The relative difficulty of signed arithmetic story problems for primary level deaf and hard-of-hearing students

This study determines the relative difficulty and associated strategy use of arithmetic (addition and subtraction) story problems when presented in American Sign Language to primary level (K-3) deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Results showed that deaf and hard-of-hearing students may consider and respond to arithmetic story problems differently than their hearing peers, with the critical dimension in problem difficulty being based on the operation typically used to solve the problem, not the story within the problem. The types of strategies used by the students supported the order of problem difficulty. The visual-spatial nature of the problem presentation appeared not to assist the deaf and hard-of-hearing students in solving the problems. Factors that may have contributed to this pattern of problem difficulty are discussed so that educators can better align mathematics instruction to the thinking of the deaf child.     

The KAIZEN Leader: Continuously Improving Administration

Organizations need high levels of human performance from all personnel, including leaders. Unfortunately, standard organizational practices in selecting and promoting leaders reinforce behaviors that interfere with high performance from them and those they supervise. The leap from current performance levels to high performance must occur in incremental steps based on a theory of management that requires nothing less than cultural and personal change. This article defines the term “KAIZEN” and describes the changes leaders must make in their attitudes and behavior if they are to create continuously improving organizations.     

‘Cracks’ in the scholarly communications system: Insights from a longitudinal international study of early career researchers

• 170 early career researchers interviewed three times over 2 years, have uniquely contributed towards a stress test of scholarly communications and cracks have been identified.
• The perfect storm created by the convergence of millennial values and the pandemic appears to have fast-forwarded the cracking process, perhaps, for the good.
• The cracks in question are: (1) peer review; (2) reputational assessment; (3) unethical/questionable practices; (4) collaboration; (5) networking.

     

School accountability and teacher stress: international evidence from the OECD TALIS study

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - Accountability—the monitoring and use of student performance data to make judgements about school and teacher effectiveness—is...