Performance measurement: Does education impact productivity?

This study investigated the impact of managers' educational levels on productivity in the commercial poultry industry in Ghana. The level of education of 33 production managers of the poultry farms were factored into a Cobb‐Douglas production function with other explanatory variables. The computed percentage change in productivity due to higher education relative to secondary education was 10%. The interaction terms of basic education, experience, and extension visits were positive and not statistically significant. Targeting management education could increase productivity in the commercial poultry industry. Educated managers have a higher propensity to adopt technology and alternative production mix for effectiveness and efficiency. This study concludes that higher educational level had a positive impact on productivity in the commercial poultry industry and should be harnessed for improved performance in the domestic and global market.     

Linking student evaluations to institutional goals: a change story

For the past 30?years, beginning with the seminal work of Herbert Marsh in Australia and New Zealand, institutions of higher education have developed internal practices and procedures to collect and analyse student evaluations of teaching and learning. However, the question remains: has this development resulted in the achievement of institutional goals that maximise learning across all teaching contexts? As is the case in many other countries, a recent review of Australian national student evaluation data failed to conclude that student evaluations have improved overall teaching. However, these data have made student perceptions of teaching and learning more salient in the minds of tertiary educators. Certainly, teaching staff are aware of the impacts of student evaluations on informed decision-making, such as the continuation or discontinuation of courses, and on their promotion processes. This paper will review student evaluation practices according to criteria used in change theories, such as the transtheoretical change model (TTM). TTM construes organisational change as a process involving progress through a series of five stages: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. This paper will focus on organisational and behavioural outcomes that can be linked to the use of student data. It will recommend strategies for better aligning evaluation results to the stages of change.     

Voicing the challenges faced by an innovative teacher community

This research draws on sociocultural theories of learning and activity theory to explore the challenges faced by an innovative community of teachers in Central Finland. The aim of the teacher community was to develop a stream of foreign‐language (FL)‐mediated teaching and learning in the locality from kindergarten to upper secondary level. To achieve this goal, the teachers needed to form coherent groups within the member schools, as well as between the schools. The aim of this research is to give voice to the challenges identified by the teachers and in so doing give voice to the teacher community itself. Recognising the voice of this community also contributes to a broader conceptualisation of teachers and teaching both within and beyond the classroom. The data were gathered during a number of community activities and thematically analysed to identify recurring challenges the participants identified and encountered. The challenges became manifest in both the talk and activities of the community. The positive teacher responses to the community highlighted the value of this kind of interaction for often isolated teacher practitioners. The wealth of data also produced through these activities suggests that further exploration and development of teacher activity outside of the classroom would be a worthwhile endeavour.     

Poly-victimization among juvenile justice-involved youths

Objectives

This study replicates and extends the research literature on poly-victimization with a vulnerable and under-served population, juvenile justice-involved youths.

Methods

N = 1959, 10–16 year old youths (76% male; 74% youth of color) consecutively newly admitted to juvenile detention facilities completed psychometric measures of trauma history, posttraumatic stress, affect regulation, alcohol/drug use, suicide risk, and somatic complaints.

Results

Using latent class analysis derived from 19 types of adversity, three unique classes best fit the data. A poly-victim class (49% female, 51% youth of color) accounted for 5% of the sample and reported a mean of 11.4 (SD = 1.1) types. A relatively moderate adversity class (31% female, 70% youth of color) accounted for 36% of the sample and reported a mean of 8.9 (SD = 0.3) types of adversity and 2.65 (SD = 1.1) types of traumatic adversity. A low adversity class (59% of the sample; 17% female, 78% youth of color) reported a mean of 7.4 (SD = 0.4) adversity types but only 0.3 (SD = 0.45) types of traumatic adversity. The relatively moderate adversity class was comparable to poly-victims in endorsing extensive non-victimization traumatic adversity (e.g., accidental and loss trauma), but poly-victims were distinct from both moderate and low adversity class members in the likelihood of reporting all but one type of traumatic victimization, multiple types of traumatic victimization, and severe emotional and behavioral problems. Girls were at particularly high risk of poly-victimization, and African American and White youths also were at risk for poly-victimization.

Conclusions

Although youth involved in the juvenile justice system typically have experienced substantial victimization, a poly-victimized sub-group, especially (but not exclusively) girls, warrants particular scientific, clinical, and rehabilitative attention in order to address the most severe behavioral and mental health problems and risks faced by this vulnerable population.