ABSTRACT
The Remit for the Evaluation The external evaluation was commissioned at the outset of the project by the project manager, on behalf of the LEA. The main requirement was for a formative evaluation to be conducted by an independent source, employing a mainly qualitative approach to data collection-notably, semi-structured interviews of the key staff and a sample of students-with a view to informing the development and evolution of the scheme itself. This was to be achieved by means of an interim written report and verbal reports to the project manager and school coordinators. Educational practices and the processes involved would be examined, partly with a view to developing an understanding of what was and was not happening and identifying the reasons why. In addition, at the end of the project a summative report would be prepared, in which would be recorded the main achievements of the initiative. (Further details about the methodology employed can be found in the Appendix, see pp. 156-7.)
The Nature of the Project The Schools Make a Difference project (SMAD) was a scheme whose avowed intent was to lay the foundations for raising student levels of attainment, achievement and morale in all eight secondary schools in the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham. It is against these objectives that the evaluation proceeded, though remaining alert to the possibility of unintended outcomes.
