Embedding HPT: Improving police performance by implementing human performance technology in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

Good police performance enables social capital, strengthens communities, and helps build civil society. Since 2003, Canada's national police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), has used human performance technology to improve performance in more than 300 sites across Canada and also as a core part of the RCMP leadership talent pipeline. The lessons learned may be of interest to others contemplating a large‐scale distributed use of this powerful methodology.     

Improving explanations of performance

Articles published in this journal contain explanations of performance that are illusory and untenable when the concepts used to explain performance lack an observable, physical referent. This article presents a job aid that distinguishes between explanatory concepts that have observable, physical referents and those that do not. It also illustrates how to use the job aid.     

The effectiveness of machine score-ability ratings in predicting automated scoring performance

ABSTRACT

This study sought to provide a framework for evaluating machine score-ability of items using a new score-ability rating scale, and to determine the extent to which ratings were predictive of observed automated scoring performance. The study listed and described a set of factors that are thought to influence machine score-ability; these factors informed the score-ability rating applied by expert raters. Five Reading items, six Science items, and 10 Math items were examined. Experts in automated scoring served as reviewers, providing independent ratings of score-ability before engine calibration. Following the rating, engines were calibrated and their performances were evaluated using common industry criteria. Three derived criteria from the engine evaluations were computed: the score-ability value in the rating scale based on the empirical results, the number of industry evaluation criteria met by the engine, the approval status of the engine based on the number of criteria met. The results indicated that the score-ability ratings were moderately correlated with Science score-ability, the ratings were weakly correlated with Math score-ability, and were not correlated with Reading score-ability.     

Improving children's working memory and classroom performance

Previous research has demonstrated close relationships between working memory and children's scholastic attainment. The aim of the present study was to explore a method of improving working memory, using memory strategy training. Two hundred and fifty‐four children aged five to eight years were tested on measures of the phonological loop, visuo‐spatial sketchpad and central executive components of the multiple component model of working memory. Subgroups of children also completed tasks of following instructions and mental arithmetic in the classroom, and standardised tests of reading, arithmetic and mathematics. Half of the children then used Memory Booster, a computer game that teaches memory strategies, over a period of six to eight weeks. All the children were then retested on the memory and ability measures. The standardised tests were also administered five months later. The results revealed that working memory strategy training resulted in significant improvements in tasks assessing the phonological loop and central executive components of working memory, and tasks assessing following instructions and mental arithmetic in the classroom. However, no improvements were observed on standardised tests of reading, arithmetic or mathematics, either immediately following training or five months later. The results are discussed in terms of implications for educational practice.     

完善我国国有企业绩效评价体系的研究

通过分析我国国有企业评价的现状,指出了当前我国侧重于财务指标的评价体系存在的问题,进而从国有企业战略和战略管理的高度,提出了基于提升企业核心竞争力和长期发展能力的完善我国国有企业评价指标体系的构建思路:引入EVA,改进现有财务评价指标,构建辅助评价指标,增加反映国有企业长期发展能力的评价指标。     

Improving public school performance through vision-based leadership

While vision-based leadership, frequently referred to as transformational leadership in the education literature, is widely regarded as critical to successful organization transformation, little research has been conducted into the relationship between vision-based leadership and public school performance in Thailand. Derived from substantial literature, a model is proposed to investigate if vision attributes (brevity, clarity, future orientation, stability, challenge, abstractness, and desirability or ability to inspire) and content (relating to teacher and student satisfaction, and efficiency) are associated with higher public school performance, while taking into account Principal, Teacher, & Organizational Factors. Future research directions and managerial implications are also discussed.     

以思想工作方法改进绩效管理

通过分析绩效管理中存在的问题,提出以思想工作方法来改进绩效管理,即管理者在绩效管理中应通过确立成就员工的理念、营造绩效管理氛围、形成绩效沟通文化、不断优化绩效管理体系等工作,取得员工的认同,提升绩效管理成效.     

Improving quick writing performance of middle-school struggling learners

Writing performanceperformance of 279 seventh- and eighth-grade students in four urban charter schools was evaluated in comparison group pretest/posttest quasi-experimental study. Thirty-three students, identified by cut scores on a standardized fluency measure, received supplemental one-to-one Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) instruction for persuasive quick writing. Fifty-one students with scores below the cut participated as an eligible non-treatment comparison; 195 students with scores above the cut participated as a non-eligible comparison group. All students’ written responses were evaluated before and after the intervention. Results of repeated measures analysis indicated that students in treatment (additional instruction time + SRSD + planned practice-testing) significantly improved quick writing performance after instruction when compared to pretest performance, and when compared to eligible comparison, with large effect sizes for number of persuasive elements and organizational quality and medium effects for persuasive quality. When compared to non-eligible comparison, students in treatment had significantly higher scores for organizational quality (large effects) and persuasive quality (small effects).