Perceptions of Effectiveness and its Relationship to Financial Performance and Student Achievement

School effectiveness is a multi dimensional concept because it can be measured based on a combination of factors. A number of models on effectiveness have attempted to analyze what factors or characteristics contribute to schools' effectiveness. This study does not attempt to develop an effectiveness model as one would expect in school effectiveness research. It does however attempt to measure the perceptions of effectiveness based on different facets of an organisation. A school may be perceived as ineffective or effective by its community according to that community's beliefs, values and expectations that may differ widely amongst individuals. To measure the perceptions of effectiveness of individual schools, the researcher has developed a Quality Situation Assessment Instrument (QSAI) and through this instrument the Quality Effectiveness Index (QEI) can be calculated. This study further examines the relationships of the QEI with two variables namely; Financial Performance Data (FPD) and Student Achievement Data (SAD) of individual schools. An analysis of the results confirms that perceptions of effectiveness is not significantly or strongly correlated to financial performance or student achievement of the school. The findings concurred with the literature review that effectiveness is a multi-dimensional and the least delineated construct. Further analysis on the relationship between financial performance indicators and student achievement data, namely the median study score, does support the view that government and community raised financial support is significantly important to final year success at secondary school.