Legal Defensibility of Standards: Issues and Policy Perspectives

What legal issues may arise in setting content or performance standards? What precedents are relevant? What practices are defensible?     

Correlates of staff motivation,satisfaction, and job performance of library staff in selected Nigerian University libraries

Abstract

This study examined staff motivation, satisfaction, and job performance among the librarians and library staff in six selected university libraries in Nigeria. The target population for the study includes the professionals and nonprofessional library staff. A total enumeration sampling technique was used to select 180 respondents, which represent the sample for the study. Data was collected using a self-designed questionnaire titled “Staff Motivation, Satisfaction and Job Performance Questionnaire” (SMSJPQ). Six research questions were developed and answered by the study. The results indicate that librarian and library staff are highly motivated with regular pay while the least motivational factor is frequent interaction with their friends. Library staff are primarily satisfied with their jobs when they are in constant link with their friends. Professional library staff significantly experience better work motivation than their nonprofessional counterparts. Significant correlation exists between staff motivation and job performance and between job satisfaction and job performance. In addition, the two factors (motivation and satisfaction) exert significant contribution to the determinant of librarians and library staff job performance. Based on the findings, the study recommended improvement in the level of motivation of nonprofessionals so that the significant difference with the professional counterpart would not be so much pronounced.     

Arts councils,policy-making and “the local”

ABSTRACT

In the British Isles, national policies for the arts are primarily viewed as the responsibility of arts councils with statutory duties to distribute state funding that meet the requirements of both “arms-length” principles and national strategic frameworks. This paper explores the tensions between policy making for the nation-state and for “the local” through comparative research on the arts councils (and equivalent bodies) in Scotland, England and Northern Ireland. Drawing on in-depth qualitative interviews with senior representatives from these organisations, it explores their notions of, responsibilities to and affiliations with “the local”. Findings suggest that despite their different models and relationships to the nation-state, and the disparities in the scale of investment, these national policy bodies commonly rely on networked governance to facilitate their relationship to “the local” which risks reproducing national interests, limiting the localised agency of place-based approaches and contributing to a culture of competition within cultural policy.     

Assessment in special schools: national early assessment procedures and pupils attending special schools in England

An implicit assumption that fostering inclusion means having shared systems encompassing the needs of all children is evident in many aspects of policy development over the past decade. Reflecting this, the implementation of ‘baseline assessment’ schemes (i.e. testing at around age 5 years) is a statutory requirement on all state-maintained special and mainstream schools in England since 1998. Our argument is that the enthusiasm for commonality has obscured the need to question the value and validity of baseline assessment schemes for children with special educational needs (and possibly some others such as children having English as an additional language). We illustrate this position with reference to data from our recent study on baseline assessment in England. The study encompassed survey data from a national sample of 982 schools, of which 107 were special schools. Between them, these special schools used 42 different baseline assessment schemes. Comparisons between our mainstream and special school respondents indicated that there were similarities in the nature and perceived value of the schemes used. However, special schools were less satisfied with their schemes. We suggest that a reappraisal of the nature and purpose of baseline assessment for pupils with special educational needs warrants greater critical debate. Without this, there is a danger that a stress on commonality, veiling an inclusion orthodoxy, will ultimately be counterproductive.     

Breaking up is hard to do: the resilience of the rock group as an organizational form for creating music

Though there is a long tradition of band members quitting the group or taking a hiatus, the rock group as an organization to produce music continues to be both popular and economically viable. The research question addressed in this paper is whether or not it is a good idea to quit or take a hiatus from the group. We begin with a discussion of the framework for understanding why groups are formed and why they may be difficult to keep together. We then discuss differences between groups in the decade of the 1960s versus today. We argue that there is something unique about the output of the group even with the changes in the structure of contracts, compensation, and consumer focus on the artist that explain the resilience of the rock band as an organizational form within which to create music. We compare the charting success of bands that have members leave the group with the charting success of the members who left the group. We identified the groups in five representative years: 1965, 1975, 1985, 1995, and 2005. We then analyzed the entire Billboard Hot 100 charting careers of those groups and the artists who quit those groups. Our main finding is that when charting success is divided equally among members, going solo pays off—there is a clear economic rationale because solo acts have greater average charting success than the original bands they started in. The other ensuing side projects: duos, collaborations, and other groups are not as lucrative as the original bands. These findings are valid for members of charting groups from each of the 5 years examined. Despite the difficulties in keeping a rock band together, there are fewer band breakups today and remaining with the group generally results in a longer and more productive charting career. Thus, the rock group remains an important organization for producing contemporary music. However, there remains a compelling incentive to go solo. Superstars may benefit from solo projects, but for the average, non-superstar group member, in many circumstances it is better for the band to stay together if the income is divided equally.     

Curricular Differences and Unidimensionality of Achievement Test Data: An Exploratory Analysis

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a linear factor analytic method commonly used to investigate violation of the item response theory (IRT) unidimensionality assumption is sensitive to measurable curricular differences within a school district and to examine the possibility of differential item performance for groups of students receiving different instruction. For grades 3 and 6 in reading and mathematics, personnel from two midwestern school systems that regularly administer standardized achievement tests identified the formal textbook series used and provided ratings of test-instructional match for each school building (classroom). For both districts, the factor analysis results suggested no differences in percentages of variance for large first factors and relatively small second factors across ratings or series groups. The IRT analyses indicated little, if any, differential item performance for curricular subgroups. Thus, the impact of factors that might be related to curricular differences was judged to be minor.     

Relations of Children's Effortful Control and Teacher-Child Relationship Quality to School Attitudes in a Low-Income Sample

RESEARCH FINDINGS: The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of children's effortful control and quality of relationships with teachers to school attitudes longitudinally in an ethnically diverse and economically disadvantaged sample. Data were collected as part of a larger intervention project during mid-fall, winter, and late spring (ns = 823, 722, and 758, respectively) for 2 cohorts of 3- to 5-year-olds (collected during 2 different school years). Children's effortful control was assessed in the fall with parents' and teachers' reports and 2 behavioral measures. Teacher-child relationship quality was assessed mid-year with teachers' reports of closeness and conflict. Attitudes toward school were assessed in late spring using teachers' and students' reports of school avoidance and liking. Effortful control, in general, was positively correlated with teacher-child closeness and school liking and negatively correlated with conflict and school avoidance. Using structural equation modeling and controlling for sex and ethnicity, we found that effortful control was positively related to teacher-child relationship quality, which in turn was positively related to school attitudes. Furthermore, the relation of effortful control to school attitudes was mediated by teacher-child relationship quality. PRACTICE OR POLICY: Results provide evidence for the importance of relational processes that take place within the classroom context and have implications for teachers and clinicians working to increase school success in ethnic minority and low-income children.