Conducting Rigorous Survey Research in the Study of School-Based Consultation

The evidence base for school-based consultation practice and training is limited by a small number of studies, possibly due to unique challenges in researching consultation. For example, there are myriad variables to measure and idiosyncratic cultural and contextual factors to account for when investigating what works, for whom, and in what circumstances. Survey methodology offers one means for conducting consultation research. This article proposes a process for rigorous survey research in school-based consultation training and practice, which addresses some potential concerns regarding survey research. Specifically, issues of survey development, survey validation, sampling, and data collection are addressed. These processes are illustrated through the design and administration of an online survey of 262 early career school psychologists; preliminary data analyses suggested strong scale reliability, minimal item response bias, and population representativeness. Recommendations for future consultation survey research are provided.     

Explaining the Success of the World’s Leading Education Systems: The Case of Singapore

International comparative data on student performance has led McKinsey&Company, among others, to suggest that education systems will inexorably converge in their developmental trajectories with principals and schools enjoying more autonomy. This article challenges these assumptions through referencing Singapore where schools and professionals are still tightly controlled in key resources, curricula and assessment, and where other key factors contribute to its success – thereby evidencing multiple pathways to success.     

Quality assurance for distance learning: a case study at Brunel University

Brunel University currently has four distance learning MSc courses, with over 500 students registered, and one undergraduate distance learning course. Some have been running for over five years, and well‐established practices have been developed and provide a basis of support for the university. Quality assurance in the university has always been considered in three, equally important, ways: the curriculum and its assessment; the handling of coursework and assignments; and the liaison with students. The lesson we have learned is that a distance learning programme must be based on an existing full‐time MSc programme, which is the gold standard for curriculum and its assessment, and where possible, common examinations and assessment be used. This can be further assured by scrutinisation by the associated research council. This is going to become ever more important with the increasing scrutiny by overseas governments on the academic quality of distance learning courses, which seek assurance on the comparability and quality of degrees. Quality assurance for the handling of coursework and assignments must be secure and demands a high overhead of paperwork. Detailed feedback to students on their assignments is essential, but this can, at the same time, form a quality assurance check for later progression decisions. We also copy and retain approximately 10% of the assignments for the same purpose. Rapid turnaround is essential if feedback is to be timely and therefore useful, and quality checks on processing time should be standard. Quality assurance for the procedures for liaison with distance learning students are somewhat harder to measure quantitatively. The mark of good distance learning must be its tutorial support. This demands good communications. Our own course, entitled Data Communications Systems, benefits from the high proportion of use of electronic communications, namely email, which allows fast turnaround of questions, yet is not intrusive. However, it is deemed essential that hard copy of all such correspondence is kept. Migration to other Internet support services, such as the World Wide Web, videoconferencing and groupware, is inevitable.     

The Media in General

Millerson, Gerald. Effective TV Production (1976, 192 pp., $8.95, paper)

Robinson, J.F., and P.H. Beards. Using Videotape (1976, 163 pp., $7.95)

A. Arthur Englander and Paul Petzold's Filming for Television (New York: Hastings House, 1976—$19.50)

Dwight V. Swain's Film Scriptwriting: A Practical Manual (New York: Hastings House, 1976—$14.50/7.50)

Walter Herdeg's Film and TV Graphics 2: An International Survey of the Art of Film Animation (Zurich: The Graphis Press [New York: Hastings House], 1976—$28.00)     

Journalism

Marvin Barrett and Zachary Sklar's The Seventh Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Survey of Broadcast Journalism: The Eye of the Storm (New York: Lippincott & Crowell, 1980---$11.95/6.95).

Herbert E. Alexander's Financing the 1976 Election (Congressional Quarterly Books, 1414 22nd St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20037---$35.00).

Benjamin M. Compaine's The Newspaper Industry in the 1980s: An Assessment of Economics and Technology (White Plains, N.Y.: Knowledge industry Publications, 1980---$24.95).

Mitchell Stephens' Broadcast News: Radio Journalism and an Introduction to Television (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1980---$12.95).

James D. Startt's Journalism's Unofficial Ambassador: A Biography of Edward Price Bell, 1869-1943 (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1980---$15.95).     

School Principals’ Self‐Efficacy and its Measurement in a Context of Restructuring

The self‐efficacy of the principal to cope with change can be an important mediator in accomplishing change and in reducing the stress levels of the principal. Moreover, the concept of self‐efficacy of school principals assumes added importance in a context of restructuring and school‐based management, with greater decision‐making responsibilities passing to the school community. A measurement scale is presented that is specific to the self‐efficacy of principals when coping with change in the context of restructuring. The psychometric properties of the scale are outlined, and its usefulness demonstrated with a series of regression equations between attributes of restructuring and principals’ self‐efficacy.