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It argues for a coherent, systems-oriented approach grounded in global research, avoiding simplistic “silver bullet” solutions. The report explains system strengthening as institutional capacity embedded in structures, people, and culture, and details how levers such as funding, standards, accountability, curriculum, leadership development, and workforce rules must be aligned, timed, and paired with credible outcome data and assessment.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/evidence-based-policy-levers-for-school-improvement/584238/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/evidence-based-policy-levers-for-school-improvement/584238.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Kyle","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the core argument about policy levers for improving schools at scale?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"Policy levers should be evidence-based and part of a coherent, systems-oriented strategy rather than isolated tools. Reform succeeds when levers are aligned and support learning across networks of schools.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the report define system strengthening?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"System strengthening goes beyond scaling pilots or delivering training; it embeds improvement capacity into the system’s structures, people, and culture. It emphasizes institutional learning, adaptation, and consistent quality over time.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Why can policy levers fail if used in isolation or misaligned?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Levers can fail when they are not paired with the right supporting mechanisms, such as leadership and data systems. Misalignment may occur when parts of the system focus on non-learning goals or when curriculum goals are not supported by assessment and incentives.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},584238,1792166518,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":41,"preview_page_count":4},3985741905716,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","Evidence-based policy levers for school improvement  \nRichard Churches  \n2025  \nDr  \nForeword by Tony McAleavy  \n2  \nTable of contents  \n| |\n| --- |\n|  |\n| |\n|  |\n| |\n\nForeword  \nThis report by Dr Richard Churches, EDT’s Director of Research, sets out a powerful case for basing the design of education reform policy on evidence, and a systemic view of the action needed to transform learning outcomes across large networks of schools. It proposes an approach that is characterised by coherence, policy alignment, and the avoidance of simplistic ‘silver bullet’ solutions. This diagnosis is based on a review of the best of the global literature relating to school improvement at scale. The critical reflections and recommendations are also aligned with our organisational learning over the last four decades of work in the sphere of education reform.  \nEducation Development Trust (EDT), previously known as CfBT and still known as such in Brunei Darussalam, has worked since the late 1990s on school reform in many countries. These contexts have been diverse, and have included places with significantly different economic, political and cultural backgrounds, such as Brunei, England, Kenya, Rwanda, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While the world is littered with examples of school reform failure, each of these countries provide, by contrast, stories of measurable improvement and optimism. These real-world exemplars have many things in common, and together they confirm the urgent relevance of this analysis.  \nFragmented approaches that focus on individual policy levers for change rarely work, whereas joined-up policy, which recognises the need to win the hearts and minds of key stakeholders, can lead to significant improvements in learning outcomes and life chances.  \nTony McAleavy  \nChief Education and Skills Officer, Education Development Trust  \n4  \nIntroduction  \nImproving schools at scale remains one of the most complex challenges facing governments globally. For reforms to succeed, they must be  \nintegrated into the wider fabric of education systems and respond to realworld contexts, not just theoretical models. In recent years, the concept of system strengthening has gained prominence, recognising that sustainable improvement depends on building institutional capacity, coherence, and resilience across all levels of an education system (World Bank, 2018) .  \nSystem strengthening and sustainable reform  \nSystem strengthening involves more than scaling up pilot projects or delivering professional development. It is about embedding the capacity for improvement within the structures, people, and cultures of the system itself. It means ensuring that institutions (not just individuals) are capable of learning, adapting, and delivering consistent quality over time (Pritchett, 2015) . The education systems that have shown sustained improvement tend to combine professional trust with accountability, capacity-building with clear expectations, and longterm vision with evidence-informed practice (Mourshed, Chijioke, and  \nBarber, 2010) . These are systems where policy levers are used not to control, but to enable. Through a systems-oriented lens, the idea of policy levers becomes central.  \nEVIDENCE-BASED POLICY LEVERS  \nWhat are policy levers?  \nPolicy levers are the mechanisms through which governments can influence education systems in  \nstructured and potentially predictable ways. They include instruments such as funding formulas, standards and accountability frameworks, curriculum mandates, leadership development strategies, and workforce regulations (OECD, 2015) . While these tools may seem technical, the  \nselection and usage of them reflects deeper political and philosophical choices about what matters in education and how improvement is understood.  \nLevers do not work well in isolation. A funding formula, for example, may fail to improve  \neducation equity unless paired with effective school leadership and data systems that allow for m","cbCaiju2RIl1uFX9","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiju2RIl1uFX9","pdf",1838499,12,"English","# Introduction\n## System strengthening and sustainable reform\n# Evidence-based policy levers\n## What are policy levers?\n## Coherence, alignment, and misalignment","[{\"question\":\"What is the core argument about policy levers for improving schools at scale?\",\"answer\":\"Policy levers should be evidence-based and part of a coherent, systems-oriented strategy rather than isolated tools. Reform succeeds when levers are aligned and support learning across networks of schools.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the report define system strengthening?\",\"answer\":\"System strengthening goes beyond scaling pilots or delivering training; it embeds improvement capacity into the system’s structures, people, and culture. It emphasizes institutional learning, adaptation, and consistent quality over time.\"},{\"question\":\"Why can policy levers fail if used in isolation or misaligned?\",\"answer\":\"Levers can fail when they are not paired with the right supporting mechanisms, such as leadership and data systems. Misalignment may occur when parts of the system focus on non-learning goals or when curriculum goals are not supported by assessment and incentives.\"}]","Evidence-based policy levers for school improvement | PDF",1792050288]