Teachers’ and school administrators’ attitudes and beliefs of teacher evaluation: a preliminary investigation of high poverty school districts

This study examined attitudes and beliefs regarding teacher evaluation of teachers and their school administrators in the state of New Jersey, USA. The sample included 33 school administrators and 583 Pre-K through 12th grade teachers from four high-poverty urban school districts (22 schools). Participant attitudes and beliefs were assessed using the Teacher Evaluation Experience Scale (TEES; Reddy et al. in Educational Assessment, 21(2), 120–134, 2016). TEES is a multi-informant assessment designed to measure teachers’ and school administrators’ experiences with teacher evaluation through five scales (i.e., total and subscales of system, feedback, process, and motivation to change) and six open-ended questions. Based on the qualitative analyses, teachers identified collaborative communication and evaluation feedback as the most helpful aspects of their evaluation process. Based on the quantitative analyses, however, their average ratings did not exceed neutral on any of the four subscales. Overall findings suggest that school administrators’ experiences with teacher evaluation are more favorable than teachers’ experiences. Moderate correlations are found between participant characteristics and TEES scales. Implications for teacher evaluation are presented.     

Influence of the natural setting on environmental education outcomes

Abstract

Environmental education (EE) typically occurs in natural settings, which research suggests may enhance learning outcomes. Although field trips are commonly used to teach EE, few studies have isolated the influence of different setting characteristics for enhancing participant outcomes during an EE field trip. According to the literature, certain attributes of the natural setting, including novelty, beauty, and naturalness, as well as how the setting is used such as through place-based education, immersion, and time spent inside vs. outside, are thought to positively impact people’s experiences with nature. In this study, we collected data from 334 EE field trip programs for 5-8^th grade students to investigate the influence of these natural setting characteristics on positive learning outcomes. Results suggest that the naturalness and novelty of the setting, the use of place-based education, and spending more time outside vs. inside all positively correlated with more positive student outcomes. The implications of the results for environmental educators are discussed.     

如何提高少数民族中学生的物理实验能力

随着我区课改的推进,民族学校初中物理实验教学面临着前所未有的挑战,由于种种现实原因,初中物理实验教学中仍存在许多不和谐的教学现象;为了推进初中物理新课程教学,在初中物理实验教学中应不断更新观念,充分利用现有实验教学条件,全面提高学生综合物理实验能力.     

Contemporary induction to teaching in Australian universities

Australia has 42 universities. In 2015/16, 30 of 40 universities reviewed provided one or more days of teaching induction for their staff, while 10 did not. Twenty-six of the 30 teaching induction program directors were surveyed and 24 of those were interviewed to provide a snapshot of professional development for new teaching staff in Australian universities. The key findings of that research showed that almost two thirds of universities did not pay sessional staff to attend a teaching induction program; just over half the programs included peer observation of teaching; only one in five programs offered mentoring opportunities; three quarters of programs included assessment; and approximately a third of programs provided credit towards an award course. We conclude that all universities need to provide new teaching staff with a longer teaching induction program, which will support them to develop student-centred, scholarly behaviours and attitudes.     

Should Faculty Rank Be Included as a Predictor Variable in Studies of Gender Equity in University Faculty Salaries?

Many different approaches, almost all of which use some form of regression, have been used to study the issue of gender equity in university faculty salaries. One major point of contention in ail of these approaches is whether faculty rank, which is university conferred, should be included as a predictor variable. Two illustrations are presented to demonstrate how omitting faculty rank as a predictor variable from gender equity studies of university faculty salaries can lead to incorrect conclusions concerning gender discrimination. The first illustration uses hypothetical data constructed so that there is no difference in salary due to gender. However, when faculty rank is not included as a predictor variable in the regression model, there is a significant difference in salary due to gender. The second illustration uses actual data from a study of gender equity in pay at Bowling Green State University. This data set is used to construct a new data set that is totally free of gender bias. When a regression model omitting faculty rank is fit to this gender bias-free data, again a significant difference in salary due to gender is present. Therefore, it is recommended that faculty rank be included as a predictor variable in any model used to study gender equity relating to salary.     

未来十年的十大技术

科学家预测今后10年里将有十大技术取得飞跃性的发展，这些技术集中在信息、生物和能源等领域，它们将使人们的生活发生重大变化人们的生活将在今后20—30年里发生重大变化。今后10年科学技术将会取得哪些进展?乔治·华盛顿大学的未来技术预测小组对处于各个开发阶段的约100项技术进行了预测。下面集中介绍一下预计将在今后10年里取得飞跃性发展的十大技术。     

Rituals Improve Children's Ability to Delay Gratification

To be accepted into social groups, individuals must internalize and reproduce appropriate group conventions, such as rituals. The copying of such rigid and socially stipulated behavioral sequences places heavy demands on executive function. Given previous research showing that challenging executive functioning improves it, it was hypothesized that engagement in ritualistic behaviors improves children's executive functioning, in turn improving their ability to delay gratification. A 3‐month circle time games intervention with 210 schoolchildren (M_age = 7.78 years, SD = 1.47) in two contrasting cultural environments (Slovakia and Vanuatu) was conducted. The intervention improved children's executive function and in turn their ability to delay gratification. Moreover, these effects were amplified when the intervention task was imbued with ritual, rather than instrumental, cues.     

学术的使命

我非常高兴参加美国科学和艺术研究会的这个成立大会。我向加入这个非同一般的协会的新成员和老朋友表示由衷的祝贺。我特别高兴的是能在这里见到贾里·佩里坎(JaryPelikan)。他既是我的亲密朋友 ,也是我最钦佩的人。他集卓越的才华、永不满足的好奇心、难以抑制的幽默感和强烈的同情心于一身。他以自己的非凡经历 ,为我们国家的公民和知识分子作出了巨大的贡献。下面让我以一个显而易见的现象来开始我的演讲。美国的高等教育 ,就像德里克·博克(DerekBok)曾经诗意般地描述的那样 ,是“一个丰富多彩的创造”。我们已经建成了一个由研究性…     

Faculty reflect on course planning

Faculty members' beliefs about educational purpose and the nature of their academic fields strongly influence how they plan introductory courses. Interviews with 89 faculty members teaching in diverse colleges and representing eight fields also identified faculty attention to student preparation, available textbooks, and locally important factors, but little attention to alternative instructional strategies during course planning. Based on the findings, the authors have developed a tentative general model of course design and related questions to guide future study.     

Raising achievement with adolescents in secondary education—the school counsellor's perspective

This qualitative study used data from semi‐structured interviews with eight school counsellors working with adolescents in secondary education and asked them how they perceived counselling interventions as helping to raise achievement. The present context in secondary education is perceived as results led. This adheres to government policy as manifested in the National Curriculum and the examination system. However at a grass roots level there is a growing acceptance of having counsellors working in schools to support the emotional and psychological needs of children and adolescents. The counsellors identified three areas in which they felt their clients' achievement was raised through a counselling intervention: developmentally, socially and less directly, academically. Further study is called for to explore what effect applying a complementary integration and understanding of counselling and educational philosophy might have on raising achievement with adolescents in secondary education.