Collaborative research in and with organizations 1

Collaborative research has been more advocated than practiced. Three rationales for collaborative research are discussed. A collaborative study currently under way is used to illustrate the difficulties likely to arise in such endeavours. Persistent problems around collaborative work include differences in purposes, methodological requirements, timeframes, commitments, and outcomes. Although meaningful collaborative work can be done, it is difficult and requires particular and unusual conditions to be successful.

     

“Dangerous Work”: Improving Conditions for Faculty of Color in the Community College

This qualitative investigation of the experiences of faculty of color at community colleges identifies current conditions for this population and suggests potentials for ameliorating conditions that inhibit their job satisfaction. We argue that the current conditions for faculty of color, based upon their expressed experiences at the community colleges, are deleterious to their professional performance, to their positive self-image, and to their contributions to their institutions. Alterations to these current conditions are unlikely without systemic institutional change. Indeed, without improvement to these conditions, the job satisfaction of faculty of color is not likely to change.     

Modification of teaching behavior through the combined use of microteaching techniques with the technion diagnostic system TDS

One of the most important components of the basic microteaching model in teacher education is the feedback obtained from supervisors, learners, peers and from technical aids such as audio and video recordings (Allen and Ryan, 1969). The feedback serves a dual purpose: first it provides the trainee with information regarding his behavior enabling him to design behavioral changes; and secondly, it facilitates the process of self-confrontation by triggering a cognitive dissonance which stimulates the psychological climate conductive to change (Festinger, 1957; Nielsen, 1962; Kagan et al., 1967; Geerstma and Mackie, 1969 and Onder, 1970).The use of video recordings in microteaching training provides instant and accurate feedback of verbal and non-verbal classroom interaction. However, an intuitive subjective analysis of the video recording performed by a supervisor, peer or the student-teacher himself, faces the danger of being diffused and distorted by individual biases.The combined use of microteaching with systematic observation instruments for analyzing classroom interaction has been recommended by researchers and practitioners alike (Amidon and Rosenshine, 1968 and Minnis, 1968). Both Allen, who played a major role in the development of microteaching (Allen and Ryan, 1969), and Flanders, who developed one of the most common interaction analysis systems (Flanders, 1970), recommend the combination of their systems as an effective procedure in teacher education. The researcher and practitioner in this area are faced with the question of either using one of the existing instruments or constructing a new one.The research was carried out at the Laboratory for Research and Development for Teaching and Learning of the Teacher Training Department of the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.Prof. A. Perlberg is Head of the Teacher Training Department and Director of the Laboratory; Dr. M. Bar-Yam is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the same Department and at present at Boston University; Dr. A. Lewy is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Educational Sciences of Tel-Aviv University and Chief Research Consultant to the Ministry of Education and Culture; E. Bar-On, R. Levin and A. Etrog are Research Associates at the Teacher Training Department of the Technion.     

The public returns to public educational investments in African-American males

This paper calculates the public savings (financial benefits) from greater public investments in the education of African-American males. Over one-fifth of each age cohort of black males in US is not a high school graduate. We identify five interventions that would—based on credible research—increase the graduation rate; we also report the public cost of each intervention. We then calculate the lifetime public benefits in terms of increased tax revenues and lower spending on health and crime. In present values, for a black male aged 20, these public benefits amount to $256,700 per new graduate and the median intervention would cost only $90,700. The benefit/cost ratio is 2.83. Simply equating the high school graduation rate of black males with that of white males would yield public savings of $3.98 billion for each age cohort. These results suggest that increased investments in education for black males at risk of dropping out of high school should be an economic priority.