The Social Construction of School Exclusion Rates: Implications for evaluation methodology

Experience from a three-year Home Office funded evaluation of a project intended to reduce school exclusions is used to explore methodological dilemmas raised by the current emphasis upon 'evidence-based' policy formation. The social construction of school exclusion rates poses problems of reliability and validity, especially when such rates are simultaneously being used for target setting. In principle, the concept of 'evidence-based' can refer to a wide variety of research questions and appropriate research methodologies. Despite this, moves towards interpreting 'evidence-based' as predominantly measurement and outcomes oriented can be found both in government evaluation guidelines and in procedures for systematic reviews of research. Given the complexity of educational innovations, any neglect of research into the processes of change in naturalistic settings will not only lead to a restricted awareness of a project's impact but also to a failure to understand what certain apparent outcomes actually mean.     

基于工作过程的计算机组装与维护课程教学改革探讨

本文针对当前中职教育中教与学的现状,特别是理论与实践环节的脱节情况,应用基于工作过程的教育理论与思想,结合中职计算机专业计算机组装与维护课程的实例,阐述了基于工作过程为向导的课程设计思路、原则和步骤,并通过具体的教学实施探讨了基于工作过程的课程设计、实施和效果的评估,以期为中职教育教学改革提供一些基本的探索和支撑。     

学校效能增值评量研究

改进学校和学生评价的方法是提高教育质量的关键杠杆。研究发现,增值评量普遍被认为可在评价中国教育质量上提供一种有效且相关的度量,这一结论与其他国家,譬如英国的有关研究结果相类似。在中国现有的学校和教师评价体系中,增值评量的概念与其测量的方法被视为是一种较为科学且受欢迎的评价方法。在运用任何新的评价体系时,需要考虑到地方情境以及优先考虑事项。增值评量法是否可在公共问责体制的框架下,为学校效能评价体系提供一种最有用或最适当的方法,向学校提供保密性反馈信息,提高学校自我评价与改进的能力,值得讨论。     

N400 Event‐Related Potential and Standardized Measures of Reading in Late Elementary School Children: Correlated or Independent?

We investigated whether and how standardized behavioral measures of reading and electrophysiological measures of reading were related in 72 typically developing, late elementary school children. Behavioral measures included standardized tests of spelling, phonological processing, vocabulary, comprehension, naming speed, and memory. Electrophysiological measures were composed of the amplitude of the N400 component of the event‐related potential waveform elicited by real words, pseudowords, nonpronounceable letter strings, and strings of letter‐like symbols (false fonts). The only significant brain–behavior correlations were between standard scores on the vocabulary test and N400 mean amplitude to real words (r = ?.272) and pseudowords (r = ?.235). We conclude that, while these specific sets of standardized behavioral and electrophysiological measures both provide an index of reading, for the most part they are independent and draw upon different underlying processing resources.     

Mathematics attainment at inner-city schools: Establishing the need for systematic formative evaluation practices

Recently there has been a great amount of research and professional educator interest in at-risk, poor academically attaining students, especially low socioeconomic status students at U.S. inner-city schools. A major factor that has been hypothesized in the research literature as being associated with poor academic attainment is the lack of critical and timely instructional feedback or formative evaluation. Using a sample of 130 inner-city senior high school students, the perceived quality and quantity of formative evaluation received by these students at their elementary and secondary school levels were assessed. in addition, each student was given a mathematics (pre-algebra) assessment using both a one and two-dimensional format (recognition plus confidence) to determine present levels of mathematics attainment. Finally data were collected from the cumulative grade-level folders of a subset of these students, especially norm-referenced data (NRT) in mathematics, to examine their relationship to scores on the Scholastic Aptitude Test-Quantitiative portion. The study finds that in addition to extremely poor mathematics attainment and poor formative evaluation practices there is little association between SAT (quantitative) scores and the grade-level (mathematics) NRT scores. These findings suggest that parents cannot depend on traditional norm-referenced measures to indicate actual mathematics attainment as these students are progressing through the schools. These findings also challenge urban school administrative personnel to reassess the use of NRT measures to monitor student progress and to develop more comprehensive and systematic formative evaluation procedures and practices for individual students as they progress through each grade level.     

The Impact of a High Stakes Teacher Evaluation System: Educator Perspectives on Accountability

The use of student achievement data to evaluate an individual teacher's effectiveness has become a new focus in educational policy. This article focuses on the underresearched teacher perception of this new policy measure. Drawing on ethnographic research procedures, this article explores how first-grade teachers in one state navigated a new high-stakes teacher evaluation system. Although the results indicate that teachers have a desire for accountability, findings also show a variety of beliefs on the validity of teacher evaluation, as well as differing applications of scoring measures across school contexts.     

Pupil mobility in schools and implications for raising achievement

This paper examines the causes of pupil mobility and good practice in schools to address mobility issues. Pupil mobility is defined as ‘a child joining or leaving school at a point other than the normal age at which children start or finish their education at that school’. The first part draws upon evidence of a survey, which explores the views of headteachers on the nature and causes of pupil mobility in schools and the priority they give to addressing pupil mobility issues in their schools. It examines the cause of mobility in schools in the context of mobile groups. This is followed by the challenges for managing mobility and strategies to address pupil mobility in schools. The second part of the paper outlines successful strategies that minimize the effects of mobility in schools. Evidence is drawn from case‐study research and focuses on the school systems, pastoral care and access to learning which combine to support the induction, assessment and monitoring of newly arrived pupils in school and effective use of data for self‐evaluation. Examples of flexible curriculum organization, innovative approaches to additional support and effective administrative procedures are drawn upon. Evidence reflects the views of a range of school staff, parents/carers and pupils in the case‐study school, as well as the judgements of senior researchers. Policy implications for government and for all concerned with school performance are highlighted, as well as many practical suggestions for raising achievement of mobile pupils     

Experimental Comparison of Virtual Reality with Traditional Teaching Methods for Teaching Radioactivity

Research at the University of Nottingham has been carried out to investigate the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) for teaching secondary school science. This paper describes the evaluation of VR to teach radioactivity at secondary school level. Evaluation was carried out in a local school and compared directly to the traditional teaching methods currently used in the school to teach radioactivity. Computer experience, computer attitudes, general attitudes and knowledge gained were measured to allow comparisons to be drawn. Individual differences of gender, ability and home computer use were also looked at in relation to the above measures. Results indicated that both ability level and the order in which the conditions were completed significantly affected the attitude scores. High ability students reported higher attitude scores, both overall and for the VR class in particular. As a result of the evaluation study, the Virtual Laboratory has been heavily modified and further evaluation studies were then carried out.     

Teacher Evaluation and Teacher Effectiveness in the United Kingdom

An outline is given of the UK research situation for the knowledge bases of school effectiveness and teacher effectiveness, and the UK policy situation in terms of school and teacher evaluation, improvement and development. It is argued that the UK has seen a much greater use of school-level policies, reflecting its substantial school effectiveness research base, rather than teacher-level interventions, although there are currently some attempts at policy and practice level to focus upon teacher effects, teacher evaluation and related issues of professional development. Speculations are given concerning future policy and research needs.     

Governing teacher learning: understanding teachers’ compliance with and critique of standardization

This paper examines how policy pressure for increased performance on standardised measures of student achievement influenced the teacher learning practices that arose in a school setting in Queensland, Australia. Drawing upon research and theorising of governing by numbers, and applications to the governance of education, and particularly teachers’ learning, the research analyses how a group of Year 3 teachers collaborated to better inform themselves about the nature of their students’ learning. The research reveals that the governance of teachers’ learning under current policy conditions was manifest through both teachers’ compliance with and critique of a strong focus upon school, regional, state and national data – specifically, students’ attainment in ‘leveled’ readers and other school-based standardised measures of reading and mathematics, and school, state and regional results on national literacy and numeracy tests. There is little research that highlights the tensions around these numbers as governing technologies in relation to specific formal, ongoing instances of teacher professional development practices. The research cautions against the influence of such governing processes for how they potentially narrow teachers’ attention to more standardized measures of students’ learning, even as teachers may critique these more reductive effects.     

The District Superintendent and School Improvement: A Western Australian Perspective

ABSTRACT

The contribution district superintendents can make to school effectiveness and improvement is a neglected area of research in Australia. Research in the US suggests four ways in which superintendents impact on school improvement: the evaluation of principals and auditing of schools; the matching of school and district goals; the provision of informal support for principals; and the appointment and positioning of principals. Within an Australian setting of devolution to school‐based management, evaluation assumes major importance at school level and at district superintendent level in the pursuit of school effectiveness and improvement. An evaluation of the performance of two superintendents in Western Australia took place in 1990. It focused on superintendent performance within one key accountability area, the provision of principals’ professional development. The evaluation procedures and results are described and analysed, and implications are drawn for improving district superintendent evaluation as a means of enhancing school effectiveness and improvement.     

Teacher Evaluation in Cyprus: Some Conceptual and Methodological Issues Arising from Teacher and School Effectiveness Research

A critical analysis of policy on teacher evaluation in Cyprus identifies some weaknesses in current practice. It is argued that findings from teacher and school effectiveness studies could be a foundation upon which a more valid teacher evaluation system in Cyprus could be built. It is further argued that limitations in teacher and school effectiveness studies conducted discretely suggest that joint teacher/school effectiveness research should be conducted. Two complementary approaches to improving teacher evaluation in Cyprus are explored. The first is focused on the use of research findings and methodology to improve the existing policy. The second is to complement such an improved system with a school-based self-evaluation approach. Finally, the potential of a self-evaluation approach for locating some power and control over defining effectiveness in the schools and teachers, rather than exclusively in the government is discussed.     

开放教育农村学员自主学习能力的现状及其培养

通过问卷调查,对开放教育农村学员的自主学习能力进行调查和分析,并结合基层电大现代远程开放教育实际,提出了应采取加强对学生的始业教育、指导学员制定个人学习计划和创设基于计算机网络的学习环境等有力措施, 才能更好地培养开放教育农村学员的自主学习能力.     

Toward Effective Computer Use in High School Science Education: Where to from Here?

It is suggested widely that the use of computer technology holds great promise for school science education. Such a suggestion is congruent with broader beliefs that implementation of new technology is a key to improving education. However, little is known still about computer use in science classrooms and its effects on students' learning. This paper draws on major findings from recent research, integrates these with theoretical perspectives from associated education literature, and proposes guidelines for orienting computer use in high school science classrooms. It is proposed that (a) pedagogy should be strongly informed by appropriate theoretical orientations, (b) the importance of models in science should be acknowledged in pedagogy and in software development, (c) developing students' metacognition during instruction involving computers should be focussed upon, and (d) teachers' and students' beliefs and epistemologies should be recognised as key factors in educational change involving computer implementation and use.     

Getting Better All the Time? An Illustrative Investigation of Multilevel Longitudinal Measurement Invariance Based on School Climate Surveys

School climate surveys are central to school improvement and principal evaluation policies. The quality of school climate has been linked both to student achievement and to teacher retention. Oftentimes, policymakers and practitioners are concerned with monitoring change in school climate quality in each academic year. Such applications assume longitudinal factorial invariance—it is presupposed that the surveys are measuring the same things in the same metric at each time point. While there is considerable research examining the validity of inferences based on survey‐derived climate indicators, this research is almost exclusively based on cross‐sectional data. There is little literature describing procedures for gathering evidence of factorial invariance of school climate indicators. This study proposes to adapt existing methods for evaluating factorial invariance in longitudinal designs into multilevel frameworks, and in doing so, articulates a novel method for evaluating longitudinal measurement invariance in school climate research. This technique is illustrated on a widely used school climate survey.     

Evaluation of special service delivery systems: An organizational domain-referenced approach

An organizational, domain-referenced approach to evaluation of public school special service delivery systems is offered. Derived from organizational and systems theory, related research in these areas, and the author's experience in special service delivery system evaluation, the framework focuses on the process of service delivery and is seen as useful to the improvement of service delivery within the context of Public Law 94–142. The paper delineates an organizational conception of a “School-Based Special Service Delivery System,” identifies several “Systemic Domains” in which evaluation can occur, outlines evaluation questions, methods, and procedures relative to each domain, and specifies evaluation information derived from evaluation in each domain. The paper is presented for consideration by school professionals with the hope that it can be adapted by them to their local circumstances.     

The Dilemma of Pragmatics: Why Schools Don't Use Quality Team Consultation Practices

Research supports that school districts' prereferral consultation teams adhere less closely to quality consultation procedures and are less effective than those conducted through university research projects (e.g., Bahr, Whitten, Dieker, Kocarek, & Manson, 1999). This study investigated whether this finding might be due to incompatibilities between school settings and recommended team consultation practices. First, self-assessment surveys and case evaluation activities verified that teams in this school district-led project were not fully implementing research-recommended team consultation procedures. Then, focus group discussions verified through follow-up ratings were used to describe why the research-recommended procedures were not followed. Results suggest that school teams consider the recommended team consultation procedures to be unfamiliar, discrepant from existing staff roles, unnecessarily complex, and often inefficient. In too many cases, administrative support for team activities is inconsistent and the teams lack sufficient intervention resources to have an impact on student success. Team recommendations for improving the consultation procedures are discussed.     

The impact on a primary school community in England of failed inspection and subsequent academisation

This research reports upon the impact of two concurrent processes of Special Measures and academisation applied to a primary school in the north of England as a result of an unsatisfactory inspection by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted). The aim of the study is to describe how the process of being placed in special measures, coupled with subsequent academisation, affected key ‘school facing’ stakeholders. Data collection commenced from when the school received the judgement about its performance from Ofsted. This paper will examine the emerging themes during the first phase of the process of school transformation.     

The longitudinal influences of computer-intensive learning experiences on at-risk elementary students

This evaluation study examined the school achievement and adjustment by at-risk students one year following their participation as fifth and sixth graders in computer-intensive classrooms using the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) program. Comparisons between the former ACOT subjects and a matched control group who had attended the same elementary school were made on attitudes toward school, teacher evaluations, grades, computer skills, and standardized test scores. Results showed some advantages for the ACOT students in the seventh grade, but on most measures they were indistinguishable from the control group. Specifically, both groups appeared to remain at risk based on their poor performance and relatively poor adjustment. A key factor in interpreting outcomes for the ACOT group was the limited availability of computers in the seventh grade, which thus restricted their opportunities to apply or transfer the skills they had learned. This research was supported by a grant from Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow, Apple Computer, Inc.     

Age is more than just a number! The role of age and maturity in the processes leading to early school leaving in Flanders (Belgium)

In many educational systems, age is used as a criterion to organise education. Children's age is used to group students together and indicate entry into particular programmes. The use of age for organisational purposes in education stems from the idea that age provides an indication of the development of children, which is associated with teaching and learning. However, more far‐reaching consequences of age‐related educational practices are insufficiently recognised in policy and academic research. Qualitative methods are used to study students and school personnel in diverse types of educational institutions in Flanders (Belgium) to assess how age and age‐related issues matter for the students’ educational trajectories and educational decision‐making processes leading to early school leaving. Data analyses reveal that school staff members consider age and perceived maturity during evaluation procedures. Students also consider age during educational decision‐making processes: when getting older or being too old for the grade, students increasingly weigh the costs and benefits associated with getting an educational qualification and being enrolled in school and alternative opportunities. Students’ expectations related to age shape their school experiences and feelings of belonging. The findings of this study demonstrate how these educational practices add to the reproduction of inequalities through education. These results could inform debates concerning the evaluation procedures in secondary education, compulsory education and the reduction of early school leaving in Europe.