Match: The Report of the School

Schools are currently suffering from considerable ‘innovation overload’ with multiple changes being demanded by the Education Reform Act and other sources. Tom Peters (1988) has argued that a similar turbulent situation exists in US business and industry and suggests that the most successful companies are those which are able to ‘Thrive on Chaos’. LEAs and schools need knowledge and skills about school improvement and this article attempts to provide research‐based information to help them cope with innovation and improve teaching and learning.

School improvement is seen as a combination of previous research on the management of change and school effectiveness. Eight factors which seem to be related to effective schools are listed and knowledge about the change process is used to consider how a school could be improved. In order to offer practical help to LEAs and schools a set of guidelines is provided and recent research findings are discussed under each heading. The article concludes with an outline of a possible LEA school improvement project, involving a set of stages.     

Social media and students’ behavioral intentions to enroll in postgraduate studies in Kenya: a moderated mediation model of brand personality and attitude

ABSTRACT

Using cross-sectional data from 504 students from four Kenyan universities, this study evaluates the indirect effect of brand personality on the relationship between social media and students’ behavioral intentions to enroll in postgraduate studies. Additionally, the study examines the moderating effect of attitude on the relationship between social media and brand personality, social media and students’ behavioral intentions, brand personality and students’ behavioral intentions. Finally, it investigates the moderating effect of attitude on the indirect process of brand personality on the relationship between social media and students’ behavioral intentions. The study is guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior, Technology Acceptance Model and Self Congruity Theory. Process Macro is used to analyze data. Results indicate that social media significantly predicts students’ behavioral intentions and this relationship is partially mediated by brand personality. Besides, attitude moderates the relationship between social media and students’ behavioral intentions and also the relationship between brand personality and students’ behavioral intentions. Finally, attitude has a conditional effect on the indirect relationship between social media and student’s behavioral intentions via brand personality and this effect is much stronger with a higher level of attitude. These findings contribute new knowledge to literature and theory.     

程序化营销:程序化营销是什么以及它如何造福于出版商?

将程序化营销与出版商的传统广告方式对比,指出程序化营销的目标用户定位优势;接着转向程序化营销的技术工具——数字信号处理器,该工具通过广告交易平台、用户信息数据库和实时竞价平台,实现对广告存货的竞价、购买和性能优化,以及媒介实时购买交易;然后由数字信号处理器衍生相应的策略,通过此类策略锁定潜在客户;最后介绍数字信号处理器的自助服务界面功能,通过该功能,活动经理能够轻松做出决策,实现对广告活动的优化.     

Stereotype reduction through humor and accommodation during imagined communication with older adults

Ageism can generate conflict and harm well-being. Our paper integrates the Aging Stereotypes in Interaction model with intergroup contact theory to predict how communicative elements mediate the effect of intergenerational contact on warmth and competence stereotypes of older adults as a group. Students (N?=?288) were randomly assigned to imagine having a conversation with an older adult in one of six experimentally manipulated contact conditions: a competent/incompetent older woman, a sociable/unsociable older woman, or a moral/immoral older woman. Participants’ stereotypes of older adults were affected by the characteristics of their communication partner, and this effect was mediated by specific communication behaviors imagined by the participant for two of the three trait dimensions. For perceptions of competence, overaccommodation was the key mediator. For perceptions of sociability, the key mediator was humorous communication. These mediators represent an expansion in how we understand not just the outcomes of intergroup contact, but also the communicative mechanisms through which it occurs.     

The influence of the information value provided by prior-cuing treatment on the reactivation of memory in preweanling rats

In two experiments, the influence of exposure to a CS? on the acquisition and retention of a conditioned odor aversion was examined. Preweanling rats were given exposure to the CS? either prior to (CS?/CS+) or following (CS + /CS?) the pairing of a second odor (the CS+) with footshock. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that subjects in both of the treatment conditions acquired aversions of comparable strength to the odor paired with footshock and that retention of the odor aversion was not affected by order of stimulus presentation during conditioning. Experiment 2 indicated, however, that the effectiveness of pretest exposure to various elements of the conditioning episode in reactivation of the memory for conditioningwas dependent on the order of stimulus presentation during conditioning. This differential effectiveness of the various reactivation treatments is discussed in terms of their relationship to the associative “status” of the stimuli present during conditioning and in terms of the information provided to the animal by the reactivation treatment.     

The interactive effect of language and question format on accounting students' performance

This article reports the results of research to determine if a significant interactive effect exists between students' lingual background (English as a primary language [EPL] versus English as a secondary language [ESL]) and question format on students' examination scores. Students were administered examinations made up of four subtests covering the same subject matter. The subtests were composed of four question formats: multiple choice quantitative, multiple choice theoretical, open-ended quantitative, and open-ended essay questions. Based on analysis of variance and analysis of covariance, significant differences were observed between EPL and ESL students depending on the type of question on the examination.     

Inhibitory Control Across the Preschool Years: Developmental Changes and Associations with Parenting

The normative developmental course of inhibitory control between 2.5 and 6.5 years, and associations with maternal and paternal sensitivity and intrusiveness were tested. The sample consisted of 383 children (52.5% boys). During four annual waves, mothers and fathers reported on their children’s inhibitory control using the Children's Behavior Questionnaire. During the first wave, mothers’ and fathers’ sensitivity and intrusiveness were observed and coded with the Emotional Availability Scales. Inhibitory control exhibited partial scalar invariance over time, and increased in a decelerating rate. For both mothers and fathers, higher levels of sensitivity were associated with a higher initial level of children's inhibitory control, whereas higher levels of intrusiveness predicted a slower increase in children's inhibitory control.