Beyond Community College Accountability: Using Data to Investigate Best Practices for Institutional Improvement

The Voluntary Framework of Accountability (VFA) launched in 2011 is the first national system of community college accountability. Sponsored by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) in collaboration with the Association of Community College Trustees and the College Board, the VFA will shortly report to the public on measures of student progress and learning outcomes and on measures of workforce, economic, and community development. The author of this paper proposes that AACC move beyond community college accountability toward creating and sustaining, among college administrators, a common culture of VFA data use to investigate best practices for institutional improvement. To advance this proposition, the discourse presented centers on a proof-of-concept model. The study uses longitudinal data to illustrate its potential for community college administrators to identify best practices for improving institutional performance in first-year college retention.     

TEAMWORK IN ISRAELI ARAB-BEDOUIN SCHOOL-BASED MANAGEMENT

ABSTRACT:  Throughout the western world a leading example of the educational reforms that have been implemented in the late twentieth and twenty-first century is School-Based Management (SBM), a system designed to improve educational outcome through staff teamwork and self-governance. This research set out to examine the efficacy of teamwork in ten SBM-designated Arab-Bedouin elementary schools in Israel. Two explicit issues were examined: (1) What impact did SBM have on the development of teamwork among the schools' staff? (2) Does the Arab-Bedouin social-cultural context influence implementation of teamwork in SBM schools? The research method consisted of a questionnaire to which 361 teachers/school principals replied, and a semi-structured interview with 30 of the respondents. Results of this study demonstrate that true teamwork does not exist in the schools studied, despite their SBM official status, primarily because the concept of teamwork clashes with the social/cultural norms of traditional Arab-Bedouin society and thus exacerbates conflicts among staff, which then impedes implementation of SBM. In conclusion, this research recommends that for SBM to enable traditional Arab-Bedouin society to benefit from managing its own schools, broad educational changes such as this must be introduced gradually, in a customised, culturally sensitive manner.     

Foucault’s History of the Present: The Birth of the Games Concept Approach in Singapore’s Physical Education Curriculum

Abstract

The year 1999 saw a major shift in Singapore’s Physical Education curriculum when the traditional teaching approach in primary schools was replaced by a more game-like one, aptly known as the Games Concept Approach (GCA). Based on Foucault’s ‘History of the Present’ which intended to distinguish the kind of historical projects that brought this change, the focus is on tracing the forces that gave birth to the present-day practices and identifying the historical conditions which caused this shift towards GCA. Inspired by Foucault’s distinct elements of status, institutional sites and situation, the perspective of revealing a ‘history of the present’ on the birth of GCA in Singapore creates a better understanding of why it is still being taught in the PE curriculum.     

Enhancing automatic control learning through Arduino-based projects

Systems dynamics and automatic control is classified as one of the toughest courses in the college of engineering at Qassim University according to the statistical analysis of the final grades. This motivated us to think about a new approach to teach this course by extending the design term project to include experimental part beside the theoretical analysis. This approach has become feasible due to the publicity of the low-cost microcontrollers such as the Arduino in the recent years. In this paper, we present our experience in conducting Arduino-based projects and how we used them to support the teaching of all the automatic control subjects in the course such as the mathematical modelling, the stability analysis, the controller design and the implementation of the PID controller. It was found that the new approach improves the attention and the overall performance of the students in the course which was reflected in the students’ marks in the quizzes and exams. Moreover, it motivated the students to be creative by utilising the control theory to design new systems that can be useful for their local community.     

喀什地区基础教育新课改现状及其对我院的启示

探讨南疆基础教育教师对新课程改革方案的适应性问题,对于新课程改革的顺利实施有着重要意义。调查研究表明,喀什地区敦师对新课程改革的理念持认同态度并表现出一定的适应性;但也存在一些问题,如教师的观念与现实脱节、教师的心理不适应新课改等。为此我们依照喀什师范学院学习实践科学发展观活动预先设计好的思路进行了较为深入、全面的调查,并获得了对于我院人才培养质量提高和人才培养模式改进的有益启示和建设性意见。     

Islamic parents’ attitudes and beliefs towards school-based sexual and reproductive health education programmes in Oman

School-based comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) programmes play an important role in reducing young people’s sexual risk behaviour and promoting health and well-being. There is limited evidence regarding the attitudes and beliefs of parents towards the implementation of school-based CSE programmes in Islamic cultural settings, including Oman, which this mixed-method study set out to explore. A convenience sample of 250 parents, with equal numbers of mothers and fathers of children aged 12–14 years (grades 7–9) at two urban public pre-secondary schools in Saham, completed a paper-based self-administered questionnaire in Arabic. We found most parents (72.8%) supported school-based CSE programmes that conformed to Islamic requirements of pre-marital sexual abstinence, but there was some opposition. Almost all parents supported comprehensive age-appropriate CSE being taught to students aged 10–15 years, including topics perceived as controversial in Omani culture, except for birth control and safer sex. Most parents considered themselves, school teachers and school nurses to be important sources of CSE. The study findings which suggest strong parental support for CSE programmes can facilitate education policy, CSE curriculum decision-makers and school healthcare-providers in Oman, other Middle Eastern countries, and countries with Muslim immigrant populations.     

Statistical Process Control Charts for Measuring and Monitoring Temporal Consistency of Ratings

Methods of statistical process control were briefly investigated in the field of educational measurement as early as 1999. However, only the use of a cumulative sum chart was explored. In this article other methods of statistical quality control are introduced and explored. In particular, methods in the form of Shewhart mean and standard deviation charts are introduced as techniques for ensuring quality in a measurement process for rating performance items in operational assessments. Several strengths and weaknesses of the procedures are explored with illustrative real and simulated rating data. Further research directions are also suggested .     

Upper Secondary Bruneian Science Students’ Perceptions of Assessment

The aims of this study were to evaluate reliability and validity of the Students’ Perception of Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ), to evaluate students’ perception on assessment, and to evaluate gender‐based, grade‐based, and ethnicity‐based differences in students’ perceptions. The validity and reliability coefficients revealed that the SPAQ was suitable for assessing students’ perceptions on five assessment dimensions. The average scale‐item mean values for all the scales were less than 3.0, which indicates a need to address these dimensions of assessment at classroom level. The mean value for Student Consultation scale was 1.96 out of 4, indicating a need for special attention in this area. The perceptions of students grouped on the basis of gender and of grade level groups were comparable, but on the basis of ethnic groups were statistically significantly different. Assuming these differences to be real, does it mean that teaching approaches will need to be addressed? Future research in this area is warranted.