What do we know about internal school evaluation? A systematic review

Although internal school evaluation (IE) is widely recognized as a key tool for data-based school development, there is limited understanding of what makes it effective. Conducting a narrative literature review, we examined the methods used in IE and IE research, the effectiveness of IE, and factors that influence its outcomes and processes. Based on a systematic literature search and coding process, 19 empirical studies were included in the analyses. The effectiveness of IE seems to depend on the interplay of contextual factors (e.g., schools’ IE capacity), characteristics of the evaluation such as its systematic, research-based design, strong stakeholder involvement, shared leadership, and long-term implementation, and finally, human factors, most prominently, self-efficacy beliefs and the staff’s attitudes toward evaluation. The review highlights the need for more research using diverse methods that also considers classroom-level variables and explores theories of change rather than focusing on IE as a general treatment.