving the quality of education, educational improvement, accountability.