Leadership in High Achieving Schools in Singapore: The Influence of Societal Culture

‘Societal culture’ in Singapore can be understood as an evolving mix of ‘traditional’ and ‘modernizing’ cultural strands, complexly related to dominant political and economic processes and aligned in the pursuit of a wider national vision. Following the mid-80s economic slowdown, there was a major realignment in these cultural strands that resulted in a process of decentralization of the education system, and a rethinking of the principal's role. Though the immediate effect of this was the creation of independent and autonomous schools, a space for autonomous action was opened up generally for school principals who were willing and able to seize the opportunity. We draw on two case studies of improving Singapore secondary schools to explore the links between societal culture, school leadership and school improvement. We argue that although both of the case study principals appropriated aspects of societal culture as part of their improvement strategies, it was the nature of the appropriation that made the schools and leadership styles distinctive.     

Longitudinal associations between marital instability and child sleep problems across infancy and toddlerhood in adoptive families

This study examined the longitudinal association between marital instability and child sleep problems at ages 9 and 18 months in 357 families with a genetically unrelated infant adopted at birth. This design eliminates shared genes as an explanation for similarities between parent and child. Structural equation modeling indicated that T1 marital instability predicted T2 child sleep problems, but T1 child sleep problems did not predict T2 marital instability. This result was replicated when models were estimated separately for mothers and fathers. Thus, even after controlling for stability in sleep problems and marital instability and eliminating shared genetic influences on associations using a longitudinal adoption design, marital instability prospectively predicts early childhood sleep patterns.     

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BIBLE READING AND ATTITUDE TOWARD SUBSTANCE USE AMONG 13-15 YEAR OLDS

The relationship between Bible reading and attitude toward drug use is examined among a sample of 25,888 teenagers, 13-15 year olds, throughout England and Wales. Information about sex, age, personality, belief in God, and church attendance was also considered. The conclusion is that Bible reading makes a small but significant contribution to promoting a negative attitude toward drug use among this age group.     

Utilizing Performance Technology to Improve Evaluative Practices of Instructional Designers

Although it is clearly established that an effective instructional systems design (ISD) process requires evaluation, previous studies provide evidence to show that everyday practices of instructional designers do not include sufficient or appropriate evaluation. Research suggests that organizational barriers and lack of support for evaluation are a leading cause of its inadequate usage. Without appropriate and sufficient evaluation practices, it is impossible to maintain the integrity of the systematic quality of ISD and threatens to undermine the entire concept of instructional design. This article first examines the purposes and importance of evaluation. Second, it reviews research that describes the less‐than‐optimal performance of practitioners as it relates to conducting evaluation, along with identifying causes for this performance deficiency. Third, it proposes using a model of human performance technology for improving the environment leading to implementation of evaluation.