The utilisation of a school self‐evaluation instrument

School quality care has become important in many Western countries. Expectations are high, but little is known about the nature and extent of the use of self‐evaluation instruments within schools. From this longitudinal study into the use of a Dutch school self‐evaluation instrument, it became clear that schools vary in the extent to which they are able to make use of self‐evaluation results. A minority of schools in this study were able to use the self‐evaluation results for developing measures at the school and classroom level to improve the quality of education. Potential causes for the findings and alternatives for promoting the utilisation of school self‐evaluation instruments are discussed.     

强化学校自我评价,提高督导效能——英国学校督导评价最新发展趋势

近年来,英国教育标准局为了提高督导效能,强化了学校自我评价,要求学校形成有效的自我评价机制,一方面作为外部督导评价的可靠依据,另一方面,作为学校实现自我改进、提升自我发展能力的重要机制。学校自评呈现出广泛参与、与学校发展计划紧密相联、将自评融入到学校日常管理中等特点,文章论述了英国教育标准局有关学校自评的内容和具体要求。     

Review of another look of Valirie Lee, Julia Smith and Robert Croninger at high school restructuring： More evidence that it improves student achievement and more insight into why

High schools have over the past few decades been discredited with institutionalization, standardization, and academic-orientation （Manno, 1995; NASSP, 1996）. As a result, it has failed to prepare students for the society which has been undergoing exponential change. A majority of students have been either neglected or left uncared for because of their relatively low academic achievement. To meet with the persisting educational problems, the authors endeavor to investigate whether high schools, which have adopted the following four characteristics, are able to produce better-performing students than traditional institutionalized high schools. （1） More interactions between different members of the school. （2） Everyone holds responsibility for students＇ total development. （3） More teacher feel satisfaction and higher morale. （4） Less dropouts and fewer class-cuttings and lower rates of absenteeism. Based on the statistical data collected from 9,570 students in 781 high schools, the authors find that in both mathematics and science, academic gains are substantially higher in schools with higher levels of these four characteristics. One more important finding is that students are learning more in smaller schools, and the performance gaps between students from different backgrounds are smaller as well.     

From Opposition to Engagement: Lessons from High Achieving African American Students

Influential research on African American students has examined their school failure in terms of students’ opposition to school achievement. Only a few studies have explored school engagement and success among these students, and even fewer have examined the experiences of high achieving black students. This study illustrates the school context and school processes that high achieving African American students identify as contributing to their academic success. The findings reveal three main school effects impacting the students’ performance: 1) teacher practices, engaging pedagogy versus disengaging pedagogy; 2) participation in extracurricular activities and; 3) the state scholarship as performance incentive. According to the students, teacher practices were the most instrumental school effect benefiting their outcomes. Recognizing the processes that promote high achievement among African American students can help to improve our understanding of student performance, while promoting success among these students. The author wishes to thank Ron DePeter and Tekla Johnson for their comments on a previous draft of this article     

The effects of feedback on achievement,interest and self-evaluation: the role of feedback’s perceived usefulness

The impact of two types of written feedback (process-oriented, grade-oriented) on changes in mathematics achievement, interest and self-evaluation was compared – with a particular focus on the mediating role of feedback’s perceived usefulness. Participants, 146 ninth graders (aged 14 to 17?years), were assigned to either a process-oriented or a grade-oriented experimental feedback condition. They worked on mathematics tests, received feedback on their test results and completed surveys measuring feedback’s perceived usefulness, interest and self-evaluation. Results of path analysis showed that process-oriented feedback was perceived as more useful than grade-oriented feedback and that feedback’s perceived usefulness had a positive effect on changes in achievement and interest. Consistent with this, process-oriented feedback had a greater positive indirect effect than grade-oriented feedback on changes in mathematics achievement and interest via its perceived usefulness. There were no such effects on changes in self-evaluation. Potential explanations for these findings, educational implications and possible directions for future research are discussed.     

研究生教育质量评价的国际经验与启示

质量评价是国外研究生教育质量管理的一项重要研究内容。以美、英、法三国为研究对象,总结了发达国家研究生教育质量评价的实践和主要特征,结合我国研究生教育质量评价发展的积极探索和存在的主要问题,重点在评价主体、评价标准等方面提出完善我国研究生教育质量评价体系的对策。     

Student evaluations of teaching: combining the meta-analyses and demonstrating further evidence for effective use

There is a plethora of research on student evaluations of teaching (SETs) regarding their validity, susceptibility to bias, practical use and effective implementation. Given that there is not one study summarising all these domains of research, a comprehensive overview of SETs was conducted by combining all prior meta-analyses related to SETs. Eleven meta-analyses were identified, and nine meta-analyses covering 193 studies were included in the analysis, which yielded a small-to-medium overall weighted mean effect size (r = .26) between SETs and the variables studied. Findings suggest that SETs appear to be valid, have practical use that is largely free from gender bias and are most effective when implemented with consultation strategies. Research, teaching and policy implications are discussed.     

学校改进中的学生参与问题研究

学生参与学校改进具有重要的理论和实践意义,然而学生却往往成为学校改进的被动接受者.为了保证学生基本权利的实现,为了学校改进最终目标的达成,学生参与学校改进就成了不可忽视的问题.基于对学生参与学校改进原因的分析,本文探讨了学生参与学校改进的三种方式,即给学生赋权、在改进的不同阶段配合不同层次的学生参与、采用灵活多样的形式加强学生和成人之间的对话.     

Twenty thousand hours: Editor' introduction

Because students spend approximately 20,000 hours in classrooms by the time that they graduate from university, students' reaction to their teachinglearning experiences are of considerable importance. However, educators often rely exclusively on assessing achievement and pay scant attention to the quality of the learning environments. Teachers should not feel that it is a waste of valuable teaching time to put energy into improving their classroom climates because the research convincingly shows that attention to classroom environment is likely to pay off in terms of improving student outcomes.     

Parental Involvement in School Policy‐Making

A positive school ethos is considered a key factor contributing to successful school improvement. Yet, despite its assumed educational influence, little is known about how ethos in schools is experienced by students. This study takes a fresh look at school ethos through the meanings which final year students attribute to their lived experience of secondary school. Implications for school improvement are considered.