Perceptions of elementary teachers on the instructional leadership role of school principals

In this research, elementary school principals＇ instructional leadership behavior was evaluated based on the perceptions of elementary school teachers. The research is believed to contribute to the development of instructional leadership behavior of elementary school principals for the development of school organization. A ＂semi-structured interview technique＂, one of the qualitative research methods in the literature was used in the research. The study group was made up of elementary school teachers working in Nigde, Turkey, during the 2008-2009 academic year. For the study sample, one teacher from each school was selected at random, resulting in group of twenty elementary school teachers. Based on the content analysis, five themes of instructional leadership behavior were found. These themes are： （1） determination of the school＇s purpose; （2） management of instruction; （3） evaluation of students; （4） support to teachers; and （5） creation of a regular learning-teaching environment.     

Perceptions of student engagement in the flipped classroom: a case study

ABSTRACT

One of the blended learning strategies that researchers and educators commonly use in higher education is Flipped Classroom. The purpose of this case study was to explore how both professors and students perceive student engagement in flipped classrooms. Three college professors who implemented flipped classrooms and their 14 students participated in the study. Three individual faculty interviews and three student focus group interviewers were conducted. Five components of the utilization-focused evaluation model were used in the data coding. The findings revealed both positive and negative opinions depending on how they implemented the flipped classroom including the engagement of students and the environment. Faculty participants who fully implemented the flipped model had positive opinions about the implementation and student engagement, finding the model helped increase student performance and grades. In addition, the majority of student participants liked the challenges offered by the flipped classroom, which increased their engagement.     

Challenging teacher beliefs about student engagement in mathematics

This study explored the beliefs about student engagement in mathematics of three Year 5 and 6 teachers, focusing on the shifts that occurred during a 10-week intervention. Data obtained from teacher surveys, interviews, video-recorded workshop observations and artefacts from teachers’ classrooms reveal variations in their reactions to the professional learning experiences. Teacher responses were mediated by personal and contextual elements including teacher efficacy beliefs, teacher confidence in mathematics and their conceptions of student engagement. Theories of teacher conceptual change are used to account for variations to teacher beliefs.     

Pitfalls in the evaluation of principals

This paper describes the characteristics of a statewide principal evaluation system. Present empirical knowledge of the ways school principals are evaluated is almost nonexistent (Harrison, 1985); because of this we will employ a design drawn from studies of evaluation in other settings (Dornbusch and Scott, 1975), of teachers (Natriello and Dornbusch, 1981) and control of principals (Peterson, 1984). A questionnaire was used to gather information about the ways principals are evaluated as reported by principals and superintendents. The authors find that even when an evaluation system is detailed, specific, and statewide, inconsistencies develop because of the special nature of principals' work. The systems appear to break down in the sampling of performance and outputs and in the communication of negative feedback-key areas if principals are to improve their performance. Suggestions for research and practice are presented.Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in San Francisco, 1986.     

How schools train principals to use new teacher evaluation systems: A comparative case study of charter school and traditional public school principals

Over the past decade U.S. policymakers, practitioners, and researchers have sought to examine if changing teacher evaluation policies and systems have resulted in changes in identifying quality teachers and/or increased student achievement. This research generally shows most states have experienced little change in how teachers are rated. Researchers are now exploring why, in many cases, teacher evaluation reforms have failed to produce the desired systematic changes of better identifying quality teachers and better distinguishing teacher performance. Embedded within this line of inquiry is how principals (and other evaluators) are trained to use new teacher evaluation systems. This comparative case study observed six principals (three charter school principals and three traditional public school principals) in the U.S. state of Michigan as they learned and enacted a new teacher evaluation system. Additionally, all principals were interviewed three times throughout the school year, in an effort to examine how their initial teacher evaluation training impacted their evaluation of teachers. The research questions that guided this work were: (1) how are principals initially trained when their school adopts a new teacher evaluation system?; (2) in what ways does the training received by charter school principals compare to that of traditional public school principals?; and (3) how does initial training impact how principals evaluate teachers? Results indicate principals are trained to navigate the logistics of new teacher evaluation systems, but are not trained to evaluate teacher performance. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

The effects of classroom and school environments on student engagement: the case of high school students in Abu Dhabi public schools

Drawing on data from a merged data set from a student survey and a parent survey that were conducted in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in 2013, this article uses a multilevel framework to investigate the effects of individual characteristics and the classroom and school environments on high school students’ school engagement in a modernising education system that is different from Western ones. The results of the three-level model revealed that while students’ attributes remained strong predictors of their school engagement, the social and organisational environment of classrooms and school also greatly shaped the extent to which students emotionally and cognitively engaged with their school and learning. This study provided evidence to support the interactive nature of the impact of multilevel environments on student engagement. The policy and research implications were also discussed in the empirical context of Abu Dhabi.     

Developing employability skills via extra-curricular activities in Vietnamese universities: student engagement and inhibitors of their engagement

This article reports a study that investigated student engagement and inhibitors of their engagement with developing employability skills via extra-curricular activities in Vietnamese universities. Content analysis of 18 interviews with students and statistical analysis of 423 students’ responses to a paper-based survey showed that despite a variety of extra-curricular activities being frequently organised, students engaged in these activities just above a moderate level. The analysis revealed that students with different motivations as well as students from different university types, disciplines, and university years engaged differently with developing employability skills via this channel. Five inhibitors of their engagement were identified, including students’ working part-time, a lack of information about extra-curricular activities, students’ beliefs about participating bringing no benefits, competition with curriculum-based activities, and unprofessional organisation of these activities. The article discusses ways to improve student engagement with developing employability skills via extra-curricular activities.     

A typology of student reading engagement: Preparing for response to intervention in the school curriculum

This study seeks to develop a typology of students’ reading engagement through secondary analysis of international sampled survey data. It aims at providing research-based evidences informing teachers how to help readers advance in reading performance. It hopes that when students complete junior secondary schooling (Grade 7–9) at age 15, more students can read happily, widely and skillfully. After establishing that Fondness for reading, Aspiration for reading, and Good at reading are three pertinent facets of reading engagement affecting reading literacy performance, the effects of variables pertaining to these facets are examined using Macao-China data drawn from the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 Reading Literacy Study. The present study adopts a person-centered approach to arrive at a typology of eight latent clusters of students, each of which is identified with specific reading engagement characteristics. Response to reading intervention can then be proposed to help successive cohorts of junior secondary students enhance their reading literacy performance.     

Impact of grade retention and school engagement on student intentions to enrol in higher education in Portugal

Grade retention and inequalities that derive from grade retention can influence student school trajectories and careers. Grade retention can discourage students from education, and increase school failure and dropout. This study explored the relationship between grade retention and student intentions to enrol in higher education. We also studied the role of school identification and behavioural engagement in this relationship. The analysis is based on a sample of 1,089 students (grades 6 to 10) from Portugal, one of the European countries with the highest rates of grade retention. We employed multilevel probit regression modelling with random intercept and fixed slopes to explore both the individual and school level effects of grade retention. The analyses showed that retained students had a lower probability of intent to enrol in higher education and that there was a contextual effect of the number of retained students in the school, on students' probability of intent to enrol in higher education. This association was partially explained at the individual level by students' school identification. Retained students presented lower levels of school identification, which in turn results in lower probabilities of enrolling in higher education. Student behavioural engagement was not associated with grade retention nor student intentions. Our findings suggest the need for interventions that foster students' school identification to overcome the adverse effects of grade retention.     

谈中小学校长远程培训的利与弊

作为现代网络技术应用于中小学校长培训活动所产生的一种新型培训模式,目前中小学校长远程培训除了具有与传统培训模式相比的优点,同时也具有不成熟之处.在本文中,笔者首先从远程培训的内涵出发进行展开,对中小学校长远程网络培训的利与弊进行探讨,最后提出扬优治弊的措施.     

Effects of support on stress and burnout in school principals

Background: More than ever before, school principals are dealing with stress and burnout, resulting from increasing role demands and decreasing decision latitude and autonomy. Following the Demand–Support–Constraints model, reasons for stress and burnout can be found in the lack of social support in the environment.

Purpose: This longitudinal study investigates whether changes in social support from colleagues, supervisors and/or the broader community affect levels of principal stress and burnout.

Sample: Approximately 26% of Australia’s school principals took part (N = 3572): primary (n = 2660) and secondary (n = 912) spread across all Australian states and territories. Age ranged between 46 and 55 years, and mean leadership experience was 12 years.

Design and methods: Since stress and burnout are psychological phenomena that develop over time, a longitudinal approach was adopted. Data were collected across four waves, spread over four years, from 2011 to 2014.

Results: It was found that social support predicts decreased stress and in turn burnout in school principals, however differences were found according to the type of social support. The data provide strong evidence for a positive effect of stress on burnout (e.g. the more stress at time 2, the more burnout in principals at time 3) and partial support for indirect negative effects of social support on burnout (e.g. the more support from colleagues at time 2, the less burnout in principals at time 3). However, we also found two instances of positive effects of social support from the broader community on burnout. This suggests that the more support principals receive from the broader community, the more likely they are to show burnout symptoms. This might be explained as the ‘the downside of empathy’, where principals who are strongly supported by their community might also feel more connected to that community. When their community is struggling, they are probably struggling as well.

Conclusions: The findings highlight the positive impact the wider school community can play in providing supplementary professional support to the principal. Unbundling or repackaging the job responsibilities with an administrative team that shares the leadership of the school, could be part of the solution.     

普通高中学生评价改革的视点与评析

普通高中学生评价改革亮点突出、成效显著,但同时也彰显诸多不足,有观念层面的也有实践层面的.成效与缺失的辩证存在,既成为学生评价改革继续推进的力量之一,也成为改革遭遇挫折的原因之一.当前,认真总结经验、理性梳理问题、通透改革路向仍为必需.     

The administrative control of principals in effective school districts: The supervision and evaluation functions

In this article we examine the nature of administrative control of school principals in 12 especially effective districts in California. We combined two lines of inquiry, knowledge regarding control in organizations and information from the teacher effects and school effectiveness research, to examine types and patterns of control mechanisms in these districts. Although the work reported herein is exploratory in nature, we see evidence that, contrary to the norm, supervision and evaluation of site level administrators were rational and meaningful processes in these effective districts. We report further that the supervision and evaluation functions appeared to form important linkage mechanisms between schools and districts. In addition, we note that supervision and evaluation provide a strong base for the development of other important linkage functions, especially goal setting. Finally, we report that the superintendents often appear to be the key figures in the supervision and evaluation functions in these effective school districts.     

Teacher evaluation policy as perceived by school principals: the case of Flanders (Belgium)

In Flanders (Belgium), a new teacher evaluation policy was issued which placed a lot of autonomy with school principals to develop and implement a new teacher evaluation system. In this study, we explore how Flemish principals perceive the new teacher evaluation policy and what influences their perception. Results demonstrate that principals perceive the policy as clear, but they are rather negative about the need, practicality, and complexity of the summative teacher evaluation. This perception is influenced by policy, context, and individual factors as is demonstrated in our qualitative analyses.     

Factors affecting student engagement in HEIs - it is all about good teaching

The passive role of students in their learning and education and the absence of student engagement in higher education institutions (HEIs) are quite common in many higher education institutions in developing countries. The main objective of the research presented in this paper is to explore the influential factors on student engagement in HEIs in the situational frame where student engagement and active learning and teaching do not have a long tradition. To answer our research questions, we conducted a survey with 279 undergraduate students from four universities in Libya. Our findings show that the availability and active usage of the university’s ICTs resources, the university’s reputation and teachers’ activating influence on students most efficiently predict student engagement in HEIs. The role of teachers and their competencies to use active learning techniques are perceived to be very influential in promoting student engagement.     

The social contagion of work avoidance goals in school and its influence on student (dis)engagement

Work avoidance goals, which refer to wanting to do as little as possible in school, are detrimental to school success. Given its maladaptive nature, studies have investigated the antecedents of work avoidance, such as the role of personal characteristics and social-contextual factors. The influence of one’s classmates, however, remains under-explored. Drawing from social contagion research, we examined whether work avoidance goals spread among classmates. Questionnaires were administered to 1524 adolescent students nested within 50 classes. Two waves of data were collected one semester apart. Multilevel modeling was used to analyze the data. Results showed that a student’s work avoidance in Time 2 was predicted by his/her classmates’ work avoidance in Time 1. These results held even after controlling for one’s own Time 1 work avoidance. Moreover, work avoidance goals led to higher levels of disengagement and lower levels of engagement. The findings demonstrate that work avoidance goals are socially contagious and that they have negative consequences for students’ engagement. This study extends our theoretical understanding of work avoidance by highlighting the vital role played by one’s classmates in shaping students’ avoidance of schoolwork and the deleterious consequences that come with it.

     

Reasoning about data in middle school science

This case study illustrates instruction in an urban 6th‐grade classroom in which students were learning about mass, volume, and density by attempting to layer (stack) three miscible solutions with differing densities atop one another. The study examines classroom discourse and interaction on the basis of four teaching goals: (a) reaching consensus about which stacks were possible, (b) developing persuasive arguments that separated data from noise, (c) establishing social norms for collective inquiry, and (d) appreciating the epistemological status of scientific knowledge. The study traces the fate of three stacks that students claimed were possible after initial investigations with the solutions. These claims underwent a process of collective validation in which consensus without coercion was the goal, which illustrates emergent standards for backing claims with evidence, as well as for replicability, among the students. Students were successful in achieving three of the four goals, with some qualifications. In relation to Goal 3, which required generalization to other situations, somewhat less success is reported. Limitations in the current standards, difficulties of time allotment in current curricula, and establishing classroom cultures of inquiry are discussed. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 36: 179–199, 1999     

Large-scale change and survival of school principals in Turkey

ABSTRACT

Turkey possess one of the most vibrant educational systems in the World. This study specifically aims at revealing Turkish school principals’ perceptions about the large-scale changes imposed by the Ministry of Education and the strategies they follow for coping with these changes. The study was designed as a generic qualitative study. Twenty principals from different schools at different levels were identified through snowball sampling and semi-structured interviews were conducted with each of them. The decoupling between change interventions and the needed change, inappropriate change implementation process, the passive role of the school principals in the design phase of change interventions are some of the major challenges that school principals encounter. The passivity of the principals during design phase put them into a state of reluctant activeness to find out resources, create readiness and adopt a mediating role between top authority and the teachers in order to implement the imposed changes.