Beyond Compliance: Using Organizational Theory to Unleash the Potential of Assessment

This article illustrates how organizational theory can be used to support the development of authentic assessment practice among community college faculty, as well as guide research on implementation of assessment efforts. While many factors make implementing assessment difficult, the link between accreditation and assessment is a key element in distancing the practice from faculty. This dynamic arises not from the actions of accreditation agencies per se, but from the accountability narrative that has come to dominate both assessment and accreditation, the corresponding perception that assessment is “done to” faculty rather than by them, and a reliance among institutional leaders to echo this message in an effort to get assessment started. The result is implementation of assessment for compliance rather than meaningful program improvement. Understanding assessment as an innovation, and using organizational theory to guide implementation, may help community college leaders transcend this challenge and develop assessment practice that is more faculty-owned and meaningful. However, the current literature says little about how to use organizational theory to implement such assessment efforts. This article integrates Bolman and Deal’s (2008) framework on leadership and organizational change with actual examples of practice to illustrate how their model might be used to recapture the potential of assessment as well as guide research on effective implementation.     

A Culture Framework for Education: Defining Quality Values and Their Impact in U.S. High Schools

In this article, we address the relatively unsubstantiated claim that there is an important relationship between organizational culture and the ability to successfully implement Quality Management (QM) programs in schools. This relationship has not been adequately explored in the literature due to the lack of a comprehensive framework for defining and measuring the values and beliefs at the root of specific types of organizational cultures. After presenting some background on organizational culture used in research to date, we outline the specific values and beliefs underlying QM practice in schools. These QM values and the accompanying propositions provide an important step toward future empirical research aimed at understanding the relationship between organizational culture, the implementation of systemic improvement initiatives like QM, and key organizational and individual outcomes. The context of our research is U.S. high schools, but the general principles could be applied to other educational settings as well. The results of our review suggest that some of the quality management culture dimensions are highly consistent with educational research on school improvement, while others are more controversial.     

An Optimization of Human Performance Technology Intervention Selection Model: A 360‐Degree Approach to Support Performance

The human performance technology (HPT) model suggests various interventions to meet organizational challenges. While the original model includes a matrix to match an intervention according to a performance analysis, accumulated experience and recent research show that there are several parameters that will influence the validity and effectiveness of the solution. This article offers a 360‐degree approach to support the use of a performance model that helps practitioners to select the proper HPT intervention according to key attributes that influence the solution. Successful implementation, such as target audience characteristics and work processes that are at the heart of organizational needs, are examples of the benefits provided by this approach. The model is based on research conducted by Gal and Nachmias (2011, 2012) concerning performance support solutions success factors in corporate settings. In addition, experiences gained by both authors as they implemented HPT solutions in large organizations are considered.     

真实问题解决：指向核心素养提升的教学策略——以人大附中通用技术课程建设为例

新课标明确了学生毕业应具有的正确价值观、应具备的品格特征和应掌握的关键技能,将核心素养作为学科建设的主要指标提出来。因此,在课堂教学中落实学科核心素养是教育质量提升的关键。该文构建了基于真实问题解决、指向学科核心素养的技术教育学习策略;提出了创设符合学习进阶的课程体系、创立多样化组织范式、探索"多样态"学习方式、丰富课型与教学方式、开展项目式教学评价研究等具体实施途径和方法;最后以中国人民大学附属中学(以下简称人大附中)在通用技术课程建设为例进行了说明。该教学策略在理论体系建设、教师专业发展、创新人才培养方面效果明显。     

Strategic factors and barriers for promoting educational organizational learning

This article uses a global model to analyse empirically how the personal and professional development of educators (personal mastery) facilitates the creation of a series of basic shared values (shared vision) and of team learning by the members of the educational centre, these inter-related strategic factors favouring, in turn, educational organizational learning and subsequent improvement in organizational performance. Likewise, verification is made of different learning barriers that hinder the acquisition, dissemination and sharing of knowledge by blocking shared vision and team learning. Using a national survey in educational centres in Spain, we found that these hypotheses are verified and that organizational learning plays a key role in the generation of organizational performance.     

四川省普通高中语文选修课实施情况研究

文章使用问卷调查和访谈调查的方式,对四川省普通高中语文选修课的实施情况进行了调查.通过对调查的结果分析,发现了在选修课的实施过程中存在的一些问题,并以此反思在师范生培养中的缺失,以期对提升师范生的整体素养起到促进作用.     

Artifacts as authoritative actors in educational reform

Educational reforms are often translated in and implemented through artifacts. Although research has frequently treated artifacts as merely functional, more recent work acknowledges the complex relationship between material artifacts and human/organizational behavior. This article aims at disentangling this relationship in order to deepen our understanding of the role of artifacts within processes of educational change. In particular, we study the implementation of a data-transfer instrument developed to stimulate care continuity between primary and secondary schools. In order to understand an artifact’s authority and to unravel its role in processes of innovation, we turned to organizational routines and neo-institutional theory. Drawing on data from an artifact analysis and semi-structured interviews, this article reports how this artifact not only transfers data, but also changed the discursive interactions (routines) in the school team around care. From an institutional perspective, implementing the artifact can be viewed as an answer to institutional forces that are pressurizing organizations to conform to particular ideas of what care and care continuity should ideally look like. The use of the artifact contributed to the schools’ organizational legitimacy by serving their symbolic needs and it enabled them to position themselves towards stakeholders, parents and other schools as a truly legitimate school.     

Potential knowledge management contributions to human performance technology research and practice

This article considers three aspects of the knowledge management (KM) literature that have the potential to enhance human performance technology (HPT) research and practice. First, we believe the recent attempt by economists to describe and quantify intellectual capital can help HPT to better evaluate and defend organizational expenditures/investments for performance improvement initiatives. Second, the emerging KM literature explores the linkages between information, learning and performance, provides a common point of intersection for our fields, and can enhance our analysis and implementation of information (as opposed to training) solutions as well as inform and expand our conceptual and theoretical understanding. Third, we have observed that both KM and HPT practitioners are increasingly concerned with the learning that takes place outside the confines of traditional formal training environments. We briefly review the electronic performance support systems literature from HPT and KM, noting the similarities in epistemology, design, and interventions. Finally, we highlight the KM research agenda and suggest related opportunities for HPT research.     

Managing Reform: Lessons from Urban High Schools

ABSTRACT

American high schools present an extremely difficult, nearly intractable setting for serious educational reform efforts. Yet such efforts can succeed. This article reports results from a survey of 179 urban comprehensive high schools that were successfully implementing change programs based on effective schools principles.

All schools encountered problems of implementation. Larger‐scale, instructionally‐oriented, and longer‐lasting programs induced more problems. Problems were only moderated, not eliminated, by good‐quality planning.

Given the problem‐richness of change efforts, the major determinant of successful implementation was good problem‐coping. It was made more likely by the presence of consensus (shared vision), support of key stakeholders in and out of the school, planning quality, external assistance, and administrative time spent. Case studies showed that the presence of an empowered change management group aided all these critical factors.

Schools with the most impact (defined as student outcomes, teacher improvement, and organizational improvement) had focused on teacher or organizational changes to begin with, coped with the inevitable problems well, had internal and external constituencies supporting the change effort, and sustained the work for a longer period of time (typically 4‐5 years).

The key variables appear to form a coherent causal network. Implications for change management are drawn.     

Learning networks for schools: keeping up with the times or a leap into the unknown?

This article seeks to explore the ‘fit’ of ‘the network’ as an organizational form being implemented in schools in England. It considers current trends within education policy, pedagogy and educational technology in the context of these new service delivery models and relates these to the current interest in learning networks. The article draws upon the experience of school networks as it has been discussed in evaluation research and literature surveys, to highlight the issues around their implementation. The purpose, typology and potential tensions of educational networks are reviewed, with a particular focus on the Networked Learning Communities (NLCs) pioneered by the National College for School Leadership (NCSL). Although, on the face of things, the position of the ‘school network’ as a structural model seems logical, there are significant tensions which suggest that the implementation and development of meaningful and high quality networks is far more challenging than the government may appreciate.     

Organizational Dysfunction: A Conflict of Trust and Control

The objective of our article is to examine organizational dysfunction as a consequence of misfit between organizational controls and levels of workforce trust within nations. By examining three elements of trust, we suggest that trust varies among national workforces. This relationship provides a basis for a theoretical framework which posits that a negative relationship between trust and control can produce organizational dysfunctions when there is a misfit between organizational control and societal trust. We propose that financial accounting practices serve as an important indicator of inherent societal trust which should fit controls implemented at the managerial accounting level. The paper concludes with a discussion of contributions and implications for future research.     

Effective Implementation of ePortfolios: The Development of ePortfolios to Support Online Learning

This article discusses the ePortfolio system for grades 9–12 at the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School (VLACS). ePortfolio implementation at VLACS developed from an Advisory course curriculum that supports students' journey toward becoming college, career, and citizenship ready. We provide a unique perspective for implementation in that VLACS is completely online. Drawing from experiences in brick-and-mortar schools, online instruction, and research on digital portfolio programs, we utilize online portfolios to build a virtual community and engage students in their learning. The article summarizes key components to ePortfolio implementation and highlights how ePortfolios enable VLACS students to both reflect on their experience as learners and demonstrate academic and professional competencies.     

From Professional Development to Implementation: A District's Experience Implementing Mathematics Tiered Systems of Support

This article is about a school‐district‐initiated partnership with university faculty and their effort to implement a mathematics multi‐tiered system of support (MTSS). In addition to reporting research about MTSS implementation, we describe how this district translated research into practice. We also share the perceptions of key stakeholders about implementing mathematics MTSS in their district. We found that stakeholders identified time and human capacity as barriers to implementation, while the primary facilitator to implementation was identified as the acquisition of concrete strategies and tools supporting instruction. These stakeholder perceptions have implications for other districts with limited resources attempting to implement mathematics MTSS in their buildings through professional development and coaching.     

Making a Difference in Research and Practice: A Commentary on “Consulting to Facilitate Planned Organizational Change in Schools,” an article by Joseph E. Zins and Robert J. Illback

Zins and Illback observed in 1995 that planned organizational change processes were neglected in practice, training, and research. In the decade following publication of their article, implementation of processes and structures of planned organizational change increased dramatically. Schools and school districts continue to face increased opportunities and challenges associated with engaging with multiple organizational change efforts and face the prospect of negotiating the demands, accountabilities, and competing priorities emerging from discrepant efforts. Challenges emerging from widespread adoption of planned change processes are discussed in this commentary.     

Instructional technology and the structure of education

This article is an extention of “The Proper Study of Instructional Technology” published in ECTJ, 1984, 32, pp. 67–88, and is best understood in that context. By considering instructional technology as a subset of technology rather than as a subset of education, we can examine more freely the institutions of education in relation to their acceptance or rejection of the design and implementation of technologically based instruction. Methods of institutional analysis used in other disciplines can be helpful. For example, a method of organizational analysis developed by Charles Perrow, a sociologist, is used to maintain that education institutions reflect a craft rather than a technology orientation. A legal anlaysis is also used to show how the governance of education reinforces its craft nature. The analyses are intended to stimulate a line of research that uses aspects of the institutions themselves as variables.     

School autonomy in the province of Buenos Aires,Argentina: evidence from two school districts

This article provides empirical evidence of policy adoption, outcomes and consequences of decentralization and school autonomy initiatives enacted in Argentina during the 1990s. The study examines what school autonomy meant in Argentina and how it was adopted at the provincial and school levels. Using qualitative data on school districts of the Greater Buenos Aires, the study analyzes the role that organizational and political factors play in the implementation of school autonomy reform. Given that previous studies showed that reform praxis varies across environments, this research looks comparatively at the outcomes of the reform process across organizational systems (i.e. provincial and former national) and diverse local sociopolitical environments.     

The start-up,evolution and impact of a research group in a university developing its knowledge base

This article focuses on the understudied role of research groups contributing to develop the knowledge base of developing universities in regions lagging behind in human, financial and scientific resources. We analyse the evolution of a research group that, in less than 10 years, achieved worldwide recognition in the field of microelectronics, with an impact on both engineering research and teaching activities at the University of Macau. Our analysis concludes that voluntarism and loose organizational structures from the start stimulate the development of solid scientific agendas and institutional identity, and that counter-intuitive policies, including academic inbreeding, may also be needed and unavoidable in this effort. The use of these counter-intuitive policies and their effects, however, can be mitigated by transforming education to highlight high levels of internationalization and quality standards with measurable outcomes. This requires the committed involvement of research group leaders in both research and education. Lastly, another key component of university development may lie in hiring and giving freedom to young promising scholars with the will and drive to lead and act.     

Case Study Research: A Valuable Learning Tool for Performance Improvement Professionals

Although it is sometimes recommended that performance improvement (PI) professionals include experimental research designs in their repertoire of PI tools and methods, it has been long understood that experimental designs can be difficult to implement due to impediments resulting from the complex nature of the organizational settings. However, the utilization of case study research has proven to be an effective alternative to aid in the identification of strengths and opportunities for the improvement of organizational procedures, policies, processes, or programs. Case study research helps managers and practitioners make sense of real world problems. This article presents a summary of steps in the design of case study research and provides examples of how these methods have been used within organizational settings. Implications for PI practitioners are provided.     

Challenges to successful quality management implementation in higher education institutions

This article discusses the key challenges to successful quality management implementation in higher education institutions identified by 160 colleges and universities at various stages of quality management practices. Survey findings suggest that there are five key challenges that affect the successful implementation of quality management practices in colleges and universities: organizational culture, senior leadership commitment, faculty support, implementation time, and training.Julie E. Horine, Ph.D. (The Florida State University) is Assistant Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Department of Educational Leadership at the University of Mississippi. Her areas of professional expertise include quality management and the use of the Baldrige criteria as a diagnostic tool for organizational improvement. Julie is a two-year Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Examiner and an evaluator of the Baldrige Education Pilot Criteria. William A. Hailey, DBA (University of Kentucky), is Professor of Operations Management and Information Systems and holder of the H.E McCarty Chair in the Else School of Management at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. He is recognized as a Fellow, Certified Quality Engineer, and Certified Quality Auditor by the American Society for Quality Control. His areas of professional expertise include strategic quality planning, quality management training, and designing information systems for implementing continuous improvement principles.