Out With the Old-In With the New: Thoughts on the Future of Educational Productivity Research

The purpose of this article is to present a review of-and to provide insight into future directions for research on-the literature surrounding the efficient production of educational outcomes. Research studies on educational productivity and efficiency generally support 2 dominant paradigms within the field of school finance: (a) Money Does Not Matter and (b) Money Does Matter. After a brief historical review, the article critiques the cost-minimization assumptions implicit to both paradigms, using public choice theory as a basis to acknowledge that nonmarket forces influence educational productivity. Next, suggestions are made surrounding normative economics concepts that need to be expanded, explored, and operationalized to measure educational efficiency more appropriately. Finally, it is suggested that researchers investigate at least 3 nontraditional methods to measure levels of economic efficiency in public educational organizations: (a) modified quadriform analysis, (b) data envelopment analysis, and (c) stochastic frontier analysis.     

基础教育学校发展的时代要求与实践路径

在国家教育改革与发展的时代背景下,我国基础教育学校改革与发展的时代要求是:建立新的学校发展观,实现每一所学校成功;促进每所学校创新发展,不看或消灭排行榜;培育和激发教师发展,发挥教师的主动性、积极性、创新性;实现学校开放发展,超越传统制度化学校;创造新时代教育生态,消除不恰当的教育焦虑。系统推进学校改革发展的实践路径是:将以学生为中心的理念落实到学校办学实践;将以德为先的理念转化成为学校的发展方向;将育人方式作为学校改革与发展的关键载体;将课程建设作为学校改革与发展的重点领域;将教学改进作为学校改革与发展的新常态;将自主创新作为学校改革与发展的驱动力。     

Open Type Tasks as a Tool for Developing Creativity in Secondary School Students

The relevance of the present study is due to the importance of developing creativity which is considered to be the target and the result of education. Modern society demands from individuals non-standard actions and approaches, flexibility, an ability to formulate new ideas and original ways of thinking when solving urgent problems in the course of life. Facilitating the formation of a personality with a strong intellectual potential capable of creative thinking is set as one of the priorities in the federal and regional documents that determine the direction of educational institutions’ development. The generalized cognitive ability to create and solve tasks is the specific feature of intelligence. The tasks are used in the educational process as a means of presentation, consolidation and acquisition of new knowledge. Thus, the aim of our research is to explore whether using the system of open type tasks can be an effective way of improving the level of creativity development in secondary school students. The main methods in this experiment are modeling the system of open type tasks and the system analysis of large samples of experimental data based on assessment according to a two-point scale of four parameters: the optimality of ideas suggested by students, the efficiency of students’ reasoning, the originality of their answers and the degree of the investigation of solutions. Our experimental research made it possible to design new methods of developing creativity in secondary school students.     

浅谈现代信息技术与高三物理习题教学的整合

介绍了现代信息技术与高三物理习题教学整合的优势和意义：便于创设物理情境；利于构建物理模型；辅助物理实验，增强实验效果；增大课堂容量，提高教学效率；有效地规范解题，提高教学魅力。     

Successful Transitions to Graduate School: Using Orientations to Improve Student Experiences in Criminology and Criminal Justice Programs

The initial transition to graduate school provides a critical opportunity for promoting a positive educational experience among incoming students. This study discusses the importance of this transition and then describes a novel student-led orientation approach to facilitating successful entry of new students into criminology and criminal justice graduate degree programs. Results from an evaluation of this approach are presented. Analyses of focus group and student survey data indicate that graduate students matriculating into a criminology and criminal justice program in a southern state felt welcomed and found the information, guidance, and social networks that they developed to be helpful. At the same time, students identified ways the orientation could be improved for future cohorts. A student-led orientation, along with evaluation of it, provides a promising strategy for criminology and criminal justice graduate programs to create positive educational and professionalization experiences for their students.     

Are measured school effects just sorting?: Causality and correlation in the National Education Longitudinal Survey

Youth who share a school and neighborhood often show similar levels of academic achievement, but some studies find all or most of this correlation is due to sorting (not causation). We analyze the National Education Longitudinal Survey (NELS) in three ways to decompose sorting versus causality: We first control for much richer measures of family background than other analysts have used. We next use characteristics of the students’ future high school as an instrument for family background (as future high school quality is correlated with unobserved family background but cannot cause junior high test scores). Finally, we use regression and semi-nonparametric matching methods to look at changes in test score when youth change schools. The results create a collage of evidence that a significant fraction of the correlation is causal.     

Collaboration for Inclusion: Practitioner Perspectives

Collaboration as a cornerstone of effective school inclusion is an idea that has high theoretical currency among many scholars in the areas of special education and educational leadership. The challenge for educational practitioners is to find ways to implement high-quality special education programs collaboratively amid the public call for school efficiency and accountability. Accordingly, the primary purpose of the qualitative research project reported in this article was to examine inherent challenges in the implementation of school inclusion programs in ten public schools in North Louisiana over a three-year period. Data collection methods included participatory observation, semi-structured interviews with nine teachers and three principals in four schools, two focus groups, and a document search. The findings revealed the critical and challenging role of the principal for establishing collaborative cultures for successful school inclusion. Additionally, special education teachers and general education teachers experienced intrapersonal and interpersonal value conflicts in the pursuit of educational equity amidst a climate of school accountability.     

开发教师领导力的实践探索

由于我国特有的组织结构、文化特色、领导观念等诸多因素的影响,教师领导力的开发遭遇如下障碍：地方教育行政部门的影响;科层式的学校内部组织结构;校长“权力”观念的制约;消极竞争的教师文化;教师时间、精力的有限性;教师的不自信、缺乏经验。为此,从“可为”出发,校长应转变教育观念;创建教职员工普遍认同的价值观和清晰、明确的愿景;形成有利于学习、共享、信任的组织文化;不断创造平台,从多元渠道促进教师领导力的开发;激励机制的完善,让教师的努力“很值得”;变革日常教学管理制度,给教师一定的资源支持。     

UNDERSTANDING STUDENT STRESS AND COPING IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: A MIXED‐METHOD,LONGITUDINAL STUDY

This mixed‐method, longitudinal study examined daily school stress and coping strategies of elementary schoolchildren in the United States. Students (n = 65) between the ages of 7 and 11 years reported daily school stress measures for 8 weeks and completed individual stress and coping interviews. Results highlight critical relations between students’ exposure to daily stress at school, their stress appraisals and future expectations, and usage of coping strategies. Students reported limited preparedness in their ability to cope with daily stress in socially appropriate, effective ways; their accounts may have valuable implications for academic success and personal well‐being. Recommendations for educational practice and future research are discussed.     

Aspiring School Administrators' Perceived Ability to Meet Technology Standards and Technological Needs for Professional Development

The merits of technology in general and of educational technology specifically are well documented. The use of educational technology has been shown to improve teaching and learning and the overall educational quality of schools. However, the successful integration of educational technology in schools hinges on school administrators' technology leadership abilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate aspiring school administrators' perceived ability to meet technology standards established by ISTE Standards for Administrators (formerly known as the NETS·A) and to determine which standards they wished to pursue for future professional development. Utilizing the ISTE Standards–A as a framework, a survey was created to decipher how aspiring school administrators perceived their own abilities to become leaders with foundational technology leadership skills. The findings showed that (a) the aspiring school administrators were more likely to indicate a need for professional development in technology utilization to meet the standards than they were to indicate their perceived current competence in meeting the technology standards and effectively utilizing technology in their schools; (b) when interests were examined by race, African American aspiring school administrators were more interested in pursuing professional development to enhance their abilities to perform the tasks than were Caucasian aspiring school administrators; and (c) there was a statistically significant difference between aspiring school administrators' average Perception and Interest scores. It appeared that in general, the participants perceived a greater need for professional development in technology standards than their perceived current ability to perform the standards.     

High school diversification against educational equality: a critical analysis of neoliberal education reform in South Korea

Recent reforms of high school education in Korea have focused on transforming the uniform and standardized system into a deregulated and diversified system that has an emphasis on school choice and competition. Situating the high school diversification policy in the context of the recent controversy of the neoliberal educational reform, this study argues that school diversification in Korea is deeply impaired and unfulfilled, such as in situations in which the school differentiation and elite high school credentials struggle are reinforced by the peculiar nature of the Korean educational market, namely the hakbul-based society and the development of private educational markets. It suggests that special attention should be drawn to integrate the reform efforts for high school diversification into the ways in which the policy is being configured and delivered within the pursuit of educational equality and social justice.     

Improvisation,planning and the creative process

Abstract

We anticipate and create the future in many ways. Through active planning, improvisation, and even procrastination, we move beyond the moment. The purpose of this paper is to argue that future oriented processes are creative processes. By engaging in formal and informal educational activities children learn to create the future from the present and the known from the unknown. In this paper I explore the uses of improvisation and planning as vehicles for creativity by describing some of my work as well as research and ideas of others in the fields of psychology, anthropology, and education     

Leading sustainable pedagogical reform with technology for student-centred learning: A complexity perspective

The literature on school improvement is littered with sombre reports of how ICT-mediated innovations have failed to create impact on teaching and learning. Even when evidence-based successes are palpable, they are sporadic and rarely sustainable. Against the backdrop of the litany of such studies, this paper reports the case of a primary school in Singapore that has a decade-long experience in integrating, growing and sustaining ICT-mediated innovations. By distilling the influences underpinning its integration, the article aims to make a contribution to the theorisation of educational leadership situated in the context of technology-mediated reform for student-centred learning. Using a complexity lens, this paper looks at how school leaders, together with other autonomous actors in its ecological system, foster the favourable conditions for sustainable technology-mediated pedagogical reform. Data of the study are drawn from interviews, observations of lessons, fieldtrips and professional development meetings as well as document analysis. Based on the findings, a complexity-informed model for technology-mediated reform is devised and its implications discussed. They include the need to cultivate the following within and across the subsystems of the school: (a) ecological awareness; (b) collective reflexivity on practices and implementations; (c) creating alignment; and (d) capacity to forge ecological coherence.     

论教师作为学校教育资源

在学校教育中,教师不仅是教育资源的使用者。而且教师自身就是学校教育中的重要资源。教师作为教育资源对学生的影响在性质上有积极和消极之分,在程度上有大小之分。教师应当不断提升自身道德品质,塑造良好的教师形象,构建和谐的师生关系,以优化学校教育效果。     

School attainment and gender: Attitudes of Kenyan and Malawian parents toward educating girls

This paper compares the attitudes of Kenyan and Malawian rural parents to educating girls, using perceptions of gender-specific academic potential, educational aspirations and opinions on the gender appropriateness of primary school subjects and various careers. Suggestions are offered as to how these attitudes affect girls' educational attainment. The paper closes with a discussion of the ways that parents' attitudes affect girls' completion of primary school in Malawi and how the high wastage rate might be cut.     

确立教育理念系统 实施管理创新工程

高等学校担负着创新人才培养的神圣使命，创新人才的培养必然推动高等农业学校的教学创新，也必然要求高等农业院校教学管理的创新。本文确立对教育理念的系统认识，在教育理念的基础上实施创新管理工程，以保证办学目标的，保证将教学质量、办学效益更高的高等农业党校带入21世纪。     

Mentors’ personal growth and development in a college access mentorship program

As the prevalence of mentoring programs in higher education institutions continues to grow, there remains little research on the growth and development that comes from serving as a mentor. In this phenomenological study, the researchers examined college students’ personal and educational gains through serving as mentors to high school students in a work-study mentoring program for increasing college access. Drawing on interviews with 14 mentors and other program staff, the researchers examined the following research question: In what ways did student mentors in the G-Force Mentoring Program grow and develop as a result of their mentor experience? Findings included mentor growth in three key categories: (a) self-development and awareness, (b) skill development, and (c) career development. Implications for practice and future research are offered.     

Domains and Levels of Pedagogical Innovation in Schools Using ICT: Ten Innovative Schools in Israel

The study reported here is based on the results of two international studies: IEA's Second Information Technology in Education Study (SITES) Module 2, focusing on innovative pedagogical practices at the classroom level, and OECD/CERI Case Studies of ICT and Organizational Innovation, focusing on ICT related innovations at the school system level. In the paper we analyze the data collected in ten innovative schools in Israel which have incorporated ICT in unique ways and have succeeded in devising innovative classroom pedagogies and school system changes. The major research questions addressed are: (a) What levels of innovation were observed in the participant schools, and in which domains? (b) How does the level of innovation in the various domains vary among and within schools? (c) What correlation patterns among levels of innovation in the various domains can be identified? The results of ten comprehensive case studies of exemplary schools in Israel were analyzed by mean of the innovation analysis schema developed by us for characterizing ICT-based educational innovations.     

Improving educational outcomes for at‐risk students

Drawing on data from a longitudinal study of at‐risk youth (n = 593), this article reports on the analysis of factors that enabled these youth to succeed at school. It considers the impact of three baseline factors (age, gender, ethnicity) and a number of time‐dynamic factors [positive school environment, additional educational support, positive peer and parent relationships, exclusion/expulsion from school, depression and externalising individual risk, as well as the involvement of a range of services (mental health, justice, welfare)] upon educational progress. Over time, the educational status of this group of youth deteriorated. Differences were observed for indigenous, older and male youth who had poorer outcomes on average. Positive peer groups and a positive school environment predicted better outcomes, while the use of harsh disciplinary practices such as expulsion was the strongest predictor of poorer educational outcomes and had a pervasive negative impact on all three educational progress measures. Formal services did not make an appreciable difference to educational outcomes, while the provision of additional educational support only contributed to keeping youth enrolled in educational programmes but did not appreciably improve their educational outcomes. Improving educational outcomes for at‐risk youth requires a pan‐system response, whereby schools reduce the use of expulsion and create a positive school climate, other professionals support schools to retain challenging students at school and the positive resources generated by pro‐social peer groups are harnessed.     

Exploration of Certain Questions Pertaining to Societal Establishment of Schools

Educational resources can be deployed in two ways: through planning and through the market. Generally speaking, the government-run school system resorts mainly to administrative regulatory measures and deploys educational resources through planning. The societal-run school system resorts mainly to market regulation and deploys resources through the market. In concrete educational activities, the two are not mutually exclusive; on the contrary, they can be integrated.