International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 8 • No. 6 • June 2018 doi:10.30845/ijhss.v8n6p7 55 Perceptions of School Effectiveness and School Improvement in Abu Dhabi, UAE Dr. Nafla Mahdi Al Ahbabi Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) United Arab Emirates Abstract This paper reports on findings related to the characteristics of effective secondary schools in Abu Dhabi from the perspectives of their stakeholders; namely, principals, teachers, students and parents. More specifically, the close examination of these stakeholders‟ perceptions made it possible to identify some overriding items out of f ive key sets of factors proposed in a survey that may contribute to improving effective schools within the UAE secondary education system. These factors correlate with those identified in the earlier school effectiveness literature and include school factors, teaching and learning factors, student factors, school-home relationship factors and local community factors. Together, these factors serve as an epistemic foreground for reframing the school effectiveness and school improvement debate in Abu Dhabi and in the UAE in general, perhaps leading towards more significant reform alignment. The data were taken from research conducted in three regions of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates. Keywords: School effectiveness factors, UAE education Background to the Study What is it that makes a school effective? The term „school effectiveness‟ „was frequently related with the school effort to make changes toward improving the students‟ level of achievement‟ (Ghani et al, 2011: 1705) . In general, school effectiveness derives its significance from the educational objectives to be attained in a given educational system. Therefore, the characteristics of effectiveness may differ depending on the variables to be considered in a given educational context. This being so, research within the field seeks to delineate the set of common factors that are likely to give a true picture of school effectiveness. Idealistically, „the suggestion was that if we know what the characteristics of effective schools are and if we purposefully apply those characteristics to all schools, then all schools can become more effective‟ (Townsend, 1997:311-312). Hernes (2000:7) makes it clear that „school effectiveness is a difficult concept to define and, once de fined, is of a nature that is difficult to measure‟. From a „raw definitional view‟, as Townsend (1994b: 127) contends, an effective school is one that „produced a result‟ by undertaking certain actions. However, as most schools genuinely strive to achieve their objectives in an efficient way, the term „effectiveness‟ seems to be the benchmark against which it is possible, given certain criteria, to compare schools in a given educational system. Research posits that it is difficult to define school effectiveness as „schools differ in performance‟ (Scheerens, 2000:18). Strands of research within the field of school effectiveness did not necessarily focus on the same variables and factors to determine the extent to which a given school is effective. The variables contributing to the effectiveness of schools in a given country might not be totally applicable to another. Though Scheerens (2000:19) admits that there is a true linkage between school effectiveness and its output, that is „the average achievement of the pupils at the end of a period of formal schooling‟, he draws our attention to another interesting question; why does school A do better than school B if the differences are not due to the variance in the student population of the two schools? For more than three decades the argument has been made that effective public schools can significantly impact on the achievement levels attained by students, regardless of their background. According to Klopf et al (in Balcı, 2007:10), an effective school is „a school in which an optimum learning environment where cognitive, emotional, psychomotor, social and aesthetic developments of students are most properly provided‟. Similarly, an effective school can be related to results such as development in social, academic, emotional, moral and aesthetic aspects, teacher satisfaction, effective use of sources, accomplishing aims and environmental conformity (Şişman, 2011:4).