Gode_skoler__gode_for__alle_.

Summary
The project Does the Knowledge Promotion reform also promote equality in
achievement? is part of an ongoing evaluation of a major educational reform
which takes place in Norwegian primary and secondary schools from 2006
(“Kunnskapsløftet” – the Knowledge Promotion reform). A research
program to evaluate implementation processes and learning outcomes of the
reform was initiated by the Ministry of Education and Research and is
organized and financed by The Norwegian Directorate for Education and
Training. NOVAs project within this program aims at investigation whether
the reform contributes to a reduce inequalities in school achievement among
lower secondary school students having different parental education, gender
and minority status. The project is concerned with whether the reform
influences learning outcomes of different groups of students throughout the
lower secondary school (grade 8 – 10). The project will end in 2012 with a
final report.
This is the third report from the project, presenting the results of a case
study which aims to gain knowledge about what role schools play for the
achievement gaps related to parental education, gender and minority status.
Six strategically schools have been studied, selected by their internal and
deviant achievement profiles. On the one hand, we have identified and
studied three schools where respectively boys, minority students and working
class students achieve better results than usual. These schools are contrasted
to schools where these pupil groups achieve poorer results than usual.
Because developing a better "learning culture" in Norwegian schools is a
central aspect of the educational reform, a guiding principle in the case study
is to grasp what a positive learning culture is and how this is expressed – or
not expressed – within classrooms and schools. Based on extensive class room
observations and interviews with staff, we give "thick descriptions" of the
school culture and what is going on in the class rooms and at the
management level of these "deviant" schools. The qualitative data collected
has been analysed in the context of students' learning results (e.g. progress in
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