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The literature is very rich in its discussion on how to measure school performance, but there are still a number of gaps to investigate in relation to the determinants of that performance, especially at the level of school performance management practices. The purpose of the paper is to understand better performance management practices in schools and how they may relate to school achievement.

Frequently, the performance of schools is evaluated using solely output measures: especially exam classifications, but also progression rates, completion rates and wastage rates. Previously, a value‐added approach was used to quantitatively evaluate Portuguese secondary schools beyond output results. From the results of this exercise, a sample of schools with different levels of observed performance was chosen. In‐depth case studies of the sample of schools were undertaken to gather an understanding of their performance management practices, taking Bouckaert and Halligan's framework of analysis.

Self‐evaluation and performance management are not well developed in schools. Most schools monitor exam results, progression and completion rates. However, they do not seem to do it in a formal and systematic way, and find it difficult to understand the reasons for the results obtained. Incorporation of performance measures into performance management is incipient, and most acknowledge the difficulty of going from measurement of results to improvement actions. Few can demonstrate that improvement actions have resulted from self‐evaluation and very few evaluate improvement actions' results. There seems to be an agreement that the external evaluation of schools has prompted the development of self‐evaluation.

This is a study at the meso level of analysis of public sector performance, that of state education. The study contributes to a better understanding of performance management in Portuguese secondary schools. More generally, it investigates the usefulness of the Bouckaert and Halligan framework to assess progress in performance management and whether that will lead to progress in performance itself.

The aim of this article is to investigate the nature of use and impact of the Improve Your Library self‐evaluation process on school libraries and their integration into whole‐school development planning for pupil learning.

The research is structured in two phases. Phase one seeks to map levels, patterns and experiences of use by those responsible for the library within schools and to establish the nature of support needed for librarians from school library services and training providers. Phase two will track schools in detail to explore the extent of difference the process may have on library integration into the wider school self‐evaluation, development priorities and planning, and on library contribution to pupil reading and learning.

Preliminary investigations indicate that there is considerable diversity in current evaluation practice and in expectations of the Improve Your Library toolkits. There is a need for a national vehicle for sharing individual library experience to inform reflective practice.

The research focused on English schools. Successful delivery of the intended case banks of practice examples is dependent on a good range of schools being willing to share their experience.

Training and support needs and networks will be identified for providers and practitioners. Practical experience will be made available to librarians, school management and policy‐makers.

This is a timely evaluation of the first unified system of library self‐evaluation across English schools within the context of a new approach to whole‐school evaluation. It will provide librarians with a means of sharing and comparing experiences in the absence of a formalised benchmarking system for school libraries and contribute to a national picture of school library activity and priorities.

In England, systematic school self-evaluation (SSE) began as model for school improvement. However, since 2000, and in the context of increasing moves toward ‘new public management’, it has become a policy priority for the Government which is inextricably linked to the inspection regime and risks becoming more closely associated with accountability than improvement. Such policies can, paradoxically, compromise school improvement (Fuhrman, 1993). This chapter will explore ways in which teachers and school leaders have attempted to engage in school self-evaluation in ways that allow them to maintain control of the evaluation agenda and retain the focus on improvement and pupils’ learning. It illustrates attempts by schools to engage with and reduce the negative side-effects of target-driven policies and the drive towards competition between schools. In particular, it will consider the benefits and challenges of inter-school collaboration through networking. It should certainly not be read as an endorsement of current policy developments in England and does not seek, as other chapters do in this volume, to address the key question of what kind of society we want? It offers a pragmatic exploration of some schools’ creative responses to the context in which they currently operate aimed at being more conducive to public rather than private good, that is meeting the needs of the ‘knowledge society’ as opposed to the ‘knowledge economy’ (Hargreaves, 2003).