A meta-look at meta-studies of the effectiveness of development assistance to education

What insights and generalisations can be drawn from looking across the work of multiple governmental and non-governmental organisations aimed at supporting basic education in low and medium income countries? To address this question, this study analysed findings of nine evaluation meta-studies completed by international assistance organisations, each of which was examining the effectiveness of their work in basic education over a multi-year period. The value of the underlying project activities reviewed in these evaluations represents $6–$6–8 billion. Studies analysed with respect to (a) the criteria each used to judge success of their underlying projects, (b) the extent to which these studies focused on outcomes and impacts, (c) the extent to which projects were judged sustainable, (d) the adequacy of the project-level evaluations being reviewed, (e) what the underlying projects accomplished, (f) weaknesses identified in underlying project designs and (g) cost. A major weakness identified in almost all of the meta-studies reviewed was the paucity of evidence regarding the impact of the project activities in promoting student learning outcomes.     

Community-Building in a Diverse Setting

Research demonstrates that community-building in schools is an integral aspect of student success. Based on a foundation of research findings related to the importance of implementing community-building into all aspects of a school, community-building activities, including five specific classroom strategies (parent visits class to tell about child, weekly newsletter with interactive activities, bi-monthly open-house hour where children explain school work to parents, Valentine letters filled with true compliments, and a cultural celebration unit focused on Africa), were implemented in an urban magnet school. This school was moving toward racial integration as well as implementation of a Montessori education program. As predicted from research information, incorporating community-building strategies geared at creating a welcoming climate, at improving faculty interaction, at fostering collaborative classrooms, and towards on-going and open teacher/parent communication and collaboration resulted in positive outcomes in what could have otherwise been a difficult, negative or unproductive situation.     

Validation of a research-based student survey of instruction in a college of education

As a preparer of students for the profession of teaching, a college, school, or department of education in higher education has an expectation that instructors teach competently. In higher education, the student survey of instruction is one of the most important among other indicators of teaching effectiveness. This article presents a validation of a new student survey of instruction in a college of education. In this validation, we found the new survey to be as troublesome as the previous survey. Four major findings emerged from this study that offer hope for a new and improved survey of instructional effectiveness. These findings involve estimating reliability, subscore validity, course relevance and rigor of the instructor, and construct-irrelevant variables that threaten validity. Given the failed validation, many cogent observations provide guidance for the design and development of improved forms that may overcome these threats to validity and guide others in validating teaching effectiveness surveys.     

SOAP in practice: learning outcomes of a cross‐institutional innovation project conducted by teachers,student teachers,and teacher educators

This paper reports on a case study investigating learning outcomes at the individual and organisational level of a cross‐institutional innovation project based on the SOAP approach. SOAP integrates Schooling of teachers, Organisational development of schools, Action‐ and development‐oriented research, and Professional development of teachers. The innovation project was aimed at combining teachers, student teachers, and teacher educators in an alliance to design and develop new competence‐based vocational educational arrangements for pupils. An inductive qualitative analysis of 37 semi‐structured interviews among the participants revealed seven main categories of individual learning outcomes: attitudes, project design and management, collaboration, action theory, teaching practice, educational principles, and developments within secondary vocational education. Three main categories of organisational learning outcomes were identified: institution‐level learning, project‐level learning, and combining institution‐level and project‐level learning. A tension was identified between the participants’ individual interests in learning and personal development, and the need for organisational learning aimed at improving organisational processes.     

African-American women's decisions to become teachers: Sociocultural perspectives

In this study the authors describe sociocultural and school-related factors that influenced African-American women's perceptions of teaching and decisions to teach. Surveys were conducted of the participants' demographic and background characteristics, and life histories were developed that focused on early experiences with the family, in the community, and at school and how these experiences influenced their perceptions of teaching. These data revealed that the mother, women in the community, and female teachers were significant influences on the participants' decisions to teach. Moreover, their experiences and interpretations of these experiences have shaped their images of good teaching as shared, culturally responsive mothering. The participants' life histories further revealed that as their conceptions of good mothering and good teaching crystallized, their reasons for teaching transcended altruism and a love for children, resulting in perspectives on caring, and a sense of responsibility for the school success of all students. The authors suggest that improved understanding about African-American prospective teachers' lived experiences that give rise to their perceptions of and purposes for teaching hold implications for teacher education and African-American teacher recruitment and retention efforts.     

Authors Using Social Media: Layers of Identity and the Online Author Community

This article offers an analysis of the impact of professional social-media engagement upon authors. Authors primarily use Facebook, Twitter and there is growing use of Pinterest. Authors use social-media platforms primarily for marketing, publicity and making contact with readers. They tend to adopt a multi-layered approach to self-presentation and the lines between their ‘public’ and ‘private’ identities are blurred. The research reveals a limited author-reader community, but a much stronger online author–author community, founded upon practical support and encouragement. There are implications for the publishing industry as authors believe their publishers lack social-media expertise. The commercial benefits of maintaining a social-media presence are unclear for many authors.     

The story continues: an overview of the ‘Dissertations into Practice’ feature

The ‘Dissertations into practice’ feature began life in March 2012 with a dual aim: to encourage students, recent graduates and new professionals to write for publication and to highlight the impact of student research on policy and practice. This article reflects on the initiative and demonstrates that it has been extremely successful in achieving both aims. It highlights the diverse range of contributions to the feature so far and proves that student research can and does influence policy and practice. It also demonstrates that, with the right encouragement and support, students are willing and able to write for academic publication and that they gain a lot from the experience. A. M.     

Gender Inequality in Leadership Positions of Teachers

By integrating individual and contextual approaches, the present study examines gender differences in appointment to leadership positions in schools in three different educational sectors in Israel. Based on a sample of 10,733 Israeli high school teachers in two Jewish educational sectors and one Arab educational sector, we performed a set of multinomial logistic regressions. The main findings indicate that gender has an independent influence on the probability of entering various leadership positions in schools, even after controlling for personal characteristics and teaching fields. However, the patterns and the extent of gender inequality differ between the three sectors. The findings are interpreted in accordance with the glass ceiling and the queuing model approaches. We conclude that gender inequality is context bound and should be analyzed from this point of view.