When Implementation Threatens Impact: Challenging Lessons From Evaluating Educational Programs

For more than 3 decades, researchers have catalogued, described, and analyzed educational program implementation. As a result of this tradition, current wisdom and conventions of sound practice now recognize the value of studying implementation, both as a subject of interest in its own right and as a source of useful information about program impact as well. In this article, the authors focus attention on the relationship between meaningful program implementation and their capacity to assess the impact of James P. Comer's School Development Program (SDP) in a large-scale study. The evaluation of the SDP under discussion, which was initially designed to assess variability in implementation and impact, ultimately examined only implementation-and not by choice, but rather by necessity-because the introduction of the SDP as a viable reform strategy had either stopped altogether or had progressed at a much more leisurely pace than planned. The authors outline the many facets of implementation that had slowed down or gone awry, and they describe subsequent studies that benefited from their experiences with this first SDP study. Although field-driven realities will always play a deservedly central role in the evaluation of school-based programs, the authors offer a set of recommendations to funders and policymakers about how implementation challenges might be better anticipated and managed.     

Problems in interagency collaboration: Lessons from a project that failed

Several institutions (e.g., child welfare, police, court, health, education, social service) are necessarily involved in the management of child abuse in all communities. The need for better cooperation among them has been acknowledged; inquests into child deaths resulting from abuse have often attributed some blame to faulty communication and/or poor cooperation between the institutions. The Community Child Abuse Team (CCAT) Project was designed by these same institutions in Hamilton, Ontario, to maximize interagency collaboration. The hypothesis, that this "interagency collaboration" model would provide more efficient and effective services to abused children and their families, was never tested. During its 30 months of operation the CCAT program never materialized as planned and funding was terminated. This paper describes selected problems and issues that arose during the struggle to implement the project. The central problematic issue was control. Those responsible for the project lacked the power to insist that the design be adhered to during the initial stage.     

Informal learning organizations as part of an educational ecology: Lessons from collaboration across the formal-informal divide

How do informal learning organizations work with schools as part of a broader educational ecology? We examined this question through a comparative case study of two collaborative efforts whereby informal arts education organizations, a children’s museum and a community-based organization, worked with an urban school district to redefine the provision of educational services for children and youth. Grounded conceptually in organizational theory, our study identified factors that enable and constrain collaboration across the formal-informal divide. We argue that examining the dynamics of cross-sector collaboration as occurring within a regional ecology of diverse learning organizations and broader institutional context provides insights into the outcomes of joint work. Our findings have implications for designing collaborations between schools and informal organizations that contribute to their respective strength, as well as the broader regional educational ecology in which they reside.     

Educational Assessment in China: Lessons from history and future prospects

Imperial China is widely regarded as having introduced the first systematic assessment system for civil service appointments. This paper briefly reviews this history and then discusses the evolution of assessment during the twentieth century, especially the period of the People's Republic from 1949. It explores the highly centralised nature of the resulting system, which changed as political and economic circumstances dictated.     

Designing and implementing technology collaboration projects: Lessons learned

Conclusion Even though the collaboration between the state university and the government research center ended inconclusively, the authors examined the collaboration with an attempt to provide sound guidance for future collaboration projects. Based upon the findings above, many of the challenges that the technology collaboration faced become clearer. A primary problem was an unclear definition regarding the type of collaboration that was being developed. Goals and project timelines were not agreed upon or clearly communicated between all participants. Many graduate students chose to contribute to the project because it appeared to be an attempt to engage teachers and researchers in working collaboratively to design and develop a usable and engaging product for the classroom. This type of collaboration, however, requires authentic participation by all parties. As the project progressed, many teachers felt that they had increasingly limited input into the design of the multimedia modules. For example, teachers raised many concerns related to interface design and lesson content, but later learned that these items were non-negotiable. Teachers began to feel as though their role was more of an apprentice or an intern learning from rather than with the research center. Lack of clarity regarding roles conspired with a host of issues related to partnership development to obstruct the overall product from being completed. As a result, it is impossible to gauge whether the modules designed via the partnership will have a greater impact on student learning than those created solely by the research center. Furthermore, it is difficult to determine whether participating teacher practices changed. None of them had the opportunity to pilot test the modules within their classrooms and a very small percentage completed all quarters of participation. The greatest challenges of the project related to whether or not the needs of the two institutions involved and of the graduate students were fulfilled. The technology collaboration was an honest attempt to involve teachers in the development of science curriculum and technology on a national scale. There exists great potential in linking the skills of teachers with the resources available through the research center and the authors were personally invested in getting involved in the collaboration. Critical to the success of such collaborations is effectively utilizing the skills of all participants, and essential to the measure of its success is the overall ability of the project to meet stakeholders’ needs.     

有效教学:让课堂生成与课前预设互动共生

教学具有预设性与生成性的双重特性。预设与生成是教学的重要组成,不能偏废。强调课堂的动态生成,但不应当忽视课前的精心预设;预设和生成需要兼容兼顾、互动共生。     

Campus commons: Lessons from an outdoor classroom

Deborah Mixson‐Brookshire shares an experience that opened her mind to the transformative nature of her ropes course work with students and reminded her why she does it.     

Education and Conservation: Lessons from an evaluation

This article presents an analysis of the lessons for programme design and management that were distilled from a recent evaluation of the Worldwide Fund for Nature's (WWF) global educational programmes. The aim of the evaluation was to clarify and document the contribution that education is making to the achievement of the conservation goals of the organisation. Aspects of the findings of the evaluation are presented but these are not the focus of the article. Rather, the emphasis is on the generalisations that can be drawn from an analysis of the evaluation process and the lessons to be learnt from the findings. This emphasis affords this article a degree of currency and utility that goes beyond its immediate value to WWF and may provide ideas and, in places, a vocabulary for thinking about planning and evaluating environmental education programmes, especially within conservation groups and resource management agencies.     

Bringing Research Into Educational Practice: Lessons Learned

Bringing research into educational practice is necessary but does not happen automatically. The Transfercenter for Neuroscience and Learning, at the University of Ulm in Germany, is set up to transfer (neuro)scientific knowledge into educational practice. In doing so we have learned why this does not happen automatically, and have tried to make sure it happens anyway. We have realized that transferring research into educational practice needs a special research approach, which we suggest could be labeled “translational research” as seen in medical research. We have also realized that transfer requires a special type of scientist. We try to hire generalists who work and think interdisciplinarily and who are committed to providing a service to practitioners. Finally, we feel that neuroscience provides a possible foundation for learning sciences.     

Lesson study: an inter-professional collaboration approach for Educational Psychologists to improve teaching and learning

This paper describes an innovative use of Lesson Study (LS), an internationally used collaborative approach in which teachers develop their teaching knowledge and practices. It aimed to evaluate how EPs join teachers in LS teams, using working memory and other knowledge to inform the teaching of pupils with learning difficulties. The study uses a case study methodology to evaluate LS teams (three teachers and EP) in a primary, secondary and special school. The findings show how working memory knowledge is used in reviewing and planning research lessons, how the teams interact, including the teachers’ perceived EP contribution to the Lesson Study process. The paper illustrates the potential of an inter-professional LS study to embody collaborative reflective practice in order to improve the teaching of pupils with learning difficulties.     

政府教育投入的国际比较与经验借鉴

通过我国教育投入与国外教育投入的相互比较，可见我国当前教育投入及管理存在的主要问题，同时我们认识到教育在不同级别具有不同的公共产品性质，并针对存在的问题提出了增加和调整教育投入的措施及改进教育经费管理的办法。     

教育管理中的人性假设:特征、反思与转型

人性假设是教育管理思想发展的基本理论之源。教育管理中的人性假设具有以预成性人性观为逻辑基础,以生成性人性观为演绎前提,以人性自由为终极目的的基本特征。教育管理思想的演进与人们对人性认识的深化相伴而生,在西方教育管理发展史上,先后出现了"经济人""社会人""自我实现人"和"复杂人"等人性假设。经由哲学反思可以发现,它们都存在强调片面人性,忽视整体人性;重视预成人性,轻视人性生成;偏重人性"管理",忽略人性"教育"等认识弊端。实现教育管理思想的当代变迁,应首先完成教育管理人性观念从还原论到整体论,从预成论到生成论,从本体论到实践论的范式转型。     

Educational Psychologists' Orientation to Inclusion and Assumptions about Children's Learning

Despite their important role in the assessment and decision-making process, there has been very little research on the attitudes of educational psychologists (EPs) to inclusion. In this article, we report a recent study in which 144 EPs from 37 English local education authorities responded to a postal questionnaire. This examined their hypothetical and ideal placement of a range of children with different special educational needs, and their orientation to inclusion and beliefs about the nature and process of children's learning. Results reveal that the majority were supportive of inclusion and adopt a social constructionist philosophy toward the nature and process of children's learning.     

西方女性主义教育思潮对我国大学校园文化建设的启示

西方女性主义历经了传统的自由主义女性主义、现代的激进女性主义和后现代女性主义流派的发展,给我们留下了深刻的方法论启示.我国大学可以借鉴西方女性主义价值观建设当代和谐校园文化.     

一个自主学习小组给我的启示

正当接到上海电视大学关于开展"首届学生自主学习基本功大赛"的通知时,我毫不迟疑地推荐07级英语本科班的补专学习小组去参加该大赛。这是一批非英语专业专科毕业后来攻读本科英语专业的学生,有十个人,他们需要比同班同学多上几门英语的补专     

Educational Research: Language and Content. Lessons in Publication Policies from the Low Countries

Owing to the growing internationalisation of research, educational researchers in the Netherlands are increasingly expected to publish through the medium of the English language. Though this undoubtedly benefits the communication between scholars, there are also side-effects. This paper discusses problematic issues from three perspectives: (i) the use of a non-native language for communication between scholars in the area of education; (ii) the use either exclusively, or not, of a publication record of such publications for purposes of recruitment and promotion of staff; (iii) the relationships between research groups of different disciplines and/or universities. It will be argued that the demand to publish exclusively in a non-native language has damaging effects as far as the context of education is concerned. Not only will it lead to a denial of one's own background and culture, but the uniformisation, (which is the result of it), will also stifle the rich educational landscape by allowing the publication only of items of international interest. The model of the natural sciences is not adequate for the context of education because of the necessarily more local character of the content of educational problems and production of strategies to deal with these. Thus it will become clear that the integrity of the educational researcher is at stake as the research area is selected.