Observed characteristics and teacher quality: Impacts of sample selection on a value added model

We measure the impact of observed teacher characteristics on student math and reading proficiency using a rich dataset from Florida. We expand upon prior work by accounting directly for nonrandom attrition of teachers from the classroom in a sample selection framework. We find evidence that sample selection is present in the estimation of the influence of teacher characteristics, but that failure to account for it does not appear to substantially bias estimation. Further, our procedure produces some evidence that more effective teachers are more likely to exit the classroom.     

Balancing Head and Heart: The Importance of Relational Accountability in Community-University Partnerships

In this article we introduce a “head and heart” approach to community-engaged scholarship. Through the literatures of Aboriginal scholarship and engaged scholarship we reflect on a community-university research and program development project undertaken in response to health and education concerns of Aboriginal people in Canada. We suggest that the head and heart approach was crucial to the program’s success and provides access to an ethical space where multiple worldviews are recognized and where the importance of relational accountability becomes evident. We then examine the implications of this approach for engaged scholarship and higher education practices.     

Peer review and panel decisions in the assessment of Australian Research Council project grant applicants: what counts in a highly competitive context?

Applications submitted to the Australian Research Council Large Grants Scheme in five discipline groups were examined with a view to determining the extent of influence of biographical and academic track record variables on ratings by independent assessors (peers) and on final outcomes as determined by the Council's discipline review panels. Variables considered included age, gender, type and status of position, institutional base, previous grants history and publication records of the applicants. Age and gender of the applicants did not have a significant impact on outcomes. Those in research only positions were rated more highly, and those in more prestigious institutions were more likely to win support, but these factors were partly accounted for by the more impressive publication records of these groups. The academic status of the applicant was, however, found to make a significant contribution to an explanation of the variance in independent assessor's ratings of the strength of the researcher, along with but additionally to that contributed by publication components of their track record. Assessor's ratings of the strength of the proposal were, as would be expected, the major influence on the final decisions made by review panels, although academic status of the applicant did, again, make a small but significant additional contribution to an explanation of variance in outcome. These results lend some support to the idea that the Matthew effect, or theory of accumulative advantage, has some impact on peer and panel review of applications within the highly competitive arena of Australian Research Council large grants.     

Changing the Library Brand: A Case Study

ABSTRACT

This article outlines some of the opportunities and challenges of changing what the library “brand” means to academic and professional services staff in the rapidly changing environment of UK higher education, taking the University of Leicester as a case study. It makes a practitioner contribution to the growing body of evidence of how libraries are extending their role and how their customers are responding. It begins by considering the drivers for change in the higher education and scholarly information environments and how these are influencing the development of library services at the University of Leicester. The topics considered include researcher development, Digital Humanities, Open Access, independent learning, and curating the university's own information assets. The impact of these developments is outlined and how an evolving approach to strategic marketing is beginning to change perceptions as the boundaries of the library's role extend.     

The relationship between phonological awareness and the development of orthographic representations

A training study was conducted to investigatethe relationship between phoneme segmentationability and the development of orthographicrepresentations. Five-year-old children withvarying degrees of phoneme segmentationability were taught to read ten new words byrepeated presentation of the words onflashcards. It was found that those childrenwho were most well equipped to perform phonemesegmentation tasks acquired this new readingvocabulary significantly faster than those whowere less phonemically aware. A series ofpost-tests was implemented to discover thenature of the internal orthographicrepresentations which the children had createdfor the words learned. The results of thesepost-tests demonstrated that the children whowere most phonemically aware had alsointernalised the most detailed orthographicrepresentations, despite needing fewerlearning trials. Salient letters fororthographic storage were predictable from thechildren's phoneme segmentation abilities. This paper provides strong support for thethesis that phonemic awareness is related toorthographic storage as well as alphabeticreading techniques.     

Measuring child maltreatment in the United Kingdom: a study of the prevalence of child abuse and neglect

OBJECTIVE: To provide reliable measures of the prevalence of all forms of child maltreatment in the UK that will be robust in the context of social and cultural differences due to social class, ethnicity and, region. METHODS: Two thousand eight hundred sixty-nine (2,869) young adults aged 18=-24, obtained by random probability sampling throughout the UK, were interviewed face to face by trained interviewers. Maltreatment was defined using a post hoc assessment of a range of experienced behaviors and treatments while the respondents were aged 16 or under. RESULTS: Over 90% of respondents reported that they came from a warm and loving family background. Maltreatment (both intra and extrafamilial) was experienced by 16% of the sample. Serious maltreatment was experienced by 7% of respondents for physical abuse, 6% for emotional abuse, 6% for absence of care, and 5% for absence of supervision, and 11% reported sexual abuse involving contact. Attitudes to maltreatment were explored through the examination of respondents' views of different behaviors and experiences that children may have been exposed to. CONCLUSION: The maltreatment of children in the UK today remains an extensive social problem. Prevalence data reveal that children are most at risk in the home for physical and emotional abuse and neglect. They are at greater risk of sexual abuse outside the home, particularly in dating relationships.     

Headteacher critique and resistance: a challenge for policy,and for leadership/management scholars

Educational leadership/management scholars have undertaken work which documents the difficulties particular headteachers face when implementing policy. Some have suggested that headteachers mediate policy, ensuring the best possible outcomes for their schools, but there is also critique of this argument and a counter‐suggestion that heads ought to resist the imposts of conservative, marketised policies which produce and reproduce educational inequities. In this article I consider this position, and argue that if the field is to take up the question of resistance then it will need to extend its theoretical resources, interrogate and test out the limits of the proposition through empirical example, consider instances where resistance appears to occur, and move beyond a focus on individual headteachers to take seriously their collective professional organisations. In making this argument, I generate some suggestions for future research.     

‘On the move’: primary age children in transition

The focus of this article is the experience of the growing numbers of children who, as one of the consequences of increasing globalisation, move between cultures internationally as a result of their parents' occupations. Beginning with a review of research relating to transition, the article goes on to describe a study at an international school in Thailand which, it is argued, is similar in terms of the globally‐mobile nature of its student population to many other such schools worldwide. Using a computer‐based questionnaire, the views of primary‐age children were explored in relation to various dimensions of the transition process. Findings highlighted the importance of recognising the impact of such moves on young children, and of schools being aware of the different stages of transition that children might be experiencing so that appropriate support may be provided.     

The application of sameness analysis to spelling

Three curricular approaches to spelling instruction are discussed: (1) whole word, (2) phonemic, and (3) morphemic. Sameness analysis is used to indicate the theoretical potential of each approach for helping students with learning disabilities to achieve generalization in their spelling. The influence of generalization upon retention and transfer is also discussed. In light of weak empirical evidence to support these approaches, it is recommended that promising instructional programs be piloted prior to adoption. Some cautious practical recommendations are offered for analytically evaluating spelling programs under consideration for piloting.