A research synthesis of the impacts of successful educational actions on student outcomes

Abstract

Successful Educational Actions (SEAs) are school-based initiatives oriented to provide high-quality education for all students. Identified by the INCLUD-ED research project, SEAs have been implemented in schools in different countries and researchers have studied their implementation and the impacts achieved. We undertook a review and synthesis of research findings on the implementation of SEAs with three aims. First, identify different types of impacts on students (3–12 years), second, offer a unified and comprehensive framework, and thirdly, provide suggestions for further research. We identified 63 studies that met our inclusion criteria and were coded descriptively. The findings documented in our reviewed studies accounted for impacts on the individual level, comprising (1) students’ instrumental learning and 2) self-esteem and motivation; on the group level, involving (3) enhancement of interpersonal relationships and (4) cohesion and conflict reduction; and on the community level, comprising (5) family involvement and change towards school and (6) absenteeism reduction. The synthesis concludes with a discussion of the implications of those findings and further research suggestions.