- School Improvement Research Series (SIRS) Research You Can Use Topical Synthesis #1 Effective Schooling Practices and At-Risk Youth: What the Research Shows Greg Druian and Jocelyn A. Butler WHAT IS THE QUESTION There is today a growing consensus that the characteristics of effective schools can be identified and described. An emerging question is How widely can these characteristics be ...www.nwrel.org/scpd/sirs/1/topsyn1.html