Using data for decision-making: perspectives from 16 principals in Michigan, USA

In response to the vast amounts of data associated with the accountability movement and the rhetoric of data-informed decision-making, we interviewed 16 principals to find out what streams of data they used and what decisions they made by using the data. We found that: (a) student achievement data are predominantly used to the extent of neglecting other streams of data such as student and community background data and school process data; (b) student achievement data are used more for accountability purposes—for assessing “of” rather than “for” the learning; (c) different streams of data are rarely used together to derive rich meaning for decision-making; and (d) school districts differ in the extent to which their principals use data to improve curriculum and instruction. The study pointed both to the challenges and to the opportunities of making data-informed decisions to improve our schools.     

Legitimate Peripheral Participation (LPP) – The case for Recognition of Prior Learning sites and knowledges in South Africa's transforming education system

By definition and purpose, education is the development of human capital towards meeting the individual and social needs of learners and their societies. This transdisciplinary collaboration parallels the underpinning principle of Lave and Wenger's Legitimate Peripheral Participation (Lave & Wenger, 1990) to South Africa's post-colonial legitimation of alternative sites and enskilment canons. Central to both is legitimation of knowledge acquisition from communities of practice or sites and ‘knowers’ (Mphahlele, 1992) ‘outside formal institutions’ of teaching/learning. Considered and termed ‘informal’ and by deduction, less legitimate for meritorious enskilment, the 62 and 65 decrees a transformative paradigm and method of validating these sites and their skills production. SAQA highlights the fact that the pedagogical approach of such sites is context- and learner-centred with demonstrable socially valuable skills. This post-colonial mandate thus centres the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) as an acknowledgement of multiple foci of skills production, decreeing their overdue certification, as in our case study of the Van Wyk situation. The approach confronts and deconstructs the colonial marginalisation of human capital from outside ‘formal’/official institutions. It is part of the ideological framework of redressing the race and class exclusion mechanisms of artisans and others from the landscape of skills possession. It subscribes therefore to the canon of different ‘ways of knowing’ (Mosala, 1998). Van Wyk's narrative exemplify the merits of ‘outside-institutions’ learning and enskilment to various levels of complexity. The objective of such legitimation is that certification provides credibility and legitimacy, thereby widening the marketability of apprentices' skills. The social recognition and accorded certification thereof carries uncontested confirmation of expertise.     

越南职业培训现状及职业培训与企业的关系(二)

越南职业培训与企业间关系综合评价 <2001-2010教育发展战略>指出,教育和培训,特别是职业培训,从总体上应适应社会的需求.因此,职业培训不仅是国家的责任,也需要产业界共同努力,以改善劳动力素质,满足新经济对人力资源越来越高的要求.现在的总体趋势是,企业不仅培养新工人,也对原有职工进行再培训(在职培训、现场培训等),以使生产工人的技能跟上生产技术变化的步伐.在岗培训为技术工人提供了直接改善他们工作场所技能的机会.这种培训由该企业或工厂熟练技师或是培训中心具有资格的培训教师进行授课,学习者在培训中心学习理论,在企业或工厂进行实践.     

A digital tool set for systematic model design in process-engineering education

One of the objectives of the process technology curriculum at Wageningen University is that students learn how to design mathematical models in the context of process engineering, using a systematic problem analysis approach. Students find it difficult to learn to design a model and little material exists to meet this learning objective. For these reasons, a set of digital tools has been developed to support students when learning to design mathematical models. The set of tools enables a process engineering student to do each step in the systematic approach for designing models while providing feedback on the actions of the student.

The current paper describes both the system, the underlying design decisions and how one such case is used in a regular educational setting. Evaluation after use in a regular educational setting shows that students are very positive about the fact that there is feedback on every step of the design process and that there is no need to deal with complicated mathematics.     

Teachers' attitudes and students' opposition. School misconduct as a reaction to teachers' diminished effort and affect

Recent decades have seen many studies dealing with the effects of teacher expectations. While most have focused on students' cognitive outcomes, we relate teacher expectations to student deviancy. We expect low expectations to be associated with students' feelings of futility and less teacher support, which, according to respectively strain theory and social control theory, give rise to misconduct. Multilevel analyses of data (2004–2005) from 11,844 students and 2104 teachers in 84 Flemish secondary schools suggest that, in schools where teacher expectations are low, students report less perceived teacher support, which is associated with higher rates of self-reported school misconduct.     

Performance improvement/HPT model: Guiding the process

This commentary is part of an ongoing dialogue that began in the October 2011 special issue of Performance Improvement—Exploring a Universal Performance Model for HPT: Notes From the Field. The authors feel that the performance improvement/HPT model in its past, present, and potential future iterations is not the only model for our field; however, it makes a systematic and flexible contribution to the field.     

Self-concept and ego development in deaf adolescents: a comparative study

Self-concept and ego development, two intertwined aspects of self-indicating well-being and social-cognitive maturation, respectively, were examined in a representative sample of deaf adolescents of normal intelligence (N = 68), using translated and adapted versions of Harter's (1988, Manual for the self-perception profile for adolescents. Denver, CO: University of Denver) multidimensional measure of self-concept and Loevinger's (1998, Technical foundations for measuring ego development. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum) measure of ego development. Compared to hearing norm groups, deaf adolescents showed lower levels of self-perceived social acceptance, close friendships and ego development and higher physical appearance. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses controlling for sociodemographic variables showed positive associations of global self-worth with support for signing during childhood and quality of parent-child communication and of ego development with attending a regular school. Cluster analysis identified three social competence profiles: uniformly low competence, uniformly high competence, and low social acceptance with high physical appearance. Cluster membership was associated with school type, ego development, and (past) neurological disorder. The results are discussed in reference to interventions aimed at the well-being of deaf youth.     

What ISPI and performance improvement mean to me

This year, the International Society for Performance Improvement celebrates its 50th anniversary. Over the past half century, our field has moved from programmed learning to programmed instruction to performance improvement. This new column reflects on 50 years of member memories and what it has meant to each of this column's contributors. If you would like to add to the discussion, please contact the PI journal editor: publications@ispi.org