the analysis of educational systems

Advertisement

How can education systems improve? A systematic literature review

• Published: 07 April 2022
• Volume 24 , pages 479–499, ( 2023 )

Cite this article

• Ignacio Barrenechea   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4673-3862 1 ,
• Jason Beech 2 &
• Axel Rivas 1  

2067 Accesses

9 Citations

11 Altmetric

Explore all metrics

Understanding what contributes to improving a system will help us tackle the problems in education systems that usually fail disproportionately in providing quality education for all, especially for the most disadvantage sectors of the population. This paper presents the results of a qualitative systematic literature review aimed at providing a comprehensive overview of what education research can say about the factors that promote education systems’ improvement. This literature is emerging as a topic of empirical research that merges comparative education and school effectiveness studies as standardized assessments make it possible to compare results across systems and time. To examine and synthesize the papers included in this review we followed a thematic analysis approach. We identify, analyze, and report patterns in the papers included in this systematic review. From the coding process, four drivers for system improvement emerged: (1) system-wide approaches; (2) human capital; (3) governance and macro–micro level bridges; and (4) availability of resources.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price includes VAT (Russian Federation)

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Rent this article via DeepDyve

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Background, Aims, and Theories of the Comparative Large-Scale Studies in Education

Background, Aims and Theories of the Comparative Large-Scale Studies in Education

Comparing Systems

For example, Improving schools https://journals.sagepub.com/aims-scope/IMP .

School effectiveness and school improvement https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?show=aimsScope&journalCode=nses20 .

For example, International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement https://www.icsei.net/about-icsei/ .

Our search countries were Albania, Qatar, Estonia, Portugal, Poland, Peru, Ireland, Russia, Israel, and Slovenia.

Addey, C., Sellar, S., Steiner-Khamsi, G., Lingard, B., & Verger, A. (2017). The rise of international large-scale assessments and rationales for participation.  Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education ,  47 (3), 434–452.

Alves, F. (2008). Educational policies and school performance in the Brazilian capitals of states. Cadernos De Pesquisa, 38 (34), 413–440.

Article   Google Scholar  

Arnove, R. F. (2015). Comparative education: Dimensions and trends: A contribution to the 50th anniversary celebration of the Japan comparative education society. Comparative Education, 2015 (50), 168–177.

Auld, E., & Morris, P. (2016). PISA, policy and persuasion: Translating complex conditions into education' best practice'. Comparative Education , 52 (2), 202–229. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2016.1143278 .

Barber, M., Kihn, P., & Moffit, A. (2011). Deliverology 101: A field guide for educational leaders . Corwin Press.

Barber, M., & Mourshed, M. (2007). How the world’s best-performing school systems come out on top . McKinsey & Company.

Becker, G. S. (1976). The economic approach to human behavior . University of Chicago Press.

Beech, J., & Lista, E. (2012). Flowing Discourses and Border Crossing: The Slogan of ‘Respect for Diversity’in Latin America. In World Yearbook of Education 2012 (pp. 391–410). Routledge.

Beech, J., & Rizvi, F. (2017). Revisiting Jullien in an era of globalisation. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education , 47 (3), 374–387.

Betts, J. R., Zau, A., & King, K. (2005). From blueprint to reality: San Diego’s education reforms . Public Policy Institute of California.

Bin Mahfooz, S., & Hovde, K. (2010). Successful education reform: lessons from Poland.  ECA Knowledge Brief ,  34 (11).

Boman, B. (2020). What makes Estonia and Singapore so good? Globalisation, Societies and Education, 18 (2), 181–193.

Booth, A., Papaioannou, D., & Sutton, A. (2012). Systematic approaches to a successful literature review . Sage Publications.

Campbell, C. (2020). Educational equity in Canada: The case of Ontario’s strategies and actions to advance excellence and equity for students. School Leadership & Management , 1–20.

Carvalho, L. M., Costa, E., & Gonçalves, C. (2017). Fifteen years looking at the mirror: On the presence of PISA in education policy processes (Portugal, 2000–2016). European Journal of Education, 52 (2), 154–166.

Coffield, F. (2012). Why the McKinsey reports will not improve school systems. Journal of Education Policy, 27 (1), 131–149.

Coffield, F., & Williamson, B. (2011). From Exam Factories to Communities of Discovery. Adults Learning, 23 (2), 24–25.

Cogan, L. S., Schmidt, W. H., & Wiley, D. E. (2001). Who takes what math and in which track? Using TIMSS to characterize US students’ eighth-grade mathematics learning opportunities. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23 (4), 323–341.

Cohen, D. K., & Spillane, J. P. (1992). Chapter 1: Policy and practice: The relations between governance and instruction. Review of research in education , 18 (1), 3–49. American Educational Research Association.

Cox, C. (2004). Innovation and reform to improve the quality of primary education: Chile. Unpublished manuscript, Ministry of Education, Santiago .

Crato, N. (2021). Setting up the Scene: Lessons Learned from PISA 2018 Statistics and Other International Student Assessments. In  Improving a Country’s Education  (pp. 1–24). Springer, Cham.

Cueto, S., Miranda, A., León, J., & Vásquez, M. C. (2016b). Education trajectories: From early childhood to early adulthood in Peru.

Cueto, S., León, J., & Muñoz, I. G. (2016a). Conductas, estrategias y rendimiento en lectura en PISA: análisis para el Perú. REICE: Revista Iberoamericana sobre Calidad, Eficacia y Cambio en Educación , 14 (3), 5–31.

David, J. L., & Talbert, J. E. (2012). Turning around a high-poverty school district: Learning from Sanger Unified’s success. SH Cowell Foundation .

Deaton, A. (2020). Randomization in the tropics revisited: A theme and eleven variations . Working Paper No. 27600. National Bureau Of Economic Research.

Dhaliwal, I., Duflo, E., Glennerster, R., & Tulloch, C. (2013). Comparative costeffectiveness analysis to inform policy in developing countries: a general framework with applications for education. Education policy in developing countries, 17 , 285–338.

Dinham, S., Crowther, F., Robinson, V. M., McNaughton, S., & Timperley, H. (2011). Building capacity in a self‐managing schooling system: The New Zealand experience. Journal of Educational Administration .

Dykstra, T. (2006). High performance and success in education in Flemish Belgium and the Netherlands . National Center on Education and the Economy.

Edwards, D. B., Jr. (2018). Global education policy, impact evaluations, and alternatives: The political economy of knowledge production . Springer.

Elmore, R. (2007). Educational improvement in Victoria. Unpublished internal communication.

Elmore, R. F., & Burney, D. (1998). Continuous improvement in community district# 2 . University of Pittsburgh, HPLC Project, Learning Research, and Development Center.

Fazlagić, J., & Erkol, A. (2015). Knowledge mobilisation in the Polish education system. Journal of Education for Teaching, 41 (5), 541–554.

Feniger, Y., & Lefstein, A. (2014). How not to reason with PISA data: An ironic investigation. Journal of Education Policy, 29 (6), 845–855.

Fernandez Cano, A. (2016). A methodological critique of the PISA evaluations. Relieve, 22 (1), 1–16. Disponible en: https://www.uv.es/RELIEVE/v22n1/RELIEVEv22n1_M15eng.pdf .

Fleisch, B. (2016). System-wide improvement at the instructional core: Changing reading teaching in South Africa. Journal of Educational Change, 17 (4), 437–451.

Fuhrman, S. (1993). Designing coherent education policy: Improving the system . Jossey-Bass.

Fullan, M., & Rincon-Gallardo, S. (2016). Developing high-quality public education in Canada: The case of Ontario. In Global Education Reform (pp. 169–193). Routledge.

Fullan, M. (2016). The elusive nature of whole system improvement in education. Journal of Educational Change, 17 (4), 539–544.

Glaser, B. G., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory . Aldine.

Gómez, R. L., & Suárez, A. M. (2020). Do inquiry-based teaching and school climate influence science achievement and critical thinking? Evidence from PISA 2015. International Journal of STEM Education, 7 (1), 1–11.

Graczewski, C., Knudson, J., & Holtzman, D. J. (2009). Instructional leadership in practice: What does it look like, and what influence does it have? Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 14 (1), 72–96.

Hallinger, P., & Heck, R. H. (2011). Collaborative leadership and school improvement: Understanding the impact on school capacity and student learning. In International handbook of leadership for learning (pp. 469–485). Springer.

Hanushek, E. A. & Woessmann, L. (2007). Calidad de la educación y crecimiento económico . En Documento N° 39. PREAL.

Harris, A. (2010). Leading system transformation. School Leadership and Management, 30 (3), 197–207.

Harris, A., & Jones, M. S. (2017). Professional learning communities: A strategy for school and system improvement? Wales Journal of Education, 19 (1), 16–38.

Hood, C. (1991). A public management for all seasons? Public Administration, 69 (1), 3–19.

Hopfenbeck, T. N., Lenkeit, J., El Masri, Y., Cantrell, K., Ryan, J., & Baird, J. A. (2018). Lessons learned from PISA: A systematic review of peer-reviewed articles on the programme for international student assessment. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 62 (3), 333–353.

Hopkins, D. (2007). Every school a great school: Realizing the potential of system leadership . McGraw-Hill Education.

Hopkins, D., Ahtaridou, E., Matthews, P., Posner, C., & Toledo, F. D. (2007). An analysis of the Mexican school system in light of PISA 2006 . London Centre for Leadership in Learning, University of London.

Hussen, T. (1994). Problems of Educational Reforms in a Changing Society. En A. Yogev y V. Rust (Eds.), International perspectives on education and society . Jai Press.

Jakubowski, M. (2015). Opening up opportunities: Education reforms in Poland. IBS Policy Paper, 1 , 2015.

Google Scholar  

Jessop, B. (1998). The narrative of enterprise and the enterprise of narrative: Place marketing and the entrepreneurial city. En The entrepreneurial city: Geographies of politics, regime and representation . John Wiley.

Lapping, M. B. (2004). Education in a restoration democracy: The case of Estonia. Citizenship, Social and Economics Education, 6 (2), 101–115.

Levin, B. (2012). System-wide improvement in education. Education Policy Series, 13 , 1–38.

Lindblad, S., Pettersson, D., & Popkewitz, T. S. (2015). International comparisons of school results: A systematic review of research on large-scale assessments in education . Swedish Research Council.

LLECE-UNESCO. (2013). Análisis del clima escolar: ¿Poderoso factor que explica el aprendizaje en América Latina y el Caribe? OREALC-UNESCO Santiago.

Masino, S., & Niño-Zarazúa, M. (2016). What works to improve the quality of student learning in developing countries? International Journal of Educational Development, 48 , 53–65.

McAleavy, T., & Elwick, A. (2016). School improvement in London: A global perspective . Education Development Trust. Highbridge House, 16–18 Duke Street, Reading Berkshire, England RG1 4RU, United Kingdom.

McEwan, P. J. (2015). Improving learning in primary schools of developing countries: A meta-analysis of randomized experiments. Review of Educational Research, 85 (3), 353–394.

Mikk, J. (2015). Explaining the difference between PISA 2009 reading scores in Finland and Estonia. Educational Research and Evaluation, 21 (4), 324–342.

Morris, P. (2015). Comparative education, PISA, politics and educational reform: A cautionary note. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education , 45 (3), 470–474.

Morris, P. (1996). Asia’s four little tigers: A comparison of the role of education in their development. Comparative Education, 32 (1), 95–110.

Mourshed, M., Chijioke, C., & Barber, M. (2010). How the world’s most improved school systems keep getting better. McKinsey & Company (En español: Mourshed, M., Chijioke, C. y Barber, M. (2012). Cómo continúan mejorando los sistemas educativos de mayor progreso en el mundo. Documento N° 61. PREAL).

Murnane, R. J., & Ganimian, A. (2014). Improving educational outcomes in developing countries: Lessons from rigorous impact evaluations . Working Paper No. 20284. NBER.

Murphy, J., & Hallinger, P. (1988). Characteristics of instructionally effective school districts. The Journal of Educational Research, 81 (3), 175–181.

Nguyen, X. T., Roemmele, D., & Peel, D. (2013). Education reform in Vietnam: A critical analysis of inclusion and management discourses. Journal of Asian Critical Education , 2 .

Noah, H. J., & Eckstein, M. A. (1969). Toward a science of comparative education . Macmillan.

Nóvoa, A., & Yariv-Mashal, T. (2014). Comparative research in education: A model of governance or a historical journey. En T. Fenwick, E. Mangez y J. Ozga (Eds.), World yearbook of education 2014: Governing knowledge comparison, knowledge-based technologies and expertise in the regulation of education. Routledge.

O’Day, J. A., & Smith, M. S. (2016). Quality and equality in American education: Systemic problems, systemic solutions. In The dynamics of opportunity in America (pp. 297–358). Springer.

O’Day, J., & Quick, H. E. (2009). Assessing instructional reform in San Diego: A theory-based approach. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 14 (1), 1–16.

OECD. (2019).  PISA 2018 assessment and analytical framework . PISA, OECD Publishing.  https://doi.org/10.1787/b25efab8-en .

Osborne, D., & Gaebler, T. (1992). Reinventing government . Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

Osmond-Johnson, P., & Campbell, C. (2018). Transforming an education system through professional learning: Developing educational change at scale in Ontario. Educational Research for Policy and Practice, 17 (3), 241–256.

Pang, N. S. K., & Miao, Z. (2017). The roles of teacher leadership in Shanghai education success. Bulgarian Comparative Education Society .

Paterson, G. D. (2019). Improving student learning through professional learning communities: Employing a system-wide approach. Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education/Revue canadienne des jeunes chercheures et chercheurs en éducation , 10 (1).

Porter, C. (2002). Measuring the content of instruction: Uses in research and practice. In 2002 Presidential address . University of Wisconsin.

Quick, H. E., Holtzman, D. J., & Chaney, K. R. (2009). Professional development and instructional practice: Conceptions and evidence of effectiveness. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk, 14 (1), 45–71.

Rindermann, H., & Ceci, S. J. (2009). Educational policy and country outcomes in international cognitive competence studies. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 4 (6), 551–568.

Rivas, A. (2015). América Latina después de PISA: Lecciones aprendidas sobre la educación en siete países . CIPPEC, Natura e Instituto Natura.

Rivas, A. et al. (2020): Las llaves de la educación. Estudio comparado sobre la mejora de los sistemas educativos subnacionales en América Latina, Fundación Santillana, Madrid.

Rivas, A., & Scasso, M. G. (2021). Low stakes, high risks: The problem of intertemporal validity of PISA in Latin America. Journal of Education Policy, 36 (2), 279–302.

Rizvi, F., & Beech, J. (2017). Global mobilities and the possibilities of a cosmopolitan curriculum. Curriculum Inquiry, 47 (1), 125–134.

Sahlberg, P. (2011). The fourth way of Finland. Journal of Educational Change, 12 (2), 173–185.

Sam, C., & Riggan, M. (2013). Building district capacity for system-wide instructional improvement in Cincinnati public schools. Working Paper. GE Foundation" Developing Futures "™ in Education Evaluation Series. Consortium for Policy Research in Education .

Schleicher, A. (2012). Preparing teachers and developing school leaders for the 21st century: Lessons from around the world . OECD Publishing. 2, rue Andre Pascal, F-75775 Paris Cedex 16, France.

Schleicher, A. (2018). How to build a 21st-century school system . OECD Publishing.

Schmidt, W. H., & Prawat, R. S. (2006). Curriculum coherence and national control of education: Issue or non-issue? Journal of Curriculum Studies, 38 (6), 641–658.

Schmidt, W. H., Wang, H. C., & McKnight, C. C. (2005). Curriculum coherence: An examination of US mathematics and science content standards from an international perspective. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 37 , 525–559.

Schneider, B. R., Estarellas, P. C., & Bruns, B. (2019). The politics of transforming education in Ecuador: Confrontation and continuity, 2006–2017. Comparative Education Review, 63 (2), 259–280.

Sellar, S., & Lingard, B. (2013). The OECD and the expansion of PISA: New global modes of governance in education. British Educational Research Journal, 40 (6), 917–936.

Snilstveit, B., Stevenson, J., Menon, R., Phillips, D., Gallagher, E., Geleen, M., et al. (2016). The impact of education programmes on learning and school participation in low-and middle-income countries.

Snipes, J., Doolittle, F., & Herlihy, C. (2002). Foundations for success: Case studies of how urban school systems improve student achievement. Council of the Great City Schools.

Snyder, H. (2019). Literature review as a research methodology: An overview and guidelines. Journal of Business Research, 104 , 333–339.

Steiner-Khamsi, G. (2019a). Randomized controlled trials: League leader in the hierarchy of evidence?. En R. Gorur y S. Sellar (Eds.), World yearbook of education 2019a: Comparative methodology in the era of big data and global networks . Routledge.

Steiner-Khamsi, G. (2019b). Conclusions: What policy-makers do with PISA. Understanding PISA’s attractiveness: Critical analyses in comparative policy studies , 233.

Steiner-Khamsi, G. (2016). New directions in policy borrowing research. Asia Pacific Education Review, 17 (3), 381–390.

Tan, C. (2019). Parental responses to education reform in Singapore, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Asia Pacific Education Review, 20 (1), 91–99.

Trace, A. (1961) What Ivan knows that Johnny doesn’t: A comparison of Soviet and American school programs. Harper.

Tucker, M. (Ed.). (2011). Surpassing Shanghai. An agenda for American education built on the world’s leading systems . Harvard Education Press.

Tyack, D. B. and Cuban, L. (1995). Tinkering toward utopia . Harvard University Press.

Valverde, G. A. (2014). Educational quality: global politics, comparative inquiry, and opportunities to learn. Comparative Education Review, 58 (4), 575–589.

Verger, A., Novelli, M., & Altinyelken, H. K. (2012). Global education policy and international development: An introductory framework.  Global education policy and international development: New agendas, issues and policies , 3–32.

Wenger, E., McDermott, R. A., & Snyder, W. (2002). Cultivating communities of practice: A guide to managing knowledge . Harvard Business Press.

Zavadsky, H. (2016). Bringing effective instructional practice to scale in American schools: Lessons from the Long Beach Unified School District. Journal of Educational Change, 17 (4), 505–527.

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Universidad de San Andrés, Victoria, Argentina

Ignacio Barrenechea & Axel Rivas

Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

Jason Beech

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ignacio Barrenechea .

Additional information

Publisher's note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Barrenechea, I., Beech, J. & Rivas, A. How can education systems improve? A systematic literature review. J Educ Change 24 , 479–499 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-022-09453-7

Download citation

Accepted : 03 March 2022

Published : 07 April 2022

Issue Date : September 2023

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-022-09453-7

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Educational change
• System-wide improvement
• Comparative education
• International education
• Find a journal
• Publish with us
• Track your research

This site belongs to UNESCO's International Institute for Educational Planning

IIEP Learning Portal

Search form

• issue briefs
• Monitor learning

Using data to improve the quality of education

There is a worldwide concern that learning outcomes have not kept pace with the expansion of education. The extent of the learning deficit is largely unknown because many countries have few systematic data on who is learning and who is not. Learning assessments provide data on the status of learning, which can be used to monitor the quality of systems and student learning outcomes. Regular monitoring can reveal changes over time in response to interventions to improve student outcomes, providing feedback and additional data for decision-making.

Learning data, in conjunction with other dimensions of quality such as context, teaching and learning environment, and learner characteristics can reveal the factors that most affect learning outcomes. By revealing gaps in student achievement and service provision, data can be used to identify those groups that are being underserved and are underperforming. Once identified, such inequities can be addressed.

Data can be used to hold the system accountable for the use of resources by showing whether increased public investment in education has resulted in measurable gains in student achievement. Although direct accountability for results rests mainly with the school, the enabling policy and practice environment is the responsibility of decision-makers at all administrative levels.

Which actor needs which type of data?

Data-driven decisions to improve learning are taken at each level of the system. The specificity of the data decreases from school to national level and the time lag between data collection and application increases. Decisions concerning individual students, classes, and schools are made locally, where raw data are produced. System-wide decisions based on aggregated data are made nationally.

Classroom teachers

Classroom teachers manage the teaching and learning process. They monitor students’ learning by informal means, such as quizzes and games, and formative tests. Teachers use the data to assess a student’s performance, strengths, weaknesses, and progress. Additional information on an individual student’s background allows the teacher to diagnose possible causes of poor performance and apply remedies. The data can also be used for self-evaluation to identify where teachers could improve their pedagogy or classroom management.

Head teachers

Head teachers assess the school’s overall performance. They examine student achievement and attainment, staff performance, and use of school resources. Head teachers set and monitor school practices, programmes, and policies. They need raw achievement data, information on teachers’ classroom practices and contribution to student outcomes, and on their own performance as rated by supervisors.

Parents and communities

Parents and communities require information on students’ achievement, including their strengths and weaknesses, and any behavioural issues. They are concerned about public examination results, since performance determines their children’s progress to further education or employment. Parents and school staff can discuss and agree an agenda for action to support student needs. Parents can support school improvement through parent-teacher associations and school boards.

District and provincial level actors

District level actors have responsibility for oversight of the management and quality of schools in the district. They collect and aggregate school data on student attendance and achievement, teacher attrition and absenteeism, and resources. They play an important role in the identification of the resource needs of schools, in monitoring standards and recommending improvement measures.

Provincial level administrators, coordinators, and supervisors make decisions based on evidence of an issue serious enough, or an opportunity good enough, to warrant commitment of time and provincial resources. Their focus is on how to plan and use interventions to provide large groups of schools with the resources and expertise to set up and evaluate their education programmes and, guided by evaluation results, to adopt procedures to improve effectiveness.

National level officials

National level officials make broad policy decisions on links between government directives and the plans and resources needed to comply with those directives. They need substantial system-wide information on current student outcomes and associated factors, together with data on long-term trends. These are collected and collated to provide the basis for decisions on the whole or on a major part of the education system. Data sources include EMIS, national examination results, and learning assessments.

What information can the data provide and how can it be used?

Learning data, augmented with background data, provide information on how well students are learning, what factors are associated with achievement, and which groups perform poorly. This information can be used for system analysis, improved resource allocation, agenda setting or during the policy-cycle.

Education system analysis

Education systems may be analyzed in terms of:

• What students are learning;
• Whether what they learn responds to parents’, community, and country needs and aspirations (relevance);
• How well resources are used to produce results (internal efficiency);
• What the main factors influencing learning are; and
• Which aspects of the system require improvement.

If the data show some groups’ learning outcomes are low due to their location, ethnicity, religion, or disability, measures can be taken to provide additional resources, such as teachers or books, aimed at improving their achievement.

Improved resource allocation

The data may reveal issues with the provision and use of resources. School infrastructure, availability of instructional materials, and the use of instructional time influence learning outcomes. Improved instructional materials with information on their use may contribute to better achievement.

Agenda setting and policy-making

According to Clarke (2017), there are differences between countries at different income levels in the focus of their policy and design. Generally, high-income countries with established assessment programmes use data for sector-wide reforms or a programme of interventions aimed at improving learning outcomes. Low-income countries that are beginning to use the programmes tend to identify a few separate issues, such as resource allocation or teacher qualifications, as responsible for poor achievement. Resulting policies include a few discrete interventions.

Data analysis can identify areas that require improvement, from which agenda for action can be designed. For example, Meckes and Carrasco found that in Chile, publication of the correlation between students’ socio-economic status and their achievement prompted demands for policies to address equity issues (Raudonyte, 2019).

Seychelles’ use of SACMEQ findings in 2000 provides an example of using assessment results for policy formulation. SACMEQ data indicated large differences in learning outcomes among pupils in the same school, attributable to a long-established practice of streaming by ability from Grade 1. By Grade 6 the learning achievement between girls and boys had widened to such an extent that there were more girls in the elite class and more boys in the inferior class. Effective communication channels, an enabling political context, and effective dialogue among actors contributed to the decision to adopt a de-streaming policy (Leste 2005 quoted in Raudonyte, 2019).

The regular collection of learning and other related data to monitor policy implementation can inform on the status of planned activities, reveal implementation challenges, pinpoint early indications of impact, and suggest modifications to adjust shortcomings. For example, the Learn to Read initiative in Madhya Pradesh was monitored on a monthly basis through standardized tests to detect shortcomings and adjust implementation (Tobin et al., 2015).

National assessments can be used to gauge the impact of policy on learning outcomes and to provide feedback to address shortcomings. In theory, there should be a seamless progression from testing through agenda setting, policy formulation, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation based on more testing. In practice, such a feedback mechanism is often less well organized. This may be due, among other things, to lack of experience with using assessments, weak technical capacity, poor coordination between assessment and decision-making bodies, and funding shortfalls.

Challenges to data use

For data to be used effectively they must be actionable, available to all who are in a position to act and presented in an appropriate form for each group of stakeholders. Barriers to data use include the following:

Data availability

Inadequate funding of an assessment programme can mean the programme cannot be completed. Delays in analysis can prevent data from being released in a timely manner. Results may be withheld if they are below expectations. Findings may be dismissed if they do not respond to the needs of the system, or are not actionable or linked to viable policy options.

Access problems

Data access problems include: a failure to communicate results to both the public and those who are in a position to act; results retained within a ministry of education to restrict their use by other stakeholders and prevent the media and public from lobbying for action; the content and format of the reports may not be suited to some or all target groups, who need a variety of data and presentation modes.

Quality issues

Issues with the design, relevance, and credibility of the assessment programme can lead to data being withheld or ignored. Real or perceived deficiencies in assessment instrumentation, sampling and analysis can raise validity and relevance issues. Occasional or ill-designed assessments mean that skills and content are not comparable over time. Caution is needed when developing policy messages based on assessment results without an analysis of supplementary data.

Limited capacity and skills to assess and use the data

Ministries of education may lack experience with national assessments, have poorly established decision-making procedures and low technical capacity. Technical personnel may lack expertise in assessment design, in-depth data analysis, and interpretation. This may result in recommendations being superficial and uninformative. Policy-makers may not understand the implications of the assessment or may not focus on the analysis due to time constraints. Data collection, analysis, availability, and use may be adversely affected by funding constraints.

Political climate

Conflict and political unrest may impact assessment implementation. Political sensitivities due to low levels of achievement can prevent data use. There may be a lack of political will to act on a recommendation.

Minimizing the challenges

Credibility and acceptability issues can be addressed by involving all relevant stakeholders in the design and implementation of an assessment. The assessment team should have the technical competence to design, administer the assessment and analyze results. Ongoing technical training of existing and potential staff is necessary to ensure quality and to allow for attrition.

Building local capacity or establishing a regional coordinating body are possibilities. Both options require substantial investment in capacity building that could be costly and time-consuming.

Judicious use of media channels at all stages of the assessment including dissemination of results, and regular stakeholder discussions will ensure the public are kept informed. Distribution will be facilitated if there is a budget for dissemination, a dissemination plan and if the reports prepared are tailored to different users’ needs.

Existing structures, policy-making and decision-making processes within ministries can also be a barrier to data use. In order to adapt to a data-driven decision-making culture, ministries of education may need to restructure and redefine the roles and responsibilities within the organization. Links among staff and with relevant outside institutions need to be established and sustained.

Australia. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. 2018. ‘ Education learning and development module: Learning assessment ’ . Canberra: DFAT.

Best, M.; Knight, P.; Lietz, P.; Lockwood, C.; Nugroho, D.; Tobin, M. 2013. The impact of national and international assessment programmes on education policy, particularly policies regarding resource allocation and teaching and learning practices in developing countries. Final report. London: EPPI-Centre, Social Science Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London.

Birdsall, N.; Bruns, B.; Madan, J. 2016. Learning data for better policy: A global agenda. Washington, DC: Center for Global Development.

Clarke, P. 2017. ‘ Making use of assessments for creating stronger education systems and improving teaching and learning’ . Paper commissioned for the 2017/18 Global Education Monitoring Report, Accountability in education: Meeting our commitments. Paris: UNESCO.

Custer, S.; King, E. M.; Atinc, T. M.; Read, L.; Sethi, T. 2018. Towards data driven education systems: Insights into using information to measure results and manage change . Washington, DC: Center for Universal Education at Brookings/AidData.

De Chaisemartin, T.; Schwanter, U. 2017. Ensuring learning data matters . IIEP-UNESCO Learning Portal.

Mählck, L.; Ross, K. N. 1990. Planning the quality of education: The collection and use of data for informed decision-making . Paris: IIEP-UNESCO.

Postlethwaite, T. N., Kellaghan, T. 2008. National assessments of educational achievement . Paris: IIEP-UNESCO.

Raudonyte, I.2019. Use of learning assessment data in education policy-making . Paris: IIEP-UNESCO.

Ross, K. N. 1997. ‘Research and policy: a complex mix’. In: IIEP Newsletter , 15 (1), pp. 1-–4.

Saito, M. 2015. The use of learning assessments in policy and planning. IIEP-UNESCO Learning Portal.

Tobin, M.; Lietz, P.; Nugroho, D.; Vivekanandan, R.; Nyamkhuu, T. 2015. Using large-scale assessments of students’ learning to inform education policy. Insights from the Asia-Pacific region . Melbourne/ Bangkok: ACER/ UNESCO.

UNESCO; IIEP Pôle de Dakar; World Bank; UNICEF. 2014. Education sector analysis methodological guidelines. Vol. 1: Sector-wide analysis, with emphasis on primary and secondary education . Dakar: UNESCO. IIEP Pôle de Dakar.

UNESCO Office Bangkok and Regional Bureau for Education in Asia and the Pacific. 2013. The use of student assessment for policy and learning improvement . Bangkok: UNESCO Office Bangkok.

UNESCO Office Bangkok and Regional Bureau for Education in Asia and the Pacific. 2017. Analyzing and utilizing data for better learning outcomes . Paris/ Bangkok: UNESCO/ UNESCO Office Bangkok.

UNESCO Office Bangkok and Regional Bureau for Education in Asia and the Pacific. 2017. Large-scale assessment data and learning outcomes: Linking assessments to evidence-based policy making and improved learning . Bangkok: UNESCO Office Bangkok.

UNESCO-UIS. 2018. SDG 4 data digest: Data to nurture learning . Montreal: UIS.

Willms, J. D. 2018. Learning divides: Using data to inform educational policy . Information Paper No. 54. Montreal: UIS.

Related information

• The use of learning assessment data
• Quality of education

• IIEP Buenos Aires

• A global institute
• Governing Board
• Expert directory
• 60th anniversary
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Latest news
• Upcoming events
• PlanED: The IIEP podcast
• Partnering with IIEP
• Career opportunities
• 11th Medium-Term Strategy
• Planning and management to improve learning
• Inclusion in education
• Using digital tools to promote transparency and accountability
• Ethics and corruption in education
• Digital technology to transform education
• Crisis-sensitive educational planning
• Rethinking national school calendars for climate-resilient learning
• Skills for the future
• Interactive map
• Foundations of education sector planning programmes
• Online specialized courses
• Customized, on-demand training
• Training in Buenos Aires
• Training in Dakar
• Preparation of strategic plans
• Sector diagnosis
• Costs and financing of education
• Tools for planning
• Crisis-sensitive education planning
• Supporting training centres
• Support for basic education quality management
• Gender at the Centre
• Teacher careers
• Geospatial data
• Cities and Education 2030
• Learning assessment data
• Governance and quality assurance
• School grants
• Early childhood education
• Flexible learning pathways in higher education
• Instructional leaders
• Planning for teachers in times of crisis and displacement
• Planning to fulfil the right to education
• Thematic resource portals
• Policy Fora
• Network of Education Policy Specialists in Latin America
• Publications
• Briefs, Papers, Tools
• Search the collection
• Visitors information
• Planipolis (Education plans and policies)
• IIEP Learning Portal
• Ethics and corruption ETICO Platform
• PEFOP (Vocational Training in Africa)
• SITEAL (Latin America)
• Policy toolbox
• Education for safety, resilience and social cohesion
• Health and Education Resource Centre
• Interactive Map
• Search deploy

IIEP Publications

Advanced search

• Library & resources
• IIEP Publishing

The World educational crisis: a systems analysis

Online version

About the publication.

This visionary and influential book by Philip H. Coombs was a turning point in the Institute’s history, and in the development of educational planning in general. His words set the tone for the development of IIEP’s programmes: “ Educational innovations... will not come about automatically. Even if they did, they would not be quickly assimilated. ... If the strategy is to succeed, innovation must become what it has not been before. It must become a way of life for education .”

At this time the interdisciplinary nature of educational planning became more and more apparent. Its coverage was expanding, and in the 1970s began to encompass regional planning, and microplanning, as well as alternative forms of educational delivery.

Publications Homepage

Related books

Les Procédures budgétaires des ministères de l'éducation au Mali

Zimbabwe: technical handbook on data processing: an approach to national education accounts

Education in the 1980s: World Bank perspectives - the myth and the reality

Escolarización en América Latina 2000-2013

• Privacy Notice

Systems Thinking, Antiracism Training & Other EdD Courses: What You Will Learn in a Doctor of Education Program

Education leaders, administrators, and teachers facilitate learning, but that’s hardly the extent of their impact. They also enable personal growth, nurturing students’ social and cultural identities so they can reach their full potential and effect change in their communities and their lives. By providing these essential services, educators influence not just students but also their families, communities, and the systems that surround them.

Such consequential responsibilities require educators with transformational leadership skills. In American University’s online Doctorate in Education Policy and Leadership (EdD) program , current education leaders prepare to excel in their roles by completing a robust, practitioner-focused curriculum anchored in four pillars:

• Systems Change
• Personal Leadership
• Social Justice and Antiracism
• Policy and Research

Graduates emerge ready to serve in senior positions in schools, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and more. If you’re an educator prepared to boost your impact and promote progressive education and positive social change, you could be a candidate for American University’s online Doctorate in Education Policy and Leadership (EdD) program. This article explores the themes and concepts that the curriculum covers.

Earn Your Doctor of Education Degree in Less Than Three Years

Effect widespread progressive change in education with an au edd, systems thinking courses and training .

Systems thinking —the process of problem solving by visualizing the interconnectedness among different parts of a system—is a valuable analytical tool that can improve classroom engagement and streamline academic organizations. It offers educators a holistic view of complex education systems, in contrast to analyzing each part as a separate entity. Consider a teacher with classroom management problems. This teacher could use systems thinking to identify interconnected areas influencing the problem, such as a need for special education teachers in the classroom or a reallocation of free time for children to take needed breaks. 

Systems thinking applies to all aspects of the education system. Teachers can use it to drive classroom instruction, school and district leaders can apply it to management and organizational decisions, and administrators can employ it to visualize a new approach to restructuring.

The EdD curriculum introduces systems thinking in its first semester. In Collaborative Inquiry through Systems Thinking, doctoral candidates are challenged to apply systems thinking to their organizations. The discussion continues during the first residency (of three), when students meet in person at the end of the first semester to further explore this methodology.

Antiracism Courses and Training 

In a 2021 study cited by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , at least half of all Black, Asian, and multiracial high school students surveyed reported experiencing racism in their lifetimes. Whether implicit or overt, racism in all its forms exerts a deleterious effect on its targets, practitioners, and society at large. Educators need to understand how racism manifests in educational contexts, from addressing one’s own implicit bias to remediating unfair practices and uneven systems that disenfranchise students and teachers of color.

AU’s EdD antiracism courses help educators combat racism in the curriculum, hiring practices, and financial barriers to success that racism creates. Antiracism training is introduced in the first semester and reinforced during students’ first residency. Antiracism, Equity and Inclusion in Education provides a clear understanding of this issue in the education framework. This important theme is woven through future coursework.

Education Policy Analysis Courses and Training

In the second semester of AU’s EdD in Policy and Leadership program, doctoral candidates critically examine educational policy. Students use their systems thinking training and antiracism courses to evaluate the effects of past and present policies and educational strategies on the education system.

Educational Policy and Analysis examines the impacts of federal, state, and local policies on PreK-12 education. Students interested in a deeper dive into policy analysis can pursue electives in semester 6 that further their understanding of education policy implementation and provide opportunities to consult with educational organizations on pressing issues.

Conscious Leadership Training 

Systems thinking, antiracism measures, social justice initiatives, and policy critique are all vital to improving education. However, none of these interventions can be effective without proper leadership. In AU’s EdD program, students learn conscious leadership, an approach that can help them communicate, innovate, and improve.

Conscious leadership is a leadership style focused on self-awareness and responsibility for one’s actions. Employees under conscious leadership tend to feel more supported, inspiring them to be proactive, effective, and productive team members, encouraging a culture that focuses on the best outcomes for the group. By embracing these traits, leaders create a growth mindset and a positive learning environment.

Conscious leadership is essential in education, where leaders lead by example, take responsibility, support their teams, and transform schools. Doctoral candidates learn more about this leadership style in Exercising Conscious Leadership, in which students develop a robust toolkit of self-reflective frameworks and practices to shift mindsets, behaviors, and practices to create a more just education system for all.

Research and Communication Skills 

The American University online Doctor of Education program provides professional educators with the research and communications skills necessary to enact positive change in the education sector. The curriculum combines an antiracist perspective with hands-on experience in survey design, data analysis, ethnographic studies, and communications tools to cultivate the expertise to investigate, evaluate, and present important data and findings. 

Problem of Practice: Your Original Research

Combining research and communication instruction with the four educational pillars of AU’s Doctor of Education curriculum, the program culminates in an original research dissertation called a Problem of Practice. 

This dissertation focuses on an emerging leadership or policy issue in the education field that resonates with the individual student. Utilizing the antiracism courses, leadership training, systems thinking, and research tools, students design and implement a project to uncover an innovative solution in their focus area. The dissertation experience and results should empower students to continue to challenge norms, ask questions, evaluate data, and develop solutions to continually improve the education system once they have graduated from the program.

Take the Next Step: Start Your Doctor of Education Journey at AU

The online Doctor of Education Policy and Leadership (EdD) degree empowers today’s education professionals to lead widespread, progressive change in education. With practical experience and theoretical knowledge, graduates emerge prepared for leadership roles in educational instruction, organizational leadership, and policymaking. 

Are you ready to disrupt education and enact important changes to promote the personal growth of every student? Are you eager to put forward antiracism and social justice within your workplace? Become the leader America’s education system needs with a Doctor of Education degree from American University. 

Contact AU’s enrollment advisors for more information or start your application online.

Gain Hands-On Expertise With Your Dissertation of Practice

Develop skills in policy, leadership, and research.

Request Information

• Open access
• Published: 03 June 2024

Continue nursing education: an action research study on the implementation of a nursing training program using the Holton Learning Transfer System Inventory

• MingYan Shen 1 , 2 &
• ZhiXian Feng 1 , 2  

BMC Medical Education volume  24 , Article number:  610 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

Metrics details

To address the gap in effective nursing training for quality management, this study aims to implement and assess a nursing training program based on the Holton Learning Transfer System Inventory, utilizing action research to enhance the practicality and effectiveness of training outcomes.

The study involved the formation of a dedicated training team, with program development informed by an extensive situation analysis and literature review. Key focus areas included motivation to transfer, learning environment, and transfer design. The program was implemented in a structured four-step process: plan, action, observation, reflection.

Over a 11-month period, 22 nurses completed 14 h of theoretical training and 18 h of practical training with a 100% attendance rate and 97.75% satisfaction rate. The nursing team successfully led and completed 22 quality improvement projects, attaining a practical level of application. Quality management implementation difficulties, literature review, current situation analysis, cause analysis, formulation of plans, implementation plans, and report writing showed significant improvement and statistical significance after training.

The study confirms the efficacy of action research guided by Holton’s model in significantly enhancing the capabilities of nursing staff in executing quality improvement projects, thereby improving the overall quality of nursing training. Future research should focus on refining the training program through long-term observation, developing a multidimensional evaluation index system, exploring training experiences qualitatively, and investigating the personality characteristics of nurses to enhance training transfer effects.

Peer Review reports

Introduction

The “Medical Quality Management Measures“ [ 1 ] and “Accreditation Standards for Tertiary Hospitals (2020 Edition)” [ 2 ] both emphasize the importance of using quality management tools in medical institutions to carry out effective quality management [ 3 ]. However, there is a notable gap in translating theoretical training into effective, practical application in clinical settings [ 4 ]. This gap is further highlighted in the context of healthcare quality management, as evidenced in studies [ 5 ] which demonstrate the universality of these challenges across healthcare systems worldwide.

Addressing this issue, contemporary literature calls for innovative and effective training methods that transition from passive knowledge acquisition to active skill application [ 6 ]. The Holton Learning Transfer System Inventory [ 7 ] provides a framework focusing on key factors such as motivation, learning environment, and transfer design [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. This study aims to implement a nursing training program based on the Holton model, using an action research methodology to bridge the theoretical-practical gap in nursing education.

Quality management training for clinical nurses has predominantly been characterized by short-term theoretical lectures, a format that often fails to foster deep engagement and lasting awareness among nursing personnel [ 10 ]. The Quality Indicator Project in Taiwan’s nursing sector, operational for over a decade, demonstrates the effective use of collective intelligence and scientific methodologies to address these challenges [ 11 ]. The proposed study responds to the need for training programs that not only impart knowledge but also ensure the practical application of skills in real-world nursing settings, thereby contributing to transformative changes within the healthcare system [ 12 ].

In April 2021, the Nursing Education Department of our hospital launched a quality improvement project training program for nurses. The initiation of this study is underpinned by the evident disconnect between theoretical training and the practical challenges nurses face in implementing quality management initiatives, a gap also identified in the work [ 13 ]. By exploring the efficacy of the Holton Learning Transfer System Inventory, this study seeks to enhance the practical application of training and significantly contribute to the field of nursing education and quality management in healthcare.

Developing a nursing training program with the Holton Learning Transfer System Inventory

Establishing a research team and assigning roles.

There are 10 members in the group who serve as both researchers and participants, aiming to investigate training process issues and solutions. The roles within the group are as follows: the deputy dean in charge of nursing is responsible for program review and organizational support, integrating learning transfer principles in different settings [ 14 ]; the deputy director of the Nursing Education Department handles the design and implementation of the training program, utilizing double-loop learning for training transfer [ 15 ]; the deputy director of the Nursing Department oversees quality control and project evaluation, ensuring integration of evidence-based practices and technology [ 16 ] and the deputy director of the Quality Management Office provides methodological guidance. The remaining members consist of 4 faculty members possessing significant university teaching experience and practical expertise in quality control projects, and 2 additional members who are jointly responsible for educational affairs, data collection, and analysis. Additionally, to ensure comprehensive pedagogical guidance in this training, professors specializing in nursing pedagogy have been specifically invited to provide expertise on educational methodology.

Current situation survey

Based on the Holton Learning Transfer System Inventory (refer to Fig.  1 ), the appropriate levels of Motivation to Improve Work Through Learning (MTIWL), learning environment, and transfer design are crucial in facilitating changes in individual performance, thereby influencing organizational outcomes [ 17 , 18 ]. Motivation to Improve Work Through Learning (MTIWL) is closely linked to expectation theory, fairness theory, and goal-setting theory, significantly impacting the positive transfer of training [ 19 ]. Learning environment encompasses environmental factors that either hinder or promote the application of learned knowledge in actual work settings [ 20 ]. Transfer design, as a pivotal component, includes training program design and organizational planning.

To conduct the survey, the research team retrieved 26 quality improvement reports from the nursing quality information management system, which were generated by nursing units in 2020. A checklist was formulated, and a retrospective evaluation was conducted across eight aspects, namely, team participation, topic selection feasibility, method accuracy, indicator scientificity, program implementation rate, effect maintenance, and promotion and application. Methods employed in the evaluation process included report analysis, on-site tracking, personnel interviews, and data review within the quality information management system [ 21 ]. From the perspective of motivation [ 22 ], learning environment [ 23 ], and transfer design, a total of 14 influencing factors were identified. These factors serve as a reference for designing the training plan and encompass the following aspects: lack of awareness regarding importance, low willingness to participate in training, unclear understanding of individual career development, absence of incentive mechanisms, absence of a scientific training organization model, lack of a training quality management model, inadequate literature retrieval skills and support, insufficient availability of practical training materials and resources, incomplete mastery of post-training methods, lack of cultural construction plans, suboptimal communication methods and venues, weak internal organizational atmosphere, inadequate leadership support, and absence of platforms and mechanisms for promoting and applying learned knowledge.

Learning Transfer System Inventory

Development of the training program using the 4W1H approach

Drawing upon Holton’s Learning Transfer System Inventory and the hospital training transfer model diagram, a comprehensive training outline was formulated for the training program [ 24 , 25 ]. The following components were considered:

(1) Training Participants (Who): The training is open for voluntary registration to individuals with an undergraduate degree or above, specifically targeting head nurses, responsible team leaders, and core members of the hospital-level nursing quality control team. Former members who have participated in quality improvement projects such as Plan-Do-Check-Act Circle (PDCA) or Quality control circle (QCC) are also eligible.

(2) Training Objectives (Why): At the individual level, the objectives include enhancing the understanding of quality management concepts, improving the cognitive level and application abilities of project improvement methods, and acquiring the necessary skills for nursing quality improvement project. At the team level, the aim is to enhance effective communication among team members and elevate the overall quality of communication. Moreover, the training seeks to facilitate collaborative efforts in improving the existing nursing quality management system and processes. At the operational level, participants are expected to gain the competence to design, implement, and manage nursing quality improvement project initiatives. Following the training, participants will lead and successfully complete a nursing quality improvement project, which will undergo a rigorous audit.

(3) Training Duration (When): The training program spans a duration of 11 months.

(4) Training Content (What): The program consists of 14 h of theoretical courses and 18 h of practical training sessions, as detailed in Table  1 .

(5) Quality Management Approach (How): To ensure quality throughout the training process, two team members are assigned to monitor the entire training journey. This encompasses evaluating whether quality awareness education, quality management knowledge, and professional skills training are adequately covered. Additionally, attention is given to participants’ learning motivation, the emphasis placed on active participation in training methods, support from hospital management and relevant departments, as well as participants’ satisfaction and assessment results. Please refer to Fig.  2 for a visual representation.

In-house training model from Holton Learning Transfer

Implementation of the nursing project training program using the action research method

The first cycle (april 2021).

In the initial cycle, a total of 22 nurses were included as training participants after a self-registration process and qualification review. The criteria used to select these participants, elaborated in Section Development of the training program using the 4W1H approach, ‘Development of the Training Program,’ were meticulously crafted to capture a broad spectrum of experience, expertise, and functional roles within our hospital’s nursing staff. The primary focus was to investigate their learning motivation. The cycle comprised the following key activities:

(1) Training Objectives: The focus was on understanding the learning motivation of the participating nurses.

(2) Theoretical Training Sessions: A total of 7 theoretical training sessions, spanning 14 class hours, were completed. The contents covered various aspects, including an overview of nursing quality improvement projects, methods for selecting project topics, common tools used in nursing quality improvement projects, effective leadership strategies to promote project practices, literature retrieval and evaluation methods, formulation and promotion of project plans, and writing project reports. Detailed course information, including the title, content, and class hours, is listed in Table  1 . At the end of each training session, a course satisfaction survey was conducted.

(3) Assessment and Reporting: Following the completion of the 7 training sessions, a theoretical assessment on quality management knowledge was conducted. Additionally, nurses were organized to present their plans for special projects to be carried out during the training. Several issues were identified during this cycle:

Incomplete Literature Review Skills: Compared to other quality control tools, nursing quality improvement project places more emphasis on the scientific construction of project plans. The theoretical evaluation and interviews with nurses highlighted the incomplete and challenging nature of their literature review skills.

Insufficient Leadership: Among the participants, 6 individuals were not head nurses, which resulted in a lack of adequate leadership for their respective projects.

Learning environment and Support: The learning environment, as well as the support from hospital management and relevant departments, needed to be strengthened.

Second cycle (may-october 2021)

In response to the issues identified during the first cycle, our approach in the second cycle was both corrective and adaptive, focusing on immediate issues while also setting the stage for addressing any emerging challenges. The team members actively implemented improvements during the second cycle. The key actions taken were as follows:

(1) Establishing an Enabling Organizational Environment: The quality management department took the lead, and multiple departments collaborated in conducting the “Hospital Safety and Quality Red May” activity. This initiative aimed to enhance the overall quality improvement atmosphere within the hospital. Themed articles were also shared through the hospital’s WeChat public account.

(2) Salon-style Training Format: The training sessions were conducted in the form of salons, held in a meeting room specifically prepared for this purpose. The room was arranged with a round table, warm yellow lighting, green plants, and a coffee bar, creating a conducive environment for free, democratic, and equal communication among the participants. The salon topics included revising project topic selection, conducting current situation investigations, facilitating communication and guidance for literature reviews, formulating improvement plans, implementing those plans, and writing project reports. After the projects were presented, quality management experts provided comments and analysis, promoting the transformation of training outcomes from mere memory and understanding to higher-level abilities such as application, analysis, and creativity.

(3) Continuous Support Services: Various support services were provided to ensure ongoing assistance. This included assigning nursing postgraduates to aid in literature retrieval and evaluation. Project team members also provided on-site guidance and support, actively engaging in the project improvement process to facilitate training transfer.

(4) Emphasis on Spiritual Encouragement: The Vice President of Nursing Department actively participated in the salons and provided feedback on each occasion. Moreover, the President of the hospital consistently commended the training efforts during the weekly hospital meetings.

Issues identified in this cycle

(1) Inconsistent Ability to Write Project Documents: The proficiency in writing project documents for project improvement varied among participants, and there was a lack of standardized evaluation criteria. This issue had the potential to impact the quality of project dissemination.

(2) Lack of Clarity Regarding the Platform and Mechanism for Training Result Transfer: The platform and mechanisms for transferring training results were not clearly defined, posing a challenge in effectively sharing and disseminating the outcomes of the training.

The third cycle (November 2021-march 2022)

During the third cycle, the following initiatives were undertaken.

(1) Utilizing the “Reporting Standards for Quality Improvement Research (SQUIRE)”, as issued by the US Health Care Promotion Research, to provide guidance for students in writing nursing project improvement reports.

(2) Organizing a hospital-level nursing quality improvement project report meeting to acknowledge and commend outstanding projects.

(3) Compiling the “Compilation of Nursing Quality Improvement Projects” for dissemination and exchange among nurses both within and outside the hospital.

(4) Addressing the issue of inadequate management of indicator monitoring data, a hospital-level quality index management platform was developed. The main evaluation data from the 22 projects were entered into this platform, allowing for continuous monitoring and timely intervention.

Effect evaluation

To assess the efficacy of the training, a diverse set of evaluation metrics, encompassing both outcome and process measures [ 26 ]. These measures can be structured around the four-level training evaluation framework proposed by Donald Kirkpatrick [ 27 ].

Process evaluation

Evaluation method.

To assess the commitment and support within the organization, the process evaluation involved recording the proportion of nurses’ classroom participation time and the presence of leaders during each training session. Additionally, a satisfaction survey was conducted after the training to assess various aspects such as venue layout, time arrangement, training methods, lecturer professionalism, content practicality, and interaction. On-site recycling statistics were also collected for project evaluation purposes.

Evaluation results the results of the process evaluation are as follows

Nurse training participation rate: 100%.

Training satisfaction rate (average): 97.75%.

Proportion of nurses’ participation time in theoretical training sessions (average): 36.88%.

Proportion of nurses’ participation time in salon training sessions (average): 74.23%.

Attendance rate of school-level leaders: 100%.

Results evaluation

Assessment of theoretical knowledge of quality management.

To evaluate the effectiveness in enhancing the trainees’ theoretical knowledge of quality management, the research team conducted assessments before the training, after the first round of implementation, and after the third round of implementation. Assessments to evaluate the effectiveness of the training program were conducted immediately following the first round of implementation, and after the third round of implementation. This dual-timing approach was designed to evaluate both the immediate impact of the training and its sustained effects over time, addressing potential influences of memory decay on the study results. The assessment consisted of a 60-minute examination with different question types, including 30 multiple-choice questions (2 points each), 2 short-answer questions (10 points each), and 1 comprehensive analysis question (20 points). The maximum score achievable was 100 points.

The assessment results are as follows:

Before training (average): 75.05 points.

After the first round of implementation (average): 82.18 points.

After the third round of implementation (average): 90.82 points.

Assessment of difficulty in quality management project implementation

To assess the difficulty of implementing quality management projects, the trainees completed the “Quality Management Project Implementation Difficulty Assessment Form” before and after the training. They self-evaluated 10 aspects using a 5-point scale, with 5 indicating the most difficult and 1 indicating no difficulty. The evaluation results before and after implementation are presented in Table  2 .

Statistically significant differences were found in the following items: literature review, current situation analysis, cause analysis, plan formulation, implementation plan, and report writing. This indicates that the training significantly enhanced the nurses’ confidence and ability to tackle practical challenges.

Evaluation of transfer effect

To assess how effectively the training translated into practical applications. The implementation of the 22 quality improvement projects was evaluated using the application hierarchy analysis table. The specific results are presented in Table  3 .

In addition, the “Nursing Project Guidance Manual” and “Compilation of Nursing Project Improvement Projects” were compiled and distributed to the hospital’s management staff, nurses, and four collaborating hospitals, receiving positive feedback. The lecture titled “Improving Nurses’ Project Improvement Ability Based on the Training Transfer Theory Model” shared experiences with colleagues both within and outside the province in national and provincial teaching sessions in 2022. Furthermore, four papers were published on the subject.

The effectiveness of the training program based on the Holton Learning transfer System Inventory

The level of refined management in hospitals is closely tied to the quality management awareness and skills of frontline medical staff. Quality management training plays a crucial role in improving patient safety management and fostering a culture of quality and safety. Continuous quality improvement is an integral part of nursing management, ensuring that patients receive high-quality and safe nursing care. Compared to the focus of existing literature on the individual performance improvements following nursing training programs [ 28 , 29 , 30 ], our study expands the evaluation framework to include organizational performance metrics. Our research underscores a significantly higher level of organizational engagement as evidenced by the 100% attendance rate of school-level leaders. The publication of four papers related to this study highlights not only individual performance achievements but also significantly broadens the hospital organization’s impact on quality management, leading to meaningful organizational outcomes.

Moreover, our initiative to incorporate indicators of quality projects into a hospital-level evaluation index system post-training signifies a pivotal move towards integrating quality improvement practices into the very fabric of organizational operations. In training programs, it is essential not only to achieve near-transfer, but also to ensure that nurses continuously apply the acquired management skills to their clinical work, thereby enhancing quality, developing their professional value, and improving organizational performance. The Holton learning Transfer System Inventory provides valuable guidance on how to implement training programs and evaluate their training effect.

This study adopts the training transfer model as a framework to explore the mechanisms of “how training works” rather than simply assessing “whether training works [ 31 ].” By examining factors such as Motivation to Improve Work Through Learning (MTIWL), learning environment, and transfer design, the current situation is analyzed, underlying reasons are identified, and relevant literature is reviewed to develop and implement training programs based on the results of a needs survey. While individual transfer motivation originates from within the individual, it is influenced by the transfer atmosphere and design. By revising the nurse promotion system and performance management system and aligning them with career development, nurses’ motivation to participate and engage in active learning has significantly increased [ 32 ]. At the learning environment level, enhancing the training effect involves improving factors such as stimulation and response that correspond to the actual work environment [ 33 ]. This project has garnered attention and support from hospital-level leaders, particularly the nursing dean who regularly visits the training site to provide guidance, which serves as invaluable recognition. Timely publicity and recognition of exemplary project improvement initiatives have also increased awareness and understanding of project knowledge among doctors and nurses, fostering a stronger quality improvement atmosphere within the team.

Transfer design, the most critical component for systematic learning and mastery of quality management tools, is achieved through theoretical lectures, salon exchanges, and project-based training. These approaches allow nurses to gain hands-on experience in project improvement under the guidance of instructors. Throughout the project, nurses connect project management knowledge and skills with practical application, enabling personal growth and organizational development through problem-solving in real work scenarios. Finally, a comprehensive evaluation of the training program was conducted, including assessments of theoretical knowledge, perception of management challenges, and project quality. The results showed high satisfaction among nurses, with a satisfaction rate of 97.75%. The proportion of nurses’ participation time in theoretical and practical training classes was 36.88% and 74.23%, respectively. The average score for theoretical knowledge of quality management increased from 75.05 to 90.82. There was also a significant improvement in the evaluation of the implementation difficulties of quality management projects. Moreover, 22 nurses successfully led the completion of one project improvement project, with six projects focusing on preventing the COVID-19 pandemic, demonstrating valuable crisis response practices.

Action research helps to ensure the quality of organizational management of training

Well-organized training is the basis for ensuring the scientific and standardized development of nursing project improvement activities. According to the survey results of the current situation, there is a lot of room for improvement in the training quality; since it is the first time to apply the Holton training transfer model to the improvement training process of nurses in the hospital, in order to allow the nurses to have sufficient time to implement and evaluate the improvement project, the total training time Set at 11 months, a strong methodology is required to ensure training management during this period. Action research is a research method that closely combines research with solving practical problems in work. It is a research method aimed at solving practical problems through self-reflective exploration in realistic situations, emphasizing the participation of researchers and researchees. Practice, find problems in practice, and adjust the plan in a timely manner. According to the implementation of the first round, it was found that nurses had insufficient literature review skills, insufficient leadership, and lack of support from hospital management and related departments [ 32 ]. In the second round, the training courses were carried out in the form of salons. The project team members went deep into the project to improve on-site guidance, arranged graduate students to assist in document retrieval and evaluation, and promoted the transfer of training; the “Hospital Safety and Quality Red May” activity was carried out, and the vice president of nursing Regularly participate in the salon and make comments. The problems exposed after this round of implementation are the low quality of the project improvement project document, and the unclear platform and mechanism for the transfer of training results. In the third round, the “Reporting Standards for Quality Improvement Research (SQUIRE)” was used to standardize the writing of the report [ 33 ], and the “Compilation of Nursing Project Improvement Projects” was completed, and the main evaluation data of 22 projects were entered into the hospital-level quality index management platform for continuous monitoring and intervention. As of May 2022, the effect maintenance data of each project has reached the target value. It can not only produce useful improvement projects, but also help to promote the dissemination and penetration of quality awareness.

Future research directions

Drawing on the Holton training evaluation model, this study implemented nurse quality improvement project training using action research methodology, resulting in a successful exploration practice, and achieving positive transfer effects. To further advance this research area, the following future research directions are recommended:

Summarize the experiences gained from this action research training and continue to refine and enhance the training program. Through ongoing practice, reflection, and refinement in subsequent training sessions, long-term observation of the transfer effects can be conducted to establish an effective experiential model that can serve as a reference for future initiatives.

Develop a multidimensional evaluation index system for assessing transfer effects. A comprehensive framework that captures various dimensions of transfer, such as knowledge application, skill utilization, and behavior change, should be established. This will enable a more holistic and accurate assessment of the training program’s impact on the participants and the organization.

Conduct qualitative research to explore the training experiences of nurses. By gathering in-depth insights through interviews or focus group discussions, a deeper understanding of the nurses’ perceptions, challenges, and facilitators of training transfer can be obtained. This qualitative exploration will provide valuable information to further refine and tailor the training program to meet the specific needs and preferences of the nurses.

Investigate the personality characteristics of nurses who actively engage in training transfer and consider developing them as internal trainers. By identifying and cultivating nurses with a proactive attitude and a strong inclination towards knowledge application and skill development, the organization can enhance employee participation and initiative. These internal trainers can play a crucial role in motivating their colleagues and driving the transfer of training outcomes into daily practice.

By pursuing these future research directions, the field of healthcare and nursing care can continue to advance in optimizing training programs, enhancing transfer effects, and ultimately improving the quality of care and patient outcomes.

Limitations

The research was conducted with a cohort of 22 nurses and a 10-member research team from Grade 3, Class A hospitals in China Southeast. This specific composition and the relatively small sample size may affect the generalizability of our findings. The experiences and outcomes observed in this study might not fully encapsulate the diverse challenges and environments encountered by nursing professionals in varying healthcare settings. The significant improvements noted in the capabilities of the participating nursing staff underscore the potential impact of the training program. However, the study’s focus on a specific demographic—nurses from high-grade hospitals in a developed urban center—may limit the external validity of the findings.

Conclusions

This study affirms the efficacy of the Holton Learning Transfer System Inventory-based training program, coupled with action research, in significantly advancing nursing quality management practices. The strategic incorporation of motivation to improve work through learning, an enriched learning environment, and thoughtful transfer design significantly boosted the nurses’ engagement, knowledge acquisition, and practical application of quality management tools in their clinical work.

It highlights the importance of continuous learning, organizational support, and methodological flexibility in achieving sustainable improvements in healthcare quality and safety. Future endeavors should aim to expand the scope of this training model to diverse nursing contexts and evaluate its long-term impact on organizational performance and patient care outcomes.

Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are not publicly available due to hospital policy but are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

National Health and Family Planning Commission. Medical Quality Management Measures. Published 2016. Accessed September 19, 2018. http://www.nhc.gov.cn/fzs/s3576/201610/ae125f28eef24ca7aac57c8ec530c6d2.shtml .

National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. Notice of the National Health Commission on Printing and Distributing the Standards for the Review of Third-level Hospitals (2020 Edition) [EB/OL]. (2021-10-21) [2022-07-17].

Grossu-Leibovica D, Kalkis H. Total quality management tools and techniques for improving service quality and client satisfaction in the healthcare environment: a qualitative systematic review. Manage Sci Lett. 2023;13(2):118–23. https://doi.org/10.1051/shsconf/202213102009 .

Article   Google Scholar  

Shade L, Reeves K, Rees J, Hendrickson L, Halladay J, Dolor RJ, Bray P, Tapp H. Research nurses as practice facilitators to disseminate an asthma shared decision making intervention. BMC Nurs. 2020;19:40. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-020-00414-0 .

Ali J, Jusoh A, Abbas A, Nor K. Global trends of Service Quality in Healthcare: a bibliometric analysis of Scopus Database. J Contemp Issues Bus Government. 2021;27:2917.

Google Scholar  

Ahmed FA, Choudhary RA, Khan H, Ayub F, Hassan SSU, Munir T, Asif F, Ajani K, Jaffer M, Tharani Z, Aboumatar HJ, Haider A, Latif A. Incorporating Patient Safety and Quality Course into the nursing curriculum: an Assessment of Student gains. J Patient Saf. 2023;19(6):408–14. https://doi.org/10.1097/PTS.0000000000001146 .

Holton EF. Holton’s evaluation model: new evidence and construct elaborations. Adv Developing Hum Resour. 2005;7(1):37–54. https://doi.org/10.1177/1523422304272080 .

Rigot SK, DiGiovine KM, Boninger ML, Hibbs R, Smith I, Worobey LA, Connerton C, Mason J, Bonhotal S. (2023). Peer-Led Functional Mobility and Transfer Training. Nurse Educator, 48(5), 286.

Wang C, Liu A, Xu J, et al. Work Method and Effect of Hospital Quality Management Circle Stage Management model [J]. Chin Hosp. 2016;20(12):23–5.

Elshama S. Quality Management in Medical Education between Theory and Application: paradigm shift or falsification of. J Clin Case Rep Stud. 2022;3:1–5. https://doi.org/10.31579/2690-8808/109 .

Chang S-J, Huang HH-C, Li-Hua, Chang H. Taiwan quality indicator project and hospital productivity growth. Omega. 2011;39(1):14–22.

Arnold AP, Laurene Finley [email protected], Roberta G, Sands, Joretha Bourjolly & Victoria Stanhope. (2012) Training Mental Health Providers in Cultural Competence: A Transformative Learning Process, American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation, 15:4, 334–356, https://doi.org/10.1080/15487768.2012.733287 .

Chang S-J, Hsiao H-C, Huang L-H, Chang H. 2011. Taiwan quality indicator project and hospital productivity growth, Omega, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 14–22, January. 2010.01.006.

Finn F, Chesser-Smyth P. Promoting learning transfer in Preceptor Preparation. J Nurses Prof Dev. 2013;29:309–15. https://doi.org/10.1097/NND.0000000000000014 .

Guzman G, Fitzgerald J, Fulop L, Hayes K, Poropat A, Avery M, Campbell S, Fisher R, Gapp R, Herington C, McPhail R, Vecchio N. How best practices are copied, transferred, or translated between health care facilities: a conceptual framework. Health Care Manage Rev. 2015;40:193–202. https://doi.org/10.1097/HMR.0000000000000023 .

Billings D, Connors H, Skiba D. Benchmarking Best practices in web-based nursing courses. Adv Nurs Sci. 2001;23:41–52. https://doi.org/10.1097/00012272-200103000-00005 .

Devos C, Dumay X, Bonami M, Bates R, Holton E. The learning transfer system inventory (LTSI) translated into French: Internal structure and predictive validity. Eur Economics: Labor Social Conditions eJournal. 2007. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2419.2007.00280.x .

Mongkolsirikiet K, Akaraborworn C, Research Model. (2019). A Revisit of Holton’s HRD Evaluation and (2005) for Learning Transfer., 12, 15–34. https://doi.org/10.14456/JCDR-HS.2019.12 .

Yaqub Y, Singh A. Impact of training design on trainees’ motivation: an empirical study. Industrial Commercial Train. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict-05-2021-0038 .

Dewettinck K, Dijk H. Linking Belgian employee performance management system characteristics with performance management system effectiveness: exploring the mediating role of fairness. Int J Hum Resource Manage. 2013;24:806–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2012.700169 .

Duprez V, Vandecasteele T, Verhaeghe S, Beeckman D, Hecke A. The effectiveness of interventions to enhance self-management support competencies in the nursing profession: a systematic review. J Adv Nurs. 2017;73:1807–24. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.13249 .

Norouzi S, Mogadam F. Experiences of nursing Student\‘s clinical evaluation: a qualitative content analysis. J Med Educ Dev. 2016;11:134–45.

Niskala J, Kanste O, Tomietto M, Miettunen J, Tuomikoski A, Kyngäs H, Mikkonen K. Interventions to improve nurses’ job satisfaction: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Adv Nurs. 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.14342 .

Gkioka M, Schneider J, Kruse A, Tsolaki M, Moraitou D, Teichmann B. Evaluation and Effectiveness of Dementia Staff Training Programs in General Hospital settings: a narrative synthesis with Holton’s three-level Model Applied. J Alzheimers Dis. 2020;78:1089–108. https://doi.org/10.3233/JAD-200741 .

Ghazvini A, Shukur Z. Awareness training transfer and Information Security Content Development for Healthcare Industry. Int J Adv Comput Sci Appl. 2016. https://doi.org/10.14569/IJACSA.2016.070549 . 7.

Ragsdale J, Berry A, Gibson J, Herber-Valdez C, Germain L, Engle D. Evaluating the effectiveness of undergraduate clinical education programs. Med Educ Online. 2020;25. https://doi.org/10.1080/10872981.2020.1757883 .

Kirkpatrick DL. Techniques for evaluation training programs. J Am Soc Train Dir. 1959;13:21–6.

Kirkman TR. High Fidelity Simulation Effectiveness in Nursing Students’ Transfer of Learning International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, vol. 10, no. 1, 2013, pp. 171–176. https://doi.org/10.1515/ijnes-2012-0009 .

Chen SL, Huang TW, Liao IC, Liu C. Development and validation of the simulation learning effectiveness inventory. J Adv Nurs. 2015;71(10):2444–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.12707 .

Ayed A, Khalaf I, Fashafsheh I, Saleh A, Bawadi H, Abuidhail J, Thultheen I, Joudallah H. Effect of High-Fidelity Simulation on Clinical Judgment among nursing students. Inquiry: J Med Care Organ Provis Financing. 2022;59. https://doi.org/10.1177/00469580221081997 .

Yun J, Kim D, Park Y. The influence of informal learning and learning transfer on nurses’ clinical performance: a descriptive cross-sectional study. Nurse Educ Today. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.NEDT.2019.05.027 .

Bhatti M, Ali S, Isa M, Battour M. Training transfer and transfer motivation: the influence of individual, environmental, situational, Training Design, and affective reaction factors. Perform Improv Q. 2014;27:51–82. https://doi.org/10.1002/PIQ.21165 .

Kontoghiorghes C. Factors affecting training effectiveness in the context of the introduction of a New Technology–A U.S. Case Study. Int J Train Dev. 2001;5:248–60. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2419.00137 .

Download references

This study was funded by Department of Education of Zhejiang Province, Grant Number jg20220475.

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

School of Nursing, Zhejiang Shuren University, 8 Shuren Road, 310015, Hangzhou, ZheJiang, China

MingYan Shen & ZhiXian Feng

Department of Nursing, Shulan (Hangzhou) Hospital, Shulan International Medical College, Zhejiang Shuren University, 310022, Hangzhou, China

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

The following statements specify the individual contributions of each author to the manuscript titled “Continue Nursing Education: An Action Research Study on the Implementation of a Nursing Training Program Using the Holton Learning Transfer System Inventory”:ZhiXian Feng conceived and designed the analysis; led the research team and coordinated the project; critically reviewed and revised the manuscript for important intellectual content; oversaw the implementation of the training program; MingYan Shen conducted the research; collected and organized the data; analyzed and interpreted the data; contributed to the statistical analysis; wrote the initial draft of the manuscript; managed logistics and operational aspects of the study.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to ZhiXian Feng .

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate.

Approval of this study was granted by the Research Ethics Committee of Shulan Hospital (Approval no. KY2021042).

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Prior to participation, all subjects (or their legal guardians) were informed about the nature, objectives, potential benefits, and risks of the study. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects and/or their legal guardians. All data were collected and processed maintaining strict confidentiality and anonymity, safeguarding the privacy and rights of all participants.

Additional information

Publisher’s note.

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ ) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Shen, M., Feng, Z. Continue nursing education: an action research study on the implementation of a nursing training program using the Holton Learning Transfer System Inventory. BMC Med Educ 24 , 610 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05552-6

Download citation

Received : 16 December 2023

Accepted : 13 May 2024

Published : 03 June 2024

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-024-05552-6

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Nursing education
• Quality improvement
• Action research
• Holton Learning Transfer System Inventory

BMC Medical Education

ISSN: 1472-6920

• Submission enquiries: [email protected]
• General enquiries: [email protected]

We couldn’t find any results matching your search.

Please try using other words for your search or explore other sections of the website for relevant information.

We’re sorry, we are currently experiencing some issues, please try again later.

Our team is working diligently to resolve the issue. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

News & Insights

CVLT Quantitative Stock Analysis

June 04, 2024 — 04:06 pm EDT

Written by John Reese for Validea  ->

Below is Validea's guru fundamental report for COMMVAULT SYSTEMS, INC. ( CVLT ) . Of the 22 guru strategies we follow, CVLT rates highest using our Twin Momentum Investor model based on the published strategy of Dashan Huang . This momentum model looks for a combination of fundamental momentum and price momentum.

COMMVAULT SYSTEMS, INC. ( CVLT ) is a mid-cap growth stock in the Software & Programming industry. The rating using this strategy is 100% based on the firm’s underlying fundamentals and the stock’s valuation. A score of 80% or above typically indicates that the strategy has some interest in the stock and a score above 90% typically indicates strong interest.

The following table summarizes whether the stock meets each of this strategy's tests. Not all criteria in the below table receive equal weighting or are independent, but the table provides a brief overview of the strong and weak points of the security in the context of the strategy's criteria.

Detailed Analysis of COMMVAULT SYSTEMS, INC.

CVLT Guru Analysis

CVLT Fundamental Analysis

More Information on Dashan Huang

Dashan Huang Portfolio

About Dashan Huang : Dashan Huang is an Assistant Professor of Finance at the Lee Kong Chian School of Business at Singapore Management University. His paper "Twin Momentum" looked at combining traditional price momentum with improving fundamentals to generate market outperformance. In the paper, he identified seven fundamental variables (earnings, return on equity, return on assets, accrual operating profitability to equity, cash operating profitability to assets, gross profit to assets and net payout ratio) that he combined into a single fundamental momentum measure. He showed that stocks in the top 20% of the universe according to that measure outperformed the market going forward. When he combined that measure with price momentum, he was able to double its outperformance.

Additional Research Links

Top NASDAQ 100 Stocks

Top Technology Stocks

Top Large-Cap Growth Stocks

High Momentum Stocks

Top Chip Stocks

High Insider Ownership Stocks

About Validea : Validea is an investment research service that follows the published strategies of investment legends. Validea offers both stock analysis and model portfolios based on gurus who have outperformed the market over the long-term, including Warren Buffett, Benjamin Graham, Peter Lynch and Martin Zweig. For more information about Validea, click here

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.

Stocks mentioned

More related articles.

This data feed is not available at this time.

Sign up for the TradeTalks newsletter to receive your weekly dose of trading news, trends and education. Delivered Wednesdays.

To add symbols:

• Type a symbol or company name. When the symbol you want to add appears, add it to My Quotes by selecting it and pressing Enter/Return.
• Copy and paste multiple symbols separated by spaces.

These symbols will be available throughout the site during your session.

Your symbols have been updated

Edit watchlist.

• Type a symbol or company name. When the symbol you want to add appears, add it to Watchlist by selecting it and pressing Enter/Return.

Opt in to Smart Portfolio

Smart Portfolio is supported by our partner TipRanks. By connecting my portfolio to TipRanks Smart Portfolio I agree to their Terms of Use .