Placing PISA and PISA for schools in two federalisms,Australia and the USA

ABSTRACT

This paper accepts that the OECD’s PISA has become influential in policy terms globally, but analyses the ways that the main PISA and PISA for Schools tests are positioned differently in Australia and the USA because of contrasting educational federalisms in the two nations. Our argument is that while PISA is undoubtedly influential, its effects are nonetheless mediated by the political structures – here, the different models of federalism – present within different nations, which in turn leads to quite distinct ‘PISA effects’. For instance, Australia oversamples on main PISA to make its data available for national and state-level policymaking, whereas the USA, with its focus on local governance in schooling, does not oversample, meaning that main PISA does not have a comparable policy salience as in Australia. Conversely, the newer PISA for Schools test originated in the USA with pressure from educators and philanthropic interests and has been implemented in a good number of schools, but it has not been taken up in the same way in Australia. Our analyses show how these differences reflect the idiosyncratic workings of federalism in the two nations, in which the federal government has a stronger policy and funding role in Australia than has hitherto been the case for the federal government in the USA.     

Design Dynamics of a Leadership Assessment Academy: Principal Self-Assessment Using Research and Technology

This article describes and analyzes the design dynamics of a school principal self-assessment process, provided through a three-day, state-approved Leadership Assessment Academy, which allows principals to experience and reflect on important self-assessment data that leads to a personal professional growth plan. Designing and implementing such an academy is complex and requires careful consideration of all aspects of the principalship and the requirements set forth by the state regarding principal assessment and professional growth plans. A primary challenge of this leadership academy is in providing principals with a self-assessment experience that is meaningful and accurate using carefully designed assessment techniques and technology, and that can serve as a viable alternative to the traditional paper and pencil assessment tools that require very little personal involvement in defining and producing the principal's professional growth plan.     

Policy mobilities and methodology: a proposition for inventive methods in education policy studies

ABSTRACT

The argument of this paper is that new methodologies associated with the emerging field of ‘policy mobilities’ can be applied, and are in fact required, to examine and research the networked and relational, or ‘topological’, nature of globalised education policy, which cuts across the new spaces of policymaking and new modes of global educational governance. In this paper, we examine the methodological issues pertaining to the study of the movement of policy. Informed by contemporary methodological thinking around social network analysis and the ethnographic notion of ‘following the policy’, we discuss the limitations of these approaches to adequately address presence in policy network analysis, and the problem of representing speed and intensity of policy mobility, even while these attempt to solve the problem of relationality and territoriality. We conclude that the methodologies of policy mobility are inexorably intertwined with the (constantly) changing phenomena under examination, and hence require what Lury and Wakeford describe as ‘inventive methods’.     

PARENT‐TEACHER COMMUNICATION ABOUT CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER: AN EXAMINATION OF COLLABORATIVE PROBLEM‐SOLVING

Effective parent‐teacher communication involves problem‐solving concerns about students. Few studies have examined problem‐solving interactions between parents and teachers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), with a particular focus on identifying communication barriers and strategies for improving them. This study examined the problem‐solving behaviors of parents and teachers of children with ASD. Participants were 18 teachers and 39 parents of children with ASD. Parent‐teacher dyads were prompted to discuss and provide a solution for a problem that a student experienced at home and at school. Parents and teachers also reported on their problem‐solving behaviors. Results showed that parents and teachers displayed limited use of the core elements of problem‐solving. Teachers displayed more problem‐solving behaviors than parents. Both groups reported engaging in more problem‐solving behaviors than they were observed to display during their discussions. Our findings suggest that teacher and parent training programs should include collaborative approaches to problem‐solving.     

Replacement of event-generated memories of nonreinforcement with signal-generated memories of reinforcement during partial reinforcement training: Effect on resistance to extinction

Event-generated memory refers to the memory of a reinforcement (R) or nonreinforcement (N) event from an immediately preceding trial;signal-generated memory refers to the memory of a temporally remote R or N, retrieval of which is generated by presentation of a signal with which the memory is associated (Haggbloom, 1988). In each of three experiments, Group Signal-R received runway discrimination training in Phase 1 to establish a stimulus as a signal for R, and partial reinforcement training in Phase 2. An extinction test measured learning about the memory of nonreward (S^N)—learning that occurs when S^N is retrieved on R trials that follow N trials. In Group Signal-H, those R trials were accompanied by the signal for R, a treatment we hypothesized would generate retrieval of the memory of reinforcement (S^R) so that signal-generated S^R would replace event-generated S^N as the operative memory, thereby eliminating the increased resistance to extinction normally produced by PRF training. In each experiment, Group Signal-R was less resistant to extinction than was a control group conditioned to respond to-event-generated S^N. Extinction was as rapid in Group Signal-R as it was in a consistent reinforcement control group (Experiment 1) and in a group given intertrial reinforcements to interfere with learning about S^N (Experiment 3). Experiment 2 tested two alternative interpretations of the failure to learn about S^N in Group Signal-R. Those alternatives were found to be less viable than the hypothesis that the signal for R actively recruited retrieval of a competing memory.     

Defensive Behaviors in Infant Rhesus Monkeys: Ontogeny and Context-dependent Selective Expression

We examined the ontogeny of the infant rhesus monkey's defensive behaviors and the ability to modulate them in response to specific environmental cues. Rhesus infants in 4 age groups (N = 8 per group) were briefly separated from their mothers and tested under 3 conditions: alone, in the presence of a human who averted his gaze, and in the presence of a human staring at them. Infants as young as 0 to 2 weeks displayed defensive behaviors but did not selectively respond to the human's presence or direction of gaze. By 9 to 12 weeks of age, infants modulated their responses in relation to the parameters of the threat. At this age, infant rhesus monkeys undergo cognitive and emotional changes associated with brain development similar to those in human infants 7 to 12 months old. This also is the time when human infants engage in complex emotional and behavioral responses to threatening situations. Understanding the development and expression of defensive behaviors in infant monkeys should be applicable to similar issues in emotional development of human infants.     

Prevalence of mindfulness literature and intervention in school psychology journals from 2006 to 2016

Mindfulness has been gaining momentum in the field of school psychology, however compared to other applied psychology fields, less research on mindfulness interventions has been conducted. This study systematically reviewed mindfulness literature and empirical studies in nine school psychology journals from 2006–2016. The prevalence of mindfulness articles and research specifically focused on mindfulness intervention were examined. Additionally, the type of intervention implemented, tier of intervention, and targets of intervention were examined. Results indicated that .57% of articles during the ten‐year time frame were related to mindfulness (n = 17). Eight of the 17 articles investigated mindfulness interventions, with interventions ranging from informal practices (e.g., Mandala coloring) to specific intervention programs (e.g., Compassion and Attention in the Schools). Majority of interventions were implemented at the universal level for students. Future directions for mindfulness research and the importance of mindfulness in school psychology are discussed.     

Doctoral dissertations in instructional design and technology, 1977 through 1988

This is a summary of data on doctoral dissertations completed in instructional design and technology programs over the period 1977–88. During this period, 1,518 dissertations were completed at 46 different institutions, with nearly half completed at only 7 institutions. The 1,518 dissertations were chaired by 286 different professors, but approximately half were chaired by just 39 professors. The number per professor ranged from 89 to 1. Output was fairly steady over the 12 years, averaging 127 per year, with a low of 106 in 1980 and a high of 149 in 1983 and 1985.