Refining Methods for Estimating Critical Values for an Alignment Index

Abstract

The alignment among standards, assessments, and teachers’ instruction is an essential element of standards-based educational reforms. The Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (SEC) is the only common tool that can be used to measure the alignment among all three of these sources (Martone & Sireci, 2009). Prior SEC alignment work has been limited by not allowing for significance tests. A recent article (Fulmer, 2011) provided a first attempt to address this shortcoming of the SEC, but that work was limited in several ways. We extend Fulmer's simulation approach by accounting for important elements of the SEC procedures, including the proper framework size, number of standards and assessment points, number of raters, rater cell-splitting rates, and rater agreement results. The results indicate that inferences about relative alignment may be heavily influenced by features of the alignment procedures. Thus, our method should be broadly applied to future SEC alignment investigations.     

Methodological Choices in the Content Analysis of Textbooks for Measuring Alignment With Standards

With the recent adoption of the Common Core standards in many states, there is a need for quality information about textbook alignment to standards. While there are many existing content analysis procedures, these generally have little, if any, validity or reliability evidence. One exception is the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (SEC), which has been widely used to analyze the alignment among standards, assessments, and teachers’ instruction. However, the SEC can be time‐consuming and expensive when used for this purpose. This study extends the SEC to the analysis of entire mathematics textbooks and investigates whether the results of SEC alignment analyses are affected if the content analysis procedure is simplified. The results indicate that analyzing only every fifth item produces nearly identical alignment results with no effect on the reliability of content analyses.     

Do students notice stress in teachers? Associations between classroom teacher burnout and students' perceptions of teacher social–emotional competence

The goal of the present study was to investigate the link between elementary school teacher burnout and students' perceptions of teacher social–emotional competence (SEC). A total of 676 Grades 4–7 students in 35 classrooms rated their classroom teachers' SEC. In addition, teachers self-reported their current level of experienced burnout at work (i.e., depersonalization and emotional exhaustion). Multilevel analyses revealed significant classroom-level variability (i.e., 34%) in student-ratings of teacher SEC. Teacher burnout significantly predicted student-rated teacher SEC, over and above significant student-level variables (school self-concept, sense of autonomy in the classroom) and contextual variables (teacher age, school neighborhood income). Specifically, higher levels of teacher burnout were related to receiving lower SEC ratings by students. Teacher burnout explained a significant portion of the classroom-level variability in student-rated teacher SEC. The present study emphasizes the link between teacher burnout and the SEC. Furthermore, given that teacher reports (burnout) were linked to student reports (teacher SEC), these findings also suggest that students notice stress in their classroom teacher.     

Critiques of socio-economic school compositional effects: are they valid?

Abstract

School socio-economic compositional (SEC) effects have been influential in educational research predicting a range of outcomes and influencing public policy. However, some recent studies have challenged the veracity of SEC effects when applying residualised-change and fixed effects models and simulating potential measurement errors in hierarchical regression models. We review the residualised change and fixed effects methods in critical studies and find limitations in their capacity to demonstrate null compositional effects. We show this with an adjusted residualised change model finding significant SEC effects. We show structural equation models can address concerns that measurement errors inflate SEC effects by comparing hierarchical regression models to structural equation models. We find that structural equation models can detect SEC effects free from measurement error. We conclude that the reviewed critiques of SEC effects were due to methods unlikely to detect compositional effects. Future research would benefit from the identification of mediators of SEC effects.     

论教育理论的性质和研究方法

科学的本质就是科学的方法,而科学方法的要旨就是在假设的基础上建立理论模型和研究规范。科学的教育理论的研究方法和路径应包括:确定教育学理论的基本概念和范畴;给出一个假设性的教育定义,它是教育理论研究的逻辑前提;建立教育理论研究的内容体系,这是由一系列实质性假设组成的,以解释和预测教育现实。     

美国"SEC"一致性分析范式的诠释与启示——基础教育中评价与课程标准一致性的视角

美国在基于课程标准的教育改革以及学校教学要求偏低的现实背景下,致力于研制"SEC"(surveys of Enacted Curriculum )等一致性分析范式,即分析评价与课程标准一致性程度的理念、程序和方法,推动了美国学校基于课程标准的评价实践.该范式对我国课程评价的启示在于:要认识到评价与课程标准一致性策略是调适课程运行偏差的重要手段;要立足本土化,研制评价与课程标准一致性分析的程序和方法.     

“标杆示范法”在企业思想政治工作中的应用探索

标杆示范法,是对集体及个人的经验、好的做法进行梳理,在梳理的同时归纳成一系列比较高的标准作为标杆,然后通过多种途径、利用各种有效手段进行示范、推广和学习,使这种高标准由某一个点渗透到更多的面,最终带动整个组织提高管理水平。对"标杆示范法"在国有企业的党支部建设、班组建设、员工队伍建设等思想政治工作领域的应用,形成有效的定标、对标、践标、标准化工作的思想政治工作流程进行探索和阐述。     

The impact of social capital in socio-emotional competencies of Spanish and immigrant adolescents from the Southeast of Spain

How important is the role that the different social institutions play in adolescents’ emotional development? This study alludes to the social capital framework to explain the influence that the family, school and peer relations have on the social-emotional competencies (SEC) of adolescents, immigrants and locals living in Southeastern Spain. Three social capital and socio-emotional competencies assessments scales were used in the study with 1614 pupils from 7 secondary schools. The results show that: (1) The social capital is a predictive and explanatory factor in adolescence. (2) The social relations that influence the SEC the most are those developed at school, followed by peer relations and, lastly, the family. (3) Spanish and Romanian teenagers show higher social capital and more SEC than Moroccans. (4) There are SEC gender differences among the Spanish group. (5) An immigrant school puzzle is observed in the Moroccan teenagers group who value school the most. (6) The family’s low emotional influence, particularly among Moroccan women, suggests that there is a deterioration of the institution and the existence of inter-generational differences. According to the results, schools remain a privileged space for SEC intervention programmes.     

The impact of social capital in socio-emotional competencies of Spanish and immigrant adolescents from the southeast of Spain

How important is the role that the different social institutions play in adolescents’ emotional development? This study alludes to the social capital framework to explain the influence that the family, school and peer relations have on the social-emotional competencies (SEC) of adolescents, immigrants and locals living in Southeastern Spain. Three social capital and socio-emotional competencies assessments scales were used in the study with 1614 pupils from 7 secondary schools. The results show that: (1) The social capital is a predictive and explanatory factor in adolescence. (2) The social relations that influence the SEC the most are those developed at school, followed by peer relations and, lastly, the family. (3) Spanish and Romanian teenagers show higher social capital and more SEC than Moroccans. (4) There are SEC gender differences among the Spanish group. (5) An immigrant school puzzle is observed in the Moroccan teenagers group who value school the most. (6) The family’s low emotional influence, particularly among Moroccan women, suggests that there is a deterioration of the institution and the existence of inter-generational differences. According to the results, schools remain a privileged space for SEC intervention programmes.     

Shaping up? Three acts of education studies as textual critique

This paper presents a study of dominant educational discourses through textual critique and argues that such an approach enables education studies to preserve an important distinction from teacher training. The texts deconstructed here are specific to English education, but the discourses at work have international relevance as the rhetorics of accountability, performance and measurement (which we call cells of discourse) have global reach. Ward described a national picture in England whereby the great majority, if not all, of education studies undergraduate courses appear to be taught alongside, or within (through shared modules) teacher training programmes. But from a sociological position, these are two increasingly conflicting arenas—the study of education and the training of teachers. In response, Ward called for the subject to radicalize teacher education. The implications of this are significant if education studies is to retain a status as agent of critique. In this paper we return to the theme of education studies as a discrete practice from teacher training and suggest that any acceptance of a proximal relation to teacher education is counter‐productive. In so doing we offer three contemporary examples of the subject at deconstructive work, scrutinizing the published standards for teacher training in England, employer discourse and the Tomlinson report (commissioned by the English government to offer proposals for the reworking of vocational education) and the new curriculum for adult literacy in England. Particular attention is given to analysing the ways in which such texts speak the currently powerful discourse of standards.     

Factors Affecting Women's Decision to Study at the Technical University of Norway NTH)

The Technical University of Norway (NTH) in Trondheim is the key institution for the production of Chartered Engineers in Norway and has a high percentage of women students by Western European standards. This paper reports on a study of engineering students at NTH in 1982 and aims to pinpoint the factors which direct women towards becoming students at NTH. The results of the study are considered in relationship to national and international studies concerning women and work.     

Assessment in Client-Based Technical Writing Classes: Evolution of Teacher and Client Standards

Client-based technical writing classes have the potential to help students practice a smooth transition between school and work because they allow the side-by-side examination and negotiation of standards of writing for faculty and technical clients. However, this potential is often not realized. This article reports the results of two case studies using interviews and surveys to examine the evolution of the standards of clients and faculty throughout one semester as well as student perceptions of those standards. The results suggest that three factors help students understand standards in a way that is conducive to effective school-to-work transition: standards negotiation, teacher awareness of client standards, and perceived overlap in teacher-client standards at the end of the semester.     

Assessment in Client-Based Technical Writing Classes: Evolution of Teacher and Client Standards

Client-based technical writing classes have the potential to help students practice a smooth transition between school and work because they allow the side-by-side examination and negotiation of standards of writing for faculty and technical clients. However, this potential is often not realized. This article reports the results of two case studies using interviews and surveys to examine the evolution of the standards of clients and faculty throughout one semester as well as student perceptions of those standards. The results suggest that three factors help students understand standards in a way that is conducive to effective school-to-work transition: standards negotiation, teacher awareness of client standards, and perceived overlap in teacher–client standards at the end of the semester.     

新课程标准的实施对体育教师提出的挑战

体育与健康课程标准的理念和目标给教师发展提供了机遇,但它更是一种挑战。我们必须认真学习和钻研体育与健康课程标准,树立体育与健康课程意识,依据体育与健康课程标准来实施教学行为;要不断改善自身素养,提高根据学生和学校实际实现课程标准的能力,要研究课程评价体系与方法,发挥课程评价对学生发展和教学改革的激励功能,努力达成课程标准。     

美国课程一致性研究的演进与启示

课程与教学的一致性是检测是否有效落实课程标准的关键性指标之一。以韦伯研究工具的构建为标志,美国课程一致性研究范式实现了由高内容效度向高一致性的转型。在此基础上,开发了用于一致性分析的Achieve、SEC及SRI等研究工具,一致性研究呈现出综合化、整体化、精细化的态势。对于我国刚起步的一致性研究而言,需要依据特定的研究目的、围绕要解决的核心问题、综合分析各种研究范式的应用可能,从而形成具有针对性的一致性研究工具。     

关于高等职业教育课程标准建设的思考

高职教育必须实施工学结合的人才培养模式。课程建设是专业建设的载体,必须符合工学结合人才培养模式的要求。作为课程建设的核心,课程标准建设目前仍处于积极探索稳步推进阶段。基于对课程标准内涵的理解,就课程标准架构、课程标准制定与实施等方面进行了初步的探索。     

Challenges faced by Chinese academics in the academic heartland

In an attempt to raise China’s international competitiveness, the Chinese government has instituted a series of sweeping reforms in recent years, all with the aim of rapidly expanding the number of higher education places within tertiary institutions. However, this rapid rate of expansion has led to a new set of problems, most notably a scarcity of resources, a drop in educational quality, and a weak international academic standing. In recent years, the Ministry of Education has attempted to alleviate these problems by initiating a series of employment reforms. However, the new reforms have posed a new set of challenges for university academics. Based on the data reported in this study, we can see an increased implementation of managerial measures into the university employment system. The new employment system was viewed by university academics with a great deal of scepticism and disagreement. Ultimately, after serious consideration, the academics we interviewed chose to sacrifice their standards of living in order to maintain a focus on producing serious academic work. However, they also urged the state and university to offer a more agreeable environment in which professors could concentrate on authentic academic endeavors without having to sacrifice work stability.     

A Vision of Integrity and the Mission of Performance Improvement

The performance improvement professional, as well as those in Human Resource Development, Organizational Systems Development, Sociotechnical Systems Development, Total Quality Management, and Training and Education, are all uniquely positioned in their companies to facilitate the value of ethical awareness throughout the workplace. We certainly can be ethically informed and can conduct research studies on ethical issues in performance improvement. In practice, ethical standards for the practice of our craft should arise from within the membership of our profession. Ethical standards for our clients ought to arise from the organizations in which we work. We can help them. We must decide if we will pursue those challenges. Those of us who choose to work on this task should spend time grounding ourselves in the empirical research and normative ethical theory that comprise the field of business ethics. Then we ought to design and develop a more refined ethical heuristic based upon empirical and rational writings and on the work of subject matter experts and ethicists. Finally, we ought to use and model these ethical standards ourselves as we practice our craft.     

Cohort and education as predictors of temporary employment,and their relation to low wages and socioeconomic classification for young people in Sweden

The purpose of my paper is to describe and explain the probability of staying in temporary work for young people (age 16–27) in Sweden between 1992 and 2011 and its relation to socioeconomic outcomes (low socioeconomic classification and wage). I used panel data from the Swedish Labour Force Survey (LFS) and the longitudinal integration database for health insurance and labour market studies (LISA). To analyse the data, I used a dynamic probit model, unconditional quantile regression, and a pooled bivariate probit model. My results suggest that young people who have a low education have lower probabilities of receiving temporary employment in younger cohorts. However, younger cohorts with a lower education have a substantive wage disadvantage, specifically in younger cohorts compared to older cohorts. Low-educated cohorts also have a higher probability of obtaining low socioeconomic classification (SEC) employment, which is conditional on holding temporary employment in older cohorts compared to other educational groupings.