Mathematics Achievement in the Netherlands and Appropriateness of the TIMSS Mathematics Test

Evaluators are frequently asked to assess the effectiveness of school programs implemented to improve academic achievement. School connectedness has been shown to be directly related to academic achievement (McNeely, Nonnemaker, &; Blum, 2002 McNeely, C. A., Nonnemaker, J. M. and Blum, R. W. 2002. Promoting school connectedness: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Journal of School Health, 72: 138–146. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and is therefore of interest to evaluators. The construct of school connectedness has been shown to consist of 3 elements: connectedness to adults in schools, connectedness to peers, and connectedness to the school (Karcher &; Lee, 2002 Karcher, M. J. and Lee, Y. 2002. Connectedness among Taiwanese middle school students: A validation study of the Hemingway Measure of Adolescent Connectedness. Asia Pacific Education Review, 3: 92–114. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]). This paper reports the psychometric properties and factor analyses findings from a School Connectedness Scale (SCS) given to adolescents in 2 very different high schools in the Northeast, one a large urban school and one a medium-sized suburban school. The results indicate that the SCS is highly reliable with a stable factor structure across diverse populations. The broad applications of use for the instrument are discussed.     

Exploring School Improvement in Hong Kong Secondary Schools

Scholars have increasingly sought to understand how the process of school improvement differs among schools operating in different school levels, conditions, and contexts. Using Rosenholtz's (1985 Rosenholtz, S. 1985. Effective schools: Interpreting the evidence. American Journal of Education, 93: 352–388. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) conception of “moving” and “stuck” schools as a framework for thinking about school improvement, this study examines the learning outcomes of 39 Hong Kong secondary schools over a 3-year period. We examine whether features of leadership and school capacity differed with respect to these learning outcomes within the sample of moving and stuck schools. This research in Hong Kong has identified several factors that appear to synergistically contribute to differences in patterns of improvement in learning across different subjects in both moving and stuck schools. These factors include resource management of principals and school capacity in terms of professional learning community; workload of teachers; alignment, coherence, and structure; and resource capacity. This study extends the research on leadership and capacity building as a means of school improvement, in the process elaborating on their impact within a non-Western society.     

Teachers,tasks, and tensions: lessons from a research–practice partnership

How teachers make sense of new academic standards significantly shapes the implementation of those standards. Professional development organized around the analysis of mathematical tasks has potential to prepare teachers for standards implementation by helping them develop common understandings of standards and how to help students meet ambitious new learning goals. In practice, however, designers and participants bring different goals to the professional development context, which becomes evident when teachers engage in task analysis. In this article, we use the design tensions framework (Tatar in Human Comput Interact 22(4):413–451, 2007. doi: 10.1080/07370020701638814) to analyze these tensions within a research–practice partnership comprised of five university researchers, three district curriculum leaders from a large urban school district, 12 high school Algebra 1 teachers from nine schools in the district, and a small team of Web engineers. Primary data for the study consist of participant observation and field notes of meetings in which project stakeholders negotiated the design of the professional development, as well as interview and survey data. An analysis based on the design tensions framework helped our partnership surface, both in the moment and retrospectively, the need for designers of professional development focused on standards implementation to be adaptive and willing to evolve activities to satisfy multiple stakeholders’ goals for participation.     

A survey of the effect of leader’s social intelligence on employee’s perception of interpersonal justice: the mediating role of shared leadership

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a leader’s social intelligence (SI) on an employee’s perception of interpersonal justice by considering the mediating role of shared leadership. Conceptual model and research hypotheses have been developed by the Marlowe’ SI model (1986 Marlowe, H. A. (1986). Social intelligence: Evidence for multidimensionality and construct independence. Journal of Educational Psychology, 78, 52–58.10.1037/0022-0663.78.1.52[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), and the theory of shared leadership and interpersonal justice theory. Research population was Ministry of Education and training employees in TEHRAN; 108 employees were selected for gathering the required data. Data were collected using a standard questionnaire. Reliability testing of questionnaire with Cronbach’s alpha was confirmed by .96 coefficient. For analyzing data and determining the relationships between variables of conceptual model, the covariance-based structural equation modelling with maximum likelihood method has been used. Results provide acceptable evidence of convergent and discriminant validities and internal consistency and item reliabilities of the measure of SI, interpersonal justice and shared leadership. The study contributed to our understanding of the linkage among pro-social attitude, social performance skills, empathetic ability, emotional expressiveness and confidence between shared leadership and interpersonal justice. Results of data analysis show that among SI dimensions, the ‘pro-social attitude’ by .383 coefficient has the highest effect on perceived interpersonal justice. Also among shared leadership dimensions, the ‘perceived shared purpose’ by .378 coefficient has the highest effect on the perceived interpersonal justice.     

Relationship between Counseling Students’ Childhood Memories and Current Negative Self-Evaluations when Receiving Corrective Feedback

This article entails a study focused on the relationship between counseling students’ negative childhood memories of receiving corrective feedback and current negative self-evaluations when receiving similar feedback in counselor education programs. Participants (N = 186) completed the Corrective Feedback Instrument-Revised (CFI-R; Hulse-Killacky and Page in Journal for Specialists in Group Work, 19, 197–210. doi: 10.1080/01933929408414365, 1994). Hierarchical multiple regression results indicated that counseling students’ negative childhood memories were associated with their current negative self-evaluations when receiving corrective feedback. Findings, implications and future research recommendations are discussed for the purpose of enhancing counselor education learning environments.     

Do we give them a fair chance? Attrition among first-year tertiary students

International research suggests that government policy, institutional culture and learner characteristics influence the attrition rate of first-year tertiary education students. These variables were investigated in relation to a cohort of 21 New Zealand students who failed a core literacy paper. The research utilised questionnaires, interviews with staff and students and observations around a series of workshops designed to review the literacy course. Results align with international findings, but also differ because of site-specific institutional, and student socio-cultural factors. The workshops improved students’ course content knowledge, but did not address deep-seated, literacy and culturally-based impediments that contribute to attrition. Principles of social justice and social contract theory described by Rawls (1958 Rawls, J. 1958. Justice as fairness. Philosophical Review, 67: 164–193. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Sen (2009 Sen, A. 2009. The idea of justice, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press and London: Allen Lane. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) are used to critique policy and pedagogical and learner characteristics. Based on this critique, the research concluded that some aspects of policy and institutional, cultural and student behaviour were unjust.     

Role of Family Background,Student Behaviors,and School-Related Beliefs in Predicting High School Dropout

ABSTRACT

The authors' purpose was to test a parsimonious model derived from social cognitive career theory (R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, & G. Hackett, 1994 Lent, R. W., Brown, S. D., & Hackett, G. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 45, 79–122. doi:10.1006/jvbe.1994.1027[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and expectancy value theory (J. S. Eccles & A. Wigfield, 2002 Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 109–132. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135153[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) that integrates groups of variables (demographic background, student behaviors, and school-related beliefs) with the goal of predicting high school dropout in a nationally representative sample of 15,753 high school students. Structural equation modeling was used to test the effect of the various predictors on students' dropout status 2 years later. The model fit the data very well, and the results indicated that socioeconomic status, academic performance, parental involvement, and absenteeism were most predictive of high school dropout. In contrast, social cognitive constructs (self-efficacy and subjective task value) added little explanatory power. Implications for high school dropout prevention programs are discussed.     

(Un)Critical times? Situating distributed leadership in the field

It is time to situate distributed leadership as a critical conceptualisation of school leadership; its popularisation has generally preceded conceptual and empirical development. Over the last 10 years distributed leadership has often been presented as a new construct of school leadership, though critique against education policy reforms and conceptual and historical links to the wider leadership field have generally been underemphasised. The theorisation and research of distributed leadership is currently situated at a critical point in its development; it is at the ‘crossroads’ of where it could dominantly be situated in the field of school leadership. A review of the literature and research suggests that distributed leadership is tending towards an uncritical position that is decoupled from critique of past and present education reforms and predominantly silent on how power relations at the local school level shape leadership activity.     

School policy on teaching and school learning environment: direct and indirect effects upon student outcome measures

School policy on teaching and the school learning environment (SLE) are the main school factors of the dynamic model of educational effectiveness (Creemers & Kyriakides, 2008 Kyriakides, L. and Tsangaridou, N. 2008. Towards the development of generic and differentiated models of educational effectiveness: A study on school and teacher effectiveness in physical education. British Educational Research Journal, 34: 807–838. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). A longitudinal study in which 50 primary schools, 108 classes, and 2369 students participated generated evidence supporting the validity of the dynamic model. This article reports the results of a re-analysis of the data of this study in order to search for direct and indirect effects of school factors included in the model. Using multilevel structural equation modelling techniques, indirect effects of school policy on teaching and SLE upon achievement in mathematics and Greek language are demonstrated. Implications of findings are drawn. Comparing the results of the multilevel direct and indirect effect model with those from using a multilevel regression model, we demonstrate the importance of choosing appropriate conceptual models and using relevant methodological approaches to understand the dynamic nature of educational effectiveness.     

Freeing the Mind of the Oppressed

This article examines the evidence that supports and rebuts the claims of school resegregation. By examining both types of evidence and considering them complementary (James 1986 James, F. 1986. A new generalized “exposure-based” segregation index: Demonstration in Denver and Houston. Sociological Methods and Research, 14(3): 301–16. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Kelly and Miller 1989 Kelly, P. and Miller, W. 1989. Assessing desegregation efforts: No “best measure.”. Public Administration Review, 49(5): 431–37. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), the author gives the reader a deeper understanding of the current trends in school segregation. First, the literature on the topic of school segregation is discussed. Then follows a discussion of the methods used in the study and the findings. The conclusion includes implications of the findings.     

Social Support for Adolescents With a High Level of Truancy in Swedish Compulsory Schooling

The aim of this article is to explore whether 15 students with a high level of truancy have experienced social support at school. The analysis is based on systems theory with a focus on the social context at school. The study is based on data collected in an earlier school document study (Strand & Granlund, 2013 Strand, A.-S., & Granlund, M. (2013). The school situation for students with high levels of absenteeism in compulsory school. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 58(5), 551–569. doi:10.1080/00313831.2013.773561[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and on 2 earlier interview studies with the school staff (Strand & Cedersund, 2013 Strand, A.-S., & Cedersund, E. (2013). School staffs' reflections on truant students; A positioning analysis. Pastoral Care in Education, 31 (4), 337–353. doi:10.1080/02643944.2013.835858[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) and the students themselves (Strand, 2012). Data triangulation was conducted using person-based content analysis. The students were divided in three groups of the school system. For the winners, we found that engaged adults close to them made a positive difference that restored their relationship with school. The unchallenged and the losers of the school system had poor social relationships with the school staff, especially within the classroom. A dearth of relationships with classmates was observed for all 3 groups. There was a low level of agreement between the information taken from the school documents, what the school staff members said, and what the students themselves said for all of the groups. What the students perceived as support was not the same as the school had noted as provided and received support.     

The Purpose and Functions of Budgets – Some Theoretical Perspectives for Education Managers

While educational leadership and management has experienced impressive development over the last three decades the fact that a robust comparative branch of the field has failed to emerge is equally conspicuous. This article builds a case for comparative and international educational leadership and management, arguing that the development of conceptual frameworks and instrumentation are imperative if the field is to keep abreast of globalisation of policy and practice. Accordingly, a conceptual framework is described and justified based on a cultural and cross-cultural approach focusing on the school level as the baseline unit for analysis. Specifically, the proposed framework is architectured around the interrelationship between two levels of culture, societal and organisational, and four elements comprising schooling and school-based management, namely, organisational structures, leadership and management processes, curriculum, and teaching and learning. Finally, limitations and implications of the model are discussed, including the need for the framework to be operationalised by developing appropriate research instruments.     

Comparison of Direct Instruction and Discrete Trial Teaching on the Curriculum-based Assessment of Language Performance of Students with Autism

There is limited research demonstrating direct instruction (DI) as an effective language intervention for students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and developmental disabilities (DD). Existing research has shown that instruction using partial implementation of DI programs resulted in student learning (Ganz, 2007 Ganz, M. L. (2007). The lifetime distribution of the incremental societal costs of autism. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 161, 343&349.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and instruction using whole lessons resulted in positive instructional effects for students with ASD and DD (Ganz, 2007 Ganz, M. L. (2007). The lifetime distribution of the incremental societal costs of autism. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 161, 343&349.[Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). However, it is not known whether DI is more effective than other language interventions. The purpose of this study was to compare DI to an established intervention, discrete trial teaching. Thirteen students with ASD or participated in the study and data were collected using curriculum-based assessment. An independent samples t-test indicated that there was a statistically significant difference in student performance for the group who received DI. Results and their implications will be discussed.     

Recruiting Prospective Students WithStories: How Personal Stories Influence the Process of Choosing aUniversity

The current study examined the use of narratives as persuasive recruitment tools for universities. This study analyzed students’ perceptions of four universities’ recruitment materials and used Fisher's (1984 Fisher, W. R. (1984). Narration as a human communication paradigm: The case of public moral argument. Communication Monographs, 51, 1–22. doi:10.1080/03637758409390180[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) narrative paradigm and the concept of regulatory fitas a lens. Student participants perceived narratives as persuasive after they had narrowed down their list of colleges. The results also revealed that stories that represented both the academic and social sides of college helped students visualize themselves at the university and made the idea of higher education more tangible. Five themes are explained and the study concludes with theoretical and practical implications.     

Colleague supervision – ‘ignored and undervalued’? The views of students and supervisors in a new university

Colleague supervision is increasingly used in UK modern (post-92) universities to support the progress of academic staff to doctoral qualifications. Denicolo (2004 Denicolo, P. 2004. Doctoral supervision of colleagues: Peeling off the veneer of satisfaction and competence. Studies in Higher Education, 29(6): 693–707. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) argues that it is a ‘role relationship that has been largely ignored or undervalued by administration’ (p. 693) and colleague students and supervisors ‘felt more vulnerable’ than other students/supervisors (p. 706). This small-scale research amongst students and staff in a colleague supervision relationship at a single UK modern university tests Denicolo’s (2004 Denicolo, P. 2004. Doctoral supervision of colleagues: Peeling off the veneer of satisfaction and competence. Studies in Higher Education, 29(6): 693–707. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) propositions and those of Deuchar (2008 Deuchar, R. 2008. Facilitator, director or critical friend? Contradiction and congruence in doctoral supervision. Teaching in Higher Education, 13(4): 489–500. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) on supervision styles. It found that students did not feel ‘vulnerable’ but considered there were significant benefits from colleague supervision. They, and some supervisors, were also very supportive of group supervision methods that, alongside conventional individual supervision, gave strong support to the progress of colleague students to timely completion of their doctoral studies. As many UK modern universities are attempting to build research capacity through doctoral research training, the use of group supervision alongside colleague supervisors may offer benefits in a time when supervisory capacity has been stretched.     

Principals of audit: testing,data and ‘implicated advocacy’

Historically, school leaders have occupied a somewhat ambiguous position within networks of power. On the one hand, they appear to be celebrated as what Ball (2003 Ball, S., 2003. The teacher's soul and the terrors of performativity. Journal of education policy, 18 (2), 215–228.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) has termed the ‘new hero of educational reform'; on the other, they are often ‘held to account’ through those same performative processes and technologies. These have become compelling in schools and principals are ‘doubly bound’ through this. Adopting a Foucauldian notion of discursive production, this paper addresses the ways that the discursive ‘field’ of ‘principal’ (within larger regimes of truth such as schools, leadership, quality and efficiency) is produced. It explores how individual principals understand their roles and ethics within those practices of audit emerging in school governance, and how their self-regulation is constituted through NAPLAN – the National Assessment Program, Literacy and Numeracy. A key effect of NAPLAN has been the rise of auditing practices that change how education is valued. Open-ended interviews with 13 primary and secondary school principals from Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales asked how they perceived NAPLAN's impact on their work, their relationships within their school community and their ethical practice.     

The Next Generation of Community College Leaders

Nearly a decade ago, Sullivan presented her interpretation of the four generations of community college leaders by describing them as “the founding fathers, the good managers, the collaborators, and the millennium generation” (Sullivan, 2001 Sullivan , L. G. ( 2001 ). Four generations of community college leadership . Community College Journal of Research and Practice , 25 , 559 – 571 .[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar], p. 559). She predicted a shift to frames utilizing the Four-Frame Model of Leadership by Bolman and Deal (1991 Bolman , L. G. , & Deal , T. E. (1991). Leadership and management effectiveness: A multi-frame, multi-sector analysis. Human Resource Management , 30, 509–534.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). This article provides a discussion of the research that has been published using the Bolman and Deal model and a synopsis of the current leadership challenges faced by community college leaders. And finally, a new prediction is made of the values, skills, and frames needed for these leaders.     

Learning,Theories of Learning,and Units of Analysis in Research

Over the past decades research on learning has become more diverse and complex. The concern expressed by Alexander, Schallert, and Reynolds (2009 Alexander, P. A., Schallert, D. L. and Reynolds, R. E. 2009. What is learning anyway? A topographical perspective considered. Educational Psychologist, 44: 176–192. this issue[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]/this issue) is that this diversity of theoretical perspectives has resulted in a fragmentation that is destructive to the field. Although it is important to engage in explicit discussions of how learning is construed in different traditions, Alexander et al. do not give sufficient recognition to the significant epistemological and theoretical differences between traditions; differences that make them incompatible in important respects, for instance, with respect to their units of analysis. An acceptance of incompatibilities in perspectives is not necessarily a problem. In fact, such a situation may, if the debates are grounded in a mutual acceptance of the diverse manners in which knowing and learning may be theorized, give us a richer frame of reference from which to analyze learning in its various manifestations in complex societies.     

Why choose teaching? An international review of empirical studies exploring student teachers’ career motivations and levels of commitment to teaching

Why do individuals all over the world choose to become school teachers? What motivates them to become educators of young people, and how committed are they to this cause when they enter their teacher education courses? Considering that teacher motivation and commitment have been identified as crucial factors for the future success of education and schools (Huberman, 1993 Huberman, M. (1993). The lives of teachers (J. Neufeld, Trans.). London: Cassell Villiers House. [Google Scholar]; Manning & Patterson, 2005 Manning, M., & Patterson, J. (2005). Special publications. Childhood Education, 81, 249–251. doi: 10.1080/00094056.2005.10522284[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]; Rikard, 1999 Rikard, G. L. (1999). Promoting teacher commitment in pre-service teachers. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 70(9), 53–56. doi: 10.1080/07303084.1999.10605969[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]), these are important questions for policy makers and societies to address. This paper provides a systematic and conceptual review of empirical research studies exploring student teachers’ career motivations and commitment in 23 countries from 5 continents. A variety of motivating factors are explored, their relative importance in student teachers’ career decisions is discussed, and differences between various subgroups and cultural contexts are highlighted. Attention is drawn to methodological limitations as well as recent developments in this important area of research.     

Towards improving students' attendance and quality of undergraduate tutorials: a case study on law

As part of continual efforts towards improving learning and teaching in the faculty, lecturers in the law faculty of the University of the West of England (UWE), Bristol debated the question of students' attendance and quality of tutorials in a recent email discussion amongst themselves. At the end of the debate the need for further research on the subject was highlighted, which initially spurred the research subsequently developed into this journal article. The article explores, through a discursive and comparative analysis of questionnaire responses, how to improve students' attendance and quality of undergraduate law tutorials. The analysis is equally relevant for other courses in which tutorials are employed as a mode of learning and teaching.

Towards improving students' attendance and quality of undergraduate tutorials: a case study on law

All authors

Mashood A. Baderin *

https://doi.org/10.1080/14701294.2004.11878823

Published online:

09 May 2017

Table