New teachers’ perceptions of a standards-based performance appraisal system

This study was conducted with first-year teachers. It provided insight into two key research questions: (1) What were the perceptions of new teachers regarding a standards-based performance appraisal system as it was implemented on their campus? (2) What factors contributed to the perceptions of new teachers regarding this system as it was implemented on their campus? This study was conducted in two phases. The first phase was an online survey consisting of 24 Likert-type, 4-point items designed to elicit responses regarding the individual teachers?? experience with the standards-based evaluation. These survey scores were then totaled and ranked to determine the top and bottom scoring participants. Extreme scoring respondents participated in individual interviews regarding the specific contributing factors behind their perceptions of the evaluation in the second phase. Interview data were then read and phenomena were coded to develop broad themes and subthemes of information that occurred during each interview. These patterns were analyzed to reveal factors that contributed to the negative and positive perceptions. This study found that the value a teacher placed on the evaluation process was influenced by the principal. In addition, teachers who felt well-prepared and well-supported by their peers and their principal viewed the experience positively, and teachers also placed a higher value on the process when they felt they received meaningful and timely feedback and/or were provided opportunity for self-reflection. Finally, this study found that the relationship teachers have with principals is not always a factor in their perception of the standards-based appraisal process.     

‘School doesn't feel as much of a partnership’: parents' perceptions of their children's transition from nursery school to Reception class

This small‐scale study explores a group of English parents' perceptions of their relationships with their child's nursery school and, after the transition to Reception class, their primary school. It references current research and literature on the issues of transition and the role of parents in their children's education. Findings from semi‐structured interviews with parents, and with the children's key workers, were analysed for emergent themes. Parents felt very positively about their relationship with their child's nursery, and that they were fully involved in, and informed about, their child's learning. However, the transition to school heralded a change in their relationships. Most parents felt that they had a more distant and less reciprocal relationship with their child's teacher than they had had with their key worker at nursery. The paper concludes with recommendations for further research.     

What do students think when teachers make adaptations?

Eight hundred and seventy-six high school and middle school students provided information on their perceptions of adaptations teachers may make to accommodate the individual needs of their students. Additionally, achievement and social alienation were examined to determine the extent to which these variables relate to students' perceptions of teacher adaptations. Overall, students preferred teachers who made adaptations; however, item analyses revealed that students find some adaptations more desirable than others. Students felt positively about many adaptations that promote learning, but preferred that no adaptations be made to textbooks and materials, tests, and homework. While students' perceptions followed the same overall pattern for low and high achieving students, those students who preferred adaptations demonstrated significantly higher reading and mathematics achievement scores. Students who felt more alienated (less socially accepted) from their teachers were more likely to view favorably teachers who made adaptations. Students' comments about teachers who make adaptations indicate that they perceive these teachers as better able to meet the individual needs of students, caring and understanding of students, and willing to provide extra help.     

On Motivation,Ability, and the Perceived Situation in Science Test Performance: A Person-Centered Approach With High School Students

This research examined between-group differences in test-related perceptions, engagement, and performance; and within-group predictors of science performance among groups of high school students characterized by different patterns of science motivation. Patterns of motivation were derived from Dweck's (1986) typology and were used to classify students as mastery oriented, ego oriented, helpless, or "unclassified by such a typology." Groups were then compared on their efficacy for performing successfully on science multiple-choice tests, constructed response tests, and performance assessments; their beliefs about the validity of each test format; and their actual performance on multiple-choice and constructed response items. Group differences in gender composition, test perceptions and engagement, and performance were found. Results are discussed in terms of Snow's (1994) theory of aptitude complexes and their relation to individual differences in performance.     

Women,Research Performance and Work Context

This article presents findings from a qualitative study focused on the conditions that support high research productivity in women. Interviewees were all active researchers and many were national or international leaders in their respective fields. While personal factors such as motivation, focus, and good scholarly habits were identified as influencing their research success, interviewees also placed significant emphasis on aspects of their workplace culture and practice (teaching and research connections, degrees of flexibility, work–family interface) that they felt were equally important in determining their options and opportunities for conducting research. This suggests that universities concerned with enhancing the research performance of staff need to recognize—and respond to—how workplace dynamics and culture shape individual research participation.     

Academic dissatisfaction,managerial change and neo-liberalism

This paper examines perceptions by academics of their work in the Australian state of Victoria, and places such perceptions within the context of international and Australian debates on the academic profession. A 2010 survey conducted by the National Tertiary Education Union in Victoria was analysed in light of the literature on academic work satisfaction and on corporatised managerial practice (“managerialism”). The analysis is also placed in the context of neo-liberalism, defined as a more marketised provision combined with increased pro-market state regulation. Factor analysis was used to reduce 18 items we hypothesised as drivers of work satisfaction to four factors: managerial culture, workloads, work status and self-perceived productivity. Regression models show the relative effects of these factors on two items measuring work satisfaction. This analysis is complemented by discursive analysis of open-ended responses. We found that satisfaction among academics was low and decreasing compared to a previous survey, and that management culture was the most important driver. Concern with workloads also drove dissatisfaction, although academics seem happy to be more productive if they have control over their work and develop in their jobs. Work status had little effect. In the open-ended responses the more dissatisfied academics tended to contrast a marketised present to a collegial past. While respondents seem to conflate all recent managerial change with marketisation, we pose a crucial question: whether the need for more professional management needs to be congruent with marketising policy directions.     

Functional Competence in Mathematics

Cognitive and educational researchers are paying increasing attention to the impact of instruction in the college classroom. Recent research has demonstrated that students' manipulated perceptions of control and success can impede or enhance the benefits of one effective teaching behavior, namely, instructor expressiveness. In this study, students' actual perceptions of control and success were assessed, rather than manipulated. In a simulated college classroom, students were classified into perceived control (low, high) and perceived success (low, high) categories based on their perceptions of control and success over their prelecture test performance. Students were presented with either unexpressive or expressive instruction; then they completed a postlecture achievement test and postachievement questionnaire. Under both instruction conditions, high-control/high-success students demonstrated the best achievement results, whereas, inconsistent with the hypotheses, students with low perceptions of control and high perceptions of success demonstrated the poorest academic performance and unique affects. These results are discussed in relation to the significance of individual differences across teaching conditions.     

The Influence of Online Teaching on Faculty Productivity

Ten faculty members with experience teaching online were interviewed about their motivation for teaching online and the effect of teaching online on their teaching and research productivity. They represented nine different states and 13 different fields, and all were tenured or tenure-track at master’s or doctoral institutions. All ten mentioned personal motivations for teaching online; eight mentioned professional motivations. Based on analysis of the interviews, several professors felt their teaching productivity had increased as a result of design choices and an increase in workload. Several had freed up time which was spent on service or research although this was modified by the stage of the faculty member’s career.     

Spanish and UK post-PhD researchers: writing perceptions,well-being and productivity

Post-PhD researchers working at universities are contributors to a country’s productivity and competitiveness mostly through writing, which becomes a means to establish their scholarly identity as they contribute to knowledge. However, little is known about researchers’ writing perceptions, and their interrelations with engagement in research, productivity and the influence of workplace climate, which, if negative, can result in burnout and abandonment intentions. In this paper, we explore these issues for the first time. Using a cross-sectional design, 282 postdoctoral researchers answered a cross-cultural questionnaire focusing on engagement, scientific writing, researcher community and burnout, and socio-demographic variables. Data analysis included exploratory factor analysis, T-test, ANOVA or Mann–Whitney U (SPSS, v.22). Results showed that adaptive perceptions of writing were related to higher levels of engagement, lower levels of burnout and productivity; maladaptive perceptions of writing were related to burnout experiences. The consideration of research writing as a developmental process that can take many years beyond the PhD is discussed. Critical to understanding such development is the extent to which a shift in perception of writing to knowledge creation may be a precursor to more adaptive functional behaviours. Educational insights related to constraints in writing, publication processes and related research conditions are also considered.     

The academically ‘at risk’ student: a pilot intervention programme and its observed effects on learning outcome

Previous research has indicated that there is a strong relationship between the approaches to studying adopted by individual students and their qualitative perceptions of the context in which learning takes place. This study identified students who were considered to be academically at risk and involved them in an intervention programme whose aim was to produce a qualitative change in perceptions of certain key elements of the learning context.The intervention programme consisted of five forty-five minute sessions in which the focus was on three elements of the learning context, namely, the teacher/student relationship, perceptions of textbooks and notes, and the nature and role of tests and examinations.Subsequent interviews indicated that most of the participating students had experienced a qualitative improvement in their perceptions of these contextual elements and that they perceived an attendant improvement in the quality of their learning. Quantitative analysis of the relative class positions before and after the intervention suggests that these changes were accompanied by improved performance. The implications of these findings for teaching practice in higher education are discussed.     

Students' Self-Concept and Perceptions of Mentoring Relationships in a Summer Mentorship Program for Talented Adolescents

Mentoring is widely advocated as an educational experience for academically talented students because mentors may provide stimulation for academic growth and serve as positive role models for students in areas of career interest. This study examined the experiences of 72 talented teenagers attending a university-based summer mentorship program. Students completed pretest and posttest measures assessing self-concept and perceptions of research aptitude; they also shared their perceptions of their mentoring relationships in written journal entries. Results demonstrated increases in students' perceived research skills and job competence; students reported positive relationships with mentors, particularly when they felt that their mentor spent a great deal of time with them and was approachable, friendly, and engaging.     

A classification of the ISIS program using Bloom's cognitive taxonomy

This article focuses on the practical use of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. The current status of analyzing and classifying test items and behavioral objectives was examined in this study. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to analyze and classify the ISIS minicourse performance objectives and criterion-referenced test items according to Bloom's cognitive Taxonomy in order to determine what levels of cognition the ISIS instructional materials are directed. The performance objectives and test items of thirty-three ISIS minicourses and criterion-referenced tests were collected and classified. Four research questions were posed in the study. The findings indicate that ISIS minicourse test items and performance objectives are written primarily at the Knowledge and Comprehension levels. The ISIS instructional materials reflect low percentages of upper cognitive level test items and performance objectives. Based upon the use of a chi-square analysis, twenty-four of the ISIS minicourses and tests demonstrate a positive congruence between their performance objectives and criterion-referenced test items. Nine ISIS minicourses were found to demonstrate a negative relationship between their performance objectives and test items. Implications and Recommendations based on the findings of the studies are provided.     

Improving the implementation of educational change

In the academic year 1987–1988 24 primary school Headteachers were interviewed about the appraisal of their managerial performance. In the course of the interviews the Heads discussed their perceptions of their jobs and what they perceived as the changing nature of their roles. They felt under considerable pressure to focus on the administrative and managerial aspects of headship and to reduce the time they spent in teaching. There was evidence that they found the non‐teaching tasks were increasing markedly in recent years in primary schools. They did not, however, appear to consider delegation of these tasks to other staff to be an appropriate strategy. This paper then goes on to consider issues surrounding delegation and collegial structures and makes recommendations about levels of consultation in primary schools.     

Preliminary Study: Special Education Doctoral Students’ Perceptions of Self-determination

This preliminary study investigated 118 special education doctoral students’ knowledge of and attitudes toward self-determination. In addition, this study examined the relationship between self-determination coursework and special education doctoral students’ perceptions of how well they were prepared for implementing self-determination in their future careers. The results indicated that although the majority of respondents possessed adequate knowledge of self-determination concepts, they reported lacking confidence in identifying how it can be taught and assessed. Most of the respondents indicated that they would integrate self-determination knowledge and skills into their future teaching; however, more than one-half of the doctoral students felt that they were unprepared with regard to the instruction of self-determination. Also, the findings indicated that there were statistically significant relationships between pre-service courses and doctoral students’ perceptions of self-determination. The results of this study showed a gap in current doctoral students’ knowledge about self-determination and confidence related to application within pre-service teaching.     

Changing Primary Students’ Perceptions of Teacher Interpersonal Behaviours in Science

The paper reports on part of a large-scale study aimed at examining students’ perceptions of teacher–student interactions. This paper will report on a study utilising mixed methodology in 12 Queensland primary classrooms. After the students’ perceptions were established, the teachers, through a consultative process, developed strategies to change the students’ perceptions of their classroom over a 3 month period. The paper reports on what strategies these teachers utilised and what changes in students’ perceptions resulted. The classroom teachers were interviewed about the change in students’ perceptions, what changes they had sought to promote in their classrooms, and what they felt had been achieved in their classrooms. The study found that students were able to articulate what changes the teacher had implemented, what their reaction was to these changes and their perception of the classroom environment as a result of these implemented strategies.     

Perceptions of communication and education about sexuality among Muslim immigrant girls in the US

This research explored how Muslim immigrant girls' communication and education about sexuality was mediated through their mothers and school‐based sexuality education (SBSE) classes. Thirty mothers and their 38 daughters living in Illinois participated in focus group discussions and individual semi‐structured interviews that gauged girls' and mothers' perceptions regarding communication about sexuality and SBSE. Thematic analysis showed that little communication regarding sexuality happened between mothers and daughters, and that which did occur was confined primarily to the risks premarital sexual relationships posed to the social order. Furthermore, participants reported that although SBSE classes were informative, they perceived that these classes marginalized Muslim girls' experiences and decisions to abstain from premarital sex by primarily emphasizing prevention from sexually transmitted infections and diseases. Given these perceptions, some participants opted not to attend SBSE classes. This research contributes to enriching the knowledge base of sexuality educators and communities regarding the diverse challenges immigrant youths face in learning about their sexuality. Alternative ways to reach Muslim immigrant youths are discussed.     

Effect of Mother's Employment Status on Adolescents' Self Perceptions and Academic Performance

Existing research has not as yet demonstrated that mother's employment per se has consistent effects on adolescent perceptions and academic performance. Recent investigations have focused on the effect of mother's employment and occupational status on adolescents self assessments and school outcomes in intact families. In addition, the effect of father's occupational status on adolescent perceptions and achievements was assessed. A sample of 1675 year students (896 males and 779 females) served as subjects for this investigation.

The major results were that mother's employment outside the home was associated with low preference for science subjects among males while for females, mother's employment status was associated with high preference for mathematics subjects and a favourable attitude to doing well in school. In addition, the occupational status of mothers who did work was related to the amount of control male adolescents felt they had over events affecting their lives: boys with mothers employed in low‐status occupations tended to have more external control orientations than those with mothers employed in high‐status occupations. Also, males with mothers in low‐status occupations had lower preferences for mathematics subjects than males whose mothers were employed in high‐status occupations. However, no variables were entered into the predictive model of mother's occupational status for the female sample. Father's occupational status was also found to be associated with a number of adolescent's perceptions. Implications of these results for research into the effects of mother's employment status and mother's and father's occupational status for adolescent perceptions and performance were discussed.     

Patterns of teachers’ whole-class perceptions and predictive relationships between teachers’ and parents’ perceptions of individual child competence

The stratification or dispersion of first grade teachers’ perceptions of children’s competence was evaluated as a moderator of the predictive relationship between teachers’ and parents’ perceptions of individual children’s competence. Classroom stratification of teachers’ perceptions about child intelligence and about child social difficulties was measured by the dispersion of teacher’s ratings of individual children in their class (N_classrooms=60; N_children=1240). The stratification of teachers’ perceptions was found to be stable across the year. Greater stratification predicted teachers’ perceptions of less child competence and also predicted less change in teachers’ perceptions of individual children over the school year. There was no evidence that teachers who tended to see more stratification among child intelligence were more accurate in their perceptions. In linking teachers’ perceptions to parents’ perceptions, fathers’ perceptions of children’s social difficulties became more congruent with teachers’ perceptions across first grade if children were in high- but not low-stratified classrooms. Implications of this parent- and domain-specific relationship are discussed.     

Teaching students about plagiarism using a web-based module

The following research delivered a web-based module about plagiarism and paraphrasing to avoid plagiarism in both a blended method, with live instruction paired with web presentation for 105 students, and a separate web-only method for 22 other students. Participants were graduates and undergraduates preparing to become teachers, the majority of whom were pursuing certification in elementary education. After the module, students practised paraphrasing with their own written example, then took a Likert-scale survey about their perceptions of the module and provided demographic information. The majority of students expressed a high level of satisfaction with not only the module itself but also their own increased knowledge about paraphrasing and plagiarism. Graduate students and students in the live group felt that pairing an instructor with the module furthered their understanding of paraphrasing. Students who identified themselves as having cheated felt that they had better learned how to paraphrase from the module compared with students who reported themselves as never having cheated. Responses from the web group were low considering the amount of students invited to participate. Students in the live group who had instructor-led discussion felt it contributed to their understanding of paraphrasing, while students in the web group wished for more instructor-led interaction. Outcomes on the student-written paraphrase were weaker than anticipated, with only half of the group producing good or excellent paraphrases.     

Science education: innovation in rural and remote Queensland schools

Outside its heavily-populated south-eastern corner, Queensland is a huge administrative area with many small, remote communities that can be separated by hundreds of kilometres of dirt road, or, in other areas, not accessible by road. In this study, parents, students and teachers in nine schools from rural and regional Queensland were interviewed about their perceptions of school science. Teachers, parents and students defined remoteness by reference to their social ties, as well as the social capital and resources they drew on to teach science meaning that not only did different groups differ in their interpretations of remoteness; different teachers in similar circumstances also responded differently. Science teachers’ responses to remoteness were related to their perceptions of school-community communication and their perceptions of their freedom to innovate. Teachers who felt that remoteness gave them more freedom and recognised opportunities to utilise their environment created innovative and relevant science programmes. Teachers who felt their remoteness gave them less freedom felt isolated from the community were less likely to innovate.