A University Partnership for Victim Service Professional Development: Model Standards for Serving Victims and Survivors of Crime

This paper describes processes and products of a partnership to promote professionalization of the field of victim services. The National Victim Assistance Standards Consortium was established by the federal Office for Victims of Crime in partnership with the University of South Carolina. The Consortium reached across geographic, philosophical, and disciplinary divides to forge a common ground in professional development, including a definition and mission for the field as well as three sets of model standards for serving victims and survivors. The project included a review of literature on victim services, town hall meetings across the country, and layered review and refinement of standards by approximately 50 professionals working at the local, state, and national levels. The online document, Achieving Excellence: Model Standards for Serving Victims & Survivors of Crime, will provide standards for promoting competence and ethical integrity as well as quality and consistency of service.     

Superintendent Evaluation in a Standards-Based Environment: A Status Report from the States*

In the current political climate, in which accountability and standards-based reform represent the educational centerpiece, a renewed interest has emerged in superintendent evaluation as a focal point for school improvement. This paper examines the current state-of-the-art of superintendent evaluation. Findings from the study suggest that despite the recommendations for personnel evaluation standards proposed by The Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation (1988), 8 of the 50 state AASA/NSBA affiliates do not have requirements or guidelines for the evaluation of the superintendent. Evaluation materials provided by the affiliates in the other 42 states do not meet all of the essential criteria for quality personnel evaluation.     

A retrospective account of the transition education program

In view of the uniqueness of the initiatives in post-compulsory education in Australia in the 1980s, a retrospective account is provided of one of the most significant initiatives, namely, the Commonwealth government’s Transition Program. Based on a synthesis of case studies of West Australian, Victorian and South Australian transition projects, it was found that it is possible to transform the traditional curriculum, improve student-teacher relationships, involve students in decision-making and enhance students’ self-esteem, satisfaction with school and ability to interact with each other and with adults. Some projects, however, led to increased workload and stress among teachers closely involved. General factors found to facilitate school change were: support of the principal and other senior staff, support from the system (eg., consultants), financial support, availability of people to act as project co-ordinators, support from project committees, and the availability of teachers on time release. Factors impeding school change were jealousy and resentment among non-participant teachers and staff turnover.     

Investigating the quality of the school technology needs assessment (STNA) 3.0: A validity and reliability study

Schools and districts should use a well-designed needs assessment to inform important decisions about a range of technology program areas. Presently, there is a lack of valid and reliable instruments available and accessible to schools to effectively assess their educational needs to better design and evaluate their projects and initiatives. The School Technology Needs Assessment (STNA) is a free, user-friendly online survey tool that meets this need for planning and formative evaluation of technology projects in educational settings. This study used existing data from a robust sample (n = 1918) of educators from across North Carolina to examine the reliability and validity of STNA. A collective review of study results including the literature review, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and internal consistently reliability analysis indicated that STNA was a high-quality instrument.     

Teaching standards and the promotion of quality teaching

Several countries have been developing teaching standards for the purpose of providing recognition and more attractive career pathways to teachers who attain these standards. These initiatives aim to lift the status of teaching as a profession and to provide stronger incentives for professional learning. This article describes the work of a project at the Australian Council for Educational Research, the ACER Portfolio Project, designed to develop methods whereby teachers can demonstrate how their practice meets the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers ( www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards ) at the ‘Highly Accomplished’ level and test them in schools for their validity and feasibility. The article describes how the Project developed an assessment framework that provided a representative sample of evidence about a teacher's practice covering the Standards, trialed portfolio tasks in schools with volunteer teachers and tested whether it was possible to train other teachers to assess their portfolio entries reliably and set standards for highly‐accomplished teaching.     

The Chingford Hall School Screening Project: Can we have some more educational psychologist time please?

This paper describes the development of a tailor-made Special Educational Needs screening device developed between an Educational Psychology Service (EPS) and a large primary school. Soft systems methodology was used to structure and evaluate the work. The project began when school staff requested a significant increase in Educational Psychologist time to undertake 40 additional child assessments. What was required was a way of prioritising the school's concerns in line with local Special Educational Needs audit procedures. Working in partnership, the EPS and school devised a screening checklist. Of note is the unique scoring key, which factored in the school's level of concern and values about children's needs. As a consequence, some items were emphasised more than others were. An evaluation study by Kelly revealed that school staff found the screening checklist to be generally useful, not only in prioritising children for assessment, but also in assisting the construction of individual education plans.     

Validation of an assessment centre process for the selection of school leaders in Chile

This study seeks to develop and validate an Assessment Centre (AC) tool for the evaluation and selection of school leaders, focusing on the identification of competencies that influence teaching and learning outcomes. International research supports the creation of Assessment Centres to select candidates for these roles, due to their superior predictive capacity over traditional methods. In this research, a model composed of four face-to-face instruments (an interview to assess competencies, a human resources exercise, a class observation exercise, and a strategic analysis exercise) was designed and validated which simulated the key tasks of a school principal. To establish the desired performance outcomes, three competencies and 15 indicators were selected, based on international and local standards. The analysis of performance results was obtained from a sample of 164 participants made up of teachers, school leaders and principals. The results suggest positive evidence for construct validity, concurrent criteria validity, and reliability between evaluators. Moreover, the data obtained from a sub-sample of principals, with three or more years of experience in their role, allowed for the association of their AC scores with the results of their school organisations, as measured by the National System for the Measurement of Educational Quality in the years 2013 and 2016.     

Title I Schoolwide Programs: District Support for Achieving Success

This article presents a district-level case study of the rural school district of Berkeley County, South Carolina. The district approaches the implementation and monitoring of schoolwide programs in creative ways that result in substantially improved student performance. District support for school planning, fund management, research and evaluation, innovative programs, compliance monitoring, parenting, and staff development is duplicated at the school level for 21 sites serving over 12,000 students through an annual budget that exceeds $3.5 million. The conclusion of the case study is that flexibility for school planning and program implementations presently allowed through Title I schoolwide programs greatly enhances opportunities for improving student achievement only when comprehensive school planning, accompanied by school-based funding, becomes an integral component of school district philosophy.     

The use of peer group review in the assessment of project work in Higher Education

The work that this paper reports concerns a small scale investigation and evaluation of the technique of peer group review in the assessment of design and technology project work. A cohort of fifty first year undergraduate students of Industrial Design and Technology was involved in the assessment of four practical design coursework projects which they had submitted.

Two particular aspects of peer group review are considered: the validity of student assessment in relation to parallel judgements made by academic staff; the perceptions which undergraduate students hold regarding the benefits and difficulties of this system of assessment. The paper seeks to identify the potential contribution that the technique of peer group review could make towards more effective and efficient assessment of design and technology project work from student and staff perspectives.     

教育行动研究的效度问题

:教育行动研究是教育理论和教育实践结合的有效途径 ,效度则是决定这种结合的程度的主要因素。基于不同理论基础的研究效度具有不同的特点 ,教育行动研究的效度既不能以量化研究的效度来衡量 ,也不完全等同于质化研究的效度 ,而要从教育行动研究的目的和过程来把握     

美国南卡罗来纳州高等教育 绩效拨款制度述评

1996 年,南卡罗来纳州议会通过“359 法案”确立绩效拨款制度。该绩效拨款制度面向所 有州公立高等院校, 由州高等教育委员会主要负责制定、解释和修订绩效评价体系和绩效拨款方 式,开展绩效评价工作。通过绩效拨款,南卡州公立高等院校在公共责任和教育质量方面都有所改 善,但其并未解决财政拨款充足问题,且在教育质量与教育效率、绩效评价体系应用等方面存在一 定的问题。     

The road to self-assessment: exemplar marking before peer review develops first-year students’ capacity to judge the quality of a scientific report

Lack of clarity about assessment criteria and standards is a source of anxiety for many first-year university students. The Developing Understanding of Assessment for Learning (DUAL) programme was designed as a staged approach to gradually familiarise students with expectations, and to provide opportunities for the development of the skills required to successfully complete assessment tasks. This paper investigated the students’ perceptions of the first two components of the DUAL programme, which assist first-year biology students to engage with stated assessment criteria and standards in order to develop their capacity to make judgements about scientific report exemplars, their peers’ scientific reports and ultimately their own. The study found strong evidence (96% of responses) that the marking and discussion of exemplar reports with peers and demonstrators clarified expectations of scientific report writing. A key feature of this element of DUAL was the opportunity for structured discussion about assessment criteria and standards between peers and markers (demonstrators). During these discussions, students can clarify explicit statements and develop a tacit knowledge base to enhance their ability to judge the quality of others’ work and their own. The peer review exercise (the second element of DUAL) was not rated as highly, with 65% of students finding the process helpful for improving their report. The negative reactions by a sizeable minority of students highlight the need to clearly communicate the expectations and benefits of peer review, with a focus on how the process of giving feedback to peers might benefit a student as much as receiving feedback on their own report.     

The management of quality in the University of Ulster

The setting of standards for teaching is identified as central to any system of quality assurance for teaching and learning. The paper describes a number of initiatives which have been taken at the University of Ulster to identify and develop quality in teaching. They include a project to identify teaching skills through consultation with expert teachers; the use of quality circles of staff and students to specify standards for teaching; the use of student feedback on teaching; the introduction of a distinguished teaching award; the assessment of teaching competence when staff are selected; the introduction of a unit-based in-service teacher training course; and the encouragement of self and peer evaluation using an appraisal schedule. Quality assurance for support services is considered and finally the University's initiatives are related to total quality management and BS 5750.     

Reliability and Validity of Bookmark‐Based Methods for Standard Setting: Comparisons to Angoff‐Based Methods in the National Assessment of Educational Progress

Historically, Angoff‐based methods were used to establish cut scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In 2005, the National Assessment Governing Board oversaw multiple studies aimed at evaluating the reliability and validity of Bookmark‐based methods via a comparison to Angoff‐based methods. As the Board considered adoption of Bookmark‐based methods, it considered several criteria, including reliability of the cut scores, validity of the cut scores as evidenced by comparability of results to those from Angoff, and procedural validity as evidenced by panelist understanding of the method tasks and instructions and confidence in the results. As a result of their review, a Bookmark‐based method was adopted for NAEP, and has been used since that time. This article goes beyond the Governing Board's initial evaluations to conduct a systematic review of 27 studies in NAEP research conducted over 15 years. This research is used to evaluate Bookmark‐based methods on key criteria originally considered by the Governing Board. Findings suggest that Bookmark‐based methods have comparable reliability, resulting cut scores, and panelist evaluations to Angoff. Given that Bookmark‐based methods are shorter in duration and less costly, Bookmark‐based methods may be preferable to Angoff for NAEP standard setting.     

Vicarious Traumatization,Trauma‐Sensitive Supervision,and Counselor Preparation

Counselor educators have an ethical responsibility to prepare counselors and supervisors to detect and resolve vicarious traumatization in themselves and their supervisees. This article reviews relevant literature on vicarious traumatization and strategies to mitigate it. Also included is a review of the American Counseling Association's (2005) ACA Code of Ethics and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs' (2007) proposed 2009 standards as each relates to trauma counseling and vicarious traumatization. Specific counselor preparation practices are suggested.     

Implementation of an innovative teaching project in a Chemical Process Design course at the University of Cantabria,Spain

This paper shows the planning, the teaching activities and the evaluation of the learning and teaching process implemented in the Chemical Process Design course at the University of Cantabria, Spain. Educational methods to address the knowledge, skills and attitudes that students who complete the course are expected to acquire are proposed and discussed. Undergraduate and graduate engineers' perceptions of the methodology used are evaluated by means of a questionnaire. Results of the teaching activities and the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed case study are discussed in relation to the course characteristics. The findings of the empirical evaluation shows that the excessive time students had to dedicate to the case study project and dealing with limited information are the most negative aspects obtained, whereas an increase in the students' self-confidence and the practical application of the methodology are the most positive aspects. Finally, improvements are discussed in order to extend the application of the methodology to other courses offered as part of the chemical engineering degree.     

Individualised educational programmes. Part I: a literature review

This review was undertaken as part of a research project commissioned by the Scottish Executive and carried out by a team from Glasgow and Newcastle Universities between January 2000 and January 2001 when the report was published ( Banks et al., 2001 ). The research study, entitled 'Raising the Attainment of Pupils with Special Educational Needs', followed the issuing of new guidelines ( SOEID, 1998a ; SEED, 1999 ) which linked the use of individualised educational programmes (IEPs) to the wider political enterprise of raising standards through target-setting.     

The quality of peer assessment in a wiki-based online context: a qualitative study

Peer assessment (PA) provides opportunities for authentic assessment, autonomy and collaboration. Several authors advocate that students can benefit from PA and put forward the effects of PA on the students’ learning outcomes. Questions concerning the validity and reliability of PA and PA competences are also addressed by different researchers. This qualitative study is part of a wider project that seeks to develop and test evaluation and assessment strategies in online contexts. In a doctoral module, PA was used for summative and formative purposes. Formative PA aimed to give feedback about the ongoing group work, but also to increase online interaction between the different groups of students. The main module task was to write a literature review, about a selected topic, using a wiki. Criteria and indicators to assess the literature review were negotiated with the students. Different criteria were used to assess the quality of PA, such as, the use of the negotiated criteria, the adequacy of the chosen vocabulary or the provision of constructive feedback. The results show that overall the quality of PA can be improved. Groups did not provide sufficient criticism, questions and suggestions for improvement.     

Assessing the Effectiveness of Wise Guys: A Mixed-Methods Approach

Previous research raised questions on the validity of survey studies with the teen population. As one response, our team implemented a mixed-methods study to evaluate an evidence-based, interactive curriculum, Wise Guys, which is designed to promote healthy relationships and sexual behavior in young men ages 4–17. The current study included a Youth Advisory Group, focus groups, and a video-journaling project to delineate teens' thoughts on the most salient aspects of Wise Guys, and we used these to develop a stakeholder-informed survey instrument. The survey was administered via REDCap, a computer-based medium via phones and mobile devices. Quantitative survey analyses revealed significant positive changes in study constructs. Qualitative interpretations provided rich data that validated the survey findings. Community engagement in the research process and mixed methods may provide the infrastructure for future research and evaluation efforts related to teens.