Successful components of school improvement in culturally diverse schools

Contemporary phenomena, including modernization, globalization, and migration, have altered the sociopolitical and cultural conditions of schooling. Schools are called upon to respond to such change through improvement efforts fostering intercultural education. To this end, this research examines school actors’ perceptions of the successful components of school improvement in culturally diverse schools. For the purposes of this research, we used the Cypriot education system as our case study to carry out observations and interviews with head teachers, teachers, immigrant and native students, and their parents. In identifying the inputs for the improvement of culturally diverse schools, as perceived by school actors, various components emerged, including listening to student voice, socioemotional and culturally responsive teaching, and increased parental involvement. Arguably, these contributing factors bear implications for school-based leadership, building successful professional communities, and enhancing intercultural competence in schools.     

Evaluation systems and the pace of change – The example of Swedish higher education1

Abstract

The aim of¹ this article is to illuminate and discuss evaluation and evaluation systems in relation to the pace of change. It is argued that evaluation promotes and accelerates change. The article will thus contribute to a critical scrutiny of evaluation as a societal phenomenon and as a widespread practice in education. To accomplish this aim, the inherent purpose of evaluation and evaluation systems is brought forward. National evaluation systems for Swedish higher education are used as an empirical example. An analysis using Rosa’s three aspects of social acceleration (technical acceleration, acceleration of social change, and acceleration of the pace of life) is offered to demonstrate how the evaluation systems are related to, sustain, and promote an increase of the pace of change (acceleration) in educational practice in higher education.     

A Step-by-Step Design and Development of an Integrated Educational Software to Deal with Students' Empirical Ideas about Mechanical Interaction

We present the educational software Interactions between Objects, which we designed and developed to assist constructive teaching of Newton's 3rd law and Newtonian Dynamics in general. The software was designed on the basis of students' empirical ideas and conceptual difficulties, identified from previous research with Greek students (11–16 years old), the main findings of which are presented. We describe the step-by step design of this software, which aims to help students reconstruct their knowledge in the action–reaction thematic field through a number of experiments, by simulating real everyday life situations of interaction between bodies, modeling those situations by the help of an appropriate didactic method, applying cognitive conflict processes and supporting run my model features to promote students' conceptual change in this physics area.     

Prospective relations among victimization, rejection, friendlessness, and children's self- and peer-perceptions

This study investigated the prospective links between three forms of peer adversities (i.e., victimization, rejection, and lack of reciprocated friendships) and children's perceptions of themselves and of their peers. The sample consisted of 212 children (107 boys and 105 girls, 11-13 years) recruited from four primary schools and followed up for a period of one year. The results showed that a negative self-perception was a risk factor for the development of all forms of peer adversities. Of the three forms of peer adversities assessed, victimization and rejection had an influence on children's peer perceptions. None of the peer adversities predicted changes in self-perceptions. The results partially support a transactional model between children and their environments.     

Nurturing Nature: How Brain Development Is Inherently Social and Emotional,and What This Means for Education

New advances in neurobiology are revealing that brain development and the learning it enables are directly dependent on social-emotional experience. Growing bodies of research reveal the importance of socially triggered epigenetic contributions to brain development and brain network configuration, with implications for social-emotional functioning, cognition, motivation, and learning. Brain development is also impacted by health-related and physical developmental factors, such as sleep, toxin exposure, and puberty, which in turn influence social-emotional functioning and cognition. An appreciation of the dynamic interdependencies of social-emotional experience, health-related factors, brain development and learning underscores the importance of a “whole child” approach to education reform and leads to important insights for research on social-emotional learning. To facilitate these interdisciplinary conversations, here we conceptualize within a developmental framework current evidence on the fundamental and ubiquitous biological constraints and affordances undergirding social-emotional learning–related constructs and learning more broadly. Learning indeed depends on how nature is nurtured.     

The role of the principal's leadership style in the implementation of ICT policy

This paper presents findings of a study in information communication technology (ICT) implementation, on the principal's leadership style in relation to other factors that influence implementation. The principal's leadership style is perceived—on the basis of the characteristics of the context where the study was conducted—as a personal quality, rather than a change/transformational leadership behaviour or related to the principals' positional authority. The study employed firstly a large‐scale survey based on which case studies of four schools were selected for further research. The findings have implications for practice, more specifically, for principals' training and for the support provided to schools for embedding ICT. The paper draws on an institutionalist implementation approach to describe the principals' role in theorising the concept of ICT in education.     

Advocating a Post-structuralist Politics for Educational Leadership

Abstract

Post-structuralist discourses have usually been associated with forms of critique and deconstruction of social, cultural and philosophical phenomena. However, this article attempts to provide a generative approach to understanding educational leadership through Michel Foucault’s notions of power and subjectification, and Judith Butler’s notions of performativity and discursive agency through re-signification. We argue that leadership is not simply a list of traits, characteristics or behaviours to be implemented. Rather, we argue that leaders are performatively constituted through everyday practices and discourses. The aim is to interrupt prevailing discourses that often re-inscribe certain forms of meaning and understanding in educational leadership. This disruption subsequently provides possibility for putting forward otherwise silenced ideas about what leadership is and how leadership ‘identity’ (subjectivity) is formed, thus expanding the methodological tools scholars can use to talk about leadership.     

After-school tutoring in the context of no Child Left Behind: Effectiveness of two programs in the Pittsburgh Public Schools

The No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation has created pressure for districts to improve their students’ proficiency levels on state tests. Districts that fail to meet their academic targets for 3 years must use their Title I funds to pay for supplemental education services (SES) that provide tutoring or other academic instruction. Many districts, including the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS), have also adopted additional tutoring programs designed to help students reach proficiency goals. This paper examines student participation and achievement in two PPS tutoring programs—the NCLB-mandated SES program and a state-developed tutoring program. We examine the characteristics of students participating in each program, the effects of participation on student achievement, and the program features that are associated with improved achievement.     

Reliability and Validity of Bookmark‐Based Methods for Standard Setting: Comparisons to Angoff‐Based Methods in the National Assessment of Educational Progress

Historically, Angoff‐based methods were used to establish cut scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). In 2005, the National Assessment Governing Board oversaw multiple studies aimed at evaluating the reliability and validity of Bookmark‐based methods via a comparison to Angoff‐based methods. As the Board considered adoption of Bookmark‐based methods, it considered several criteria, including reliability of the cut scores, validity of the cut scores as evidenced by comparability of results to those from Angoff, and procedural validity as evidenced by panelist understanding of the method tasks and instructions and confidence in the results. As a result of their review, a Bookmark‐based method was adopted for NAEP, and has been used since that time. This article goes beyond the Governing Board's initial evaluations to conduct a systematic review of 27 studies in NAEP research conducted over 15 years. This research is used to evaluate Bookmark‐based methods on key criteria originally considered by the Governing Board. Findings suggest that Bookmark‐based methods have comparable reliability, resulting cut scores, and panelist evaluations to Angoff. Given that Bookmark‐based methods are shorter in duration and less costly, Bookmark‐based methods may be preferable to Angoff for NAEP standard setting.