An effective school, or a successful is an organization that defines good education through its goals and desired practices, and then engages in collective action to achieve that vision. Before effective schools research began in the mid-1970s, regarding students\' academic achievement, what was prevalent was the idea of Coleman, Jencks, and others who pointed out that socio-economic status determines student achievement and that schools and teachers have little effect on student learning. Beginning in the mid-1970, research began to focus in individual schools that are exceptional, that consistently achieve results far superior to those of schools in general. Beginning in the latter half of the 1980s a new wave of effective schools research was carried out. The new studies relied on more sophisticated research designs and new statistical analysis techniques, tended to result in longer lists of correlates than the early effects research. Effective schools research has been criticized for reporting characteristics common to effective schools while ignoring differences between school from various contexts, such as location, SES, students\' ethnicity and race, and school level. And then context studies on schools were carried out. Although effective schools research is still being carried out, over the last several years school improvement research has taken center stage. Effects research examines inputs, throughputs, and outputs and emphasizes organizational structure, whereas improvement research is focused on school culture and the change process. Effective schools involve parents and community members through shared decision making and they involve students in learning experiences that stretch far beyond the school walls into the community and the world. Effects research has informed and provided a foundation for school improvement research. Together, the two types of studies provide us with a knowledge base for developing effective schools.