Decentralized Decision Making and Organizational Effectiveness in Colleges for Vocational Education: A Structural Equation Model for School Organization

The present study deals with the effect of decentralization on organizational effectiveness in Dutch colleges for middle vocational education (or MBO in Dutch). Following recent developments in educational administration, four domains of organizational effectiveness are distinguished: adaptation; goal attainment; integration; and teachers commitment (Quinn & Rorhbaugh, 1983: Competing Values Approach). Decentralization is defined as the relative amount of influence on decision making processes at the operational level compared with strategic level. In accordance with Hanson's Interacting Spheres Model (1991) three domains of decision making are distinguished: an educational domain; an administrative domain; and a contested zone. These concepts were measured with a questionnaire which was administered to middle managers, i.e., heads of departments, course co‐ordinators, etc., within each college for vocational education in the Netherlands. From the total population, 299 middle managers (62%) of 87 schools (87%) completed the questionnaire. The data were analyzed with structural equation modeling (LISREL 8). The results show a moderate positive effect of decentralization on organizational effectiveness.     

A label for peer‐reviewed books? Some critical reflections

The recently established quality label for peer‐reviewed publications in Flanders has lately aroused some interest in the international literature on scholarly communication. Although the so‐called GPRC‐label is in principle a welcome initiative, its implementation, from 2010 onwards, has already engendered several unexpected side‐effects. This article discusses these pitfalls and traces their origin in the Flemish performance‐based research funding system. It also points to a number of hard‐to‐solve practical problems if the quality label were to be implemented in an international context. In this way, it aims to temper the enthusiasm with which the label has been welcomed, both in Flanders and internationally.     

‘Content’ versus ‘style’: Acquiescence in student evaluation of teaching?

Structural equation modelling is used to measure the existence of a response style (in particular, acquiescence) behind three balanced Likert scales measuring different concepts in a questionnaire for student evaluation of teaching in higher education. Exploration with one sample (n = 1125) and confirmation in a second sample (n = 710) from a different population (different students, different courses) shows the existence of a common factor behind these scales. However, the weak correlation with the variable ‘sum of agreements’ does not support the idea of acquiescence in student evaluation of teaching. Instead, the common factor could be interpreted as a halo factor influencing different scales in the questionnaire. The implications of this exploratory study for future research on acquiescence in student evaluations of teaching are discussed.     

Morphological awareness and early and advanced word recognition and spelling in Dutch

This study investigated the relations of three aspects of morphological awareness to word recognition and spelling skills of Dutch speaking children. Tasks of inflectional and derivational morphology and lexical compounding, as well as measures of phonological awareness, vocabulary and mathematics were administered to 104 first graders (mean age 6 years, 11 months) and 112 sixth graders (mean age 12 years, 1 month). For the first grade children, awareness of noun morphology uniquely contributed to word reading, and none of the morphological tasks were uniquely associated with spelling. In grade 6, derivational morphology contributed both to reading and spelling achievement, whereas awareness of verb inflection uniquely explained spelling only. Lexical compounding did not uniquely contribute to literacy skills in either grade. These findings suggest that awareness of both inflectional and derivational morphology may be independently useful for learning to read and spell Dutch.     

ICT action school development at Helen Parkhurst Dalton School

The paper presents the progress of the action plan for the improvement of the ICT usage at the Helen Parkhurst Dalton School for secondary education in the Netherlands. At the start of the described action period in 2007, the ICT-usage in education was assessed through a review performed by a group of European inspectors. This assessment formed the basis for a continuous development in the school for promoting and improving the usage of ICT to improve the effectiveness of education. We did this by addressing the observed weaknesses with special measures, and continuing the action plans which were already put in place. We kept loyal to our starting point that technology use has to be determined through a strong vision of education and not that technology determines our philosophy as is sometimes the case. It was determined that the curriculum that should drive the learning, not the technology. In 2009 we carried out an intermediate self-evaluation. We established a new vision for school development for the near future. In this vision there was much room for a growing role of ICT usage. Concrete plans for the future were made. In this paper, the third in a row, we will try to assess the full impact of this implementation for teachers, learners and the quality of the teaching and learning process by comparing the assessment of 2007 with a self evaluation on the same indicators in 2011.     

Computer‐assisted learning to read and spell: results from two pilot studies

Because multimedia computer programs may provide promising opportunities for the training of initial reading and spelling skills, two small‐scale pilot studies have been conducted with a recently‐developed program to examine its efficacy and impact on the motivation of the users. The first study is concerned with the use of the program in kindergarten children (K2). As there is no curriculum for these children, a computer program that is fully adaptive may well boost their independence in learning to read and spell. The main finding in this study was that kindergarten readers learned in up to 16 hours of computer practice as much as is normally attained in the first 3 months of formal reading instruction in the classroom. In the second study, reading‐disabled students with low levels of motivation engaged in computer‐based spelling practice. The most important finding in this study was that the amount of non‐task directed behaviour of those who had practised with the computer significantly decreased during both computer sessions and classroom sessions. In the discussion the way in which computers can be used most efficiently for the instruction of reading and spelling is analysed and suggestions for further research and development are presented.     

Computer-based exercises for learning to read and spell by deaf children

There is a surprising lack of systematic research evaluating the effects of reading exercises for young deaf children. Therefore, for this article, two computer-based exercises were developed and learning effects were determined by posttests. One (spelling oriented) exercise was to select the correct word among three orthographically similar alternatives that corresponds to a drawing or a sign (digital video). The other (meaning oriented) exercise was to select the correct sign or picture among three alternatives that corresponds to a written word. Eleven deaf Dutch children with a mean age of 7 years 10 months participated in the study. A first question was whether in single-word exercises the meaning or the spelling of a word should be emphasized. A second question was whether there was any effect of using drawings or signs to refer to the meaning of the word. The results reveal that emphasizing the word spelling is most effective for learning to read for deaf children and the findings also suggest that drawings are more efficient in the current exercises.     

Longitudinal predictors of very early Chinese literacy acquisition

This 2‐year longitudinal study examined both concurrent and longitudinal relations of a variety of reading‐related cognitive tasks and Chinese word reading and word dictation among 187 Hong Kong Chinese kindergarteners aged 4–6. Homophone awareness, visual skills and syllable awareness were all uniquely associated with Chinese word reading across time, with age, vocabulary knowledge and nonverbal IQ statistically controlled. Only visual skill and syllable deletion uniquely explained early Chinese word dictation, however. Results extend previous research on cognitive correlates of Chinese literacy and highlight the small but unique contribution of homophone awareness for early reading acquisition in Chinese.