Two decades of charter schools: Expectations,reality, and the future     

Eugenia Toma  Ron Zimmer 《Economics of Education Review》2012

The first charter school law was passed in Minnesota in 1991 and with it, a new school reform movement began. After two decades, 41 states and Washington D.C. have adopted charter legislation. This special issue provides an opportunity for scholars to reflect upon the promises and limitations of charter schools and to offer policy advice for those in a position to influence future reforms. Together, the papers within this special issue examine the achievement effects of charter schools, their cost effectiveness, the competitive pressure created by charter schools, the degree to which charter schools are innovative and how some of the operational and policy features of charter schools may affect outcomes.  相似文献   

Teacher retention in Appalachian schools: Evidence from Kentucky     

Joshua M. Cowen  J.S. Butler  Jacob Fowles  Megan E. Streams  Eugenia F. Toma 《Economics of Education Review》2012

In this paper we analyze teacher attrition from Appalachian school districts over nearly twenty years of data. We employ a unique panel of public K-12 teachers active in Kentucky between 1986 and 2005, and discern several patterns of interest to scholars and policymakers. Inter-district mobility is rare in Kentucky, and rarer still among Appalachian teachers. Few teachers transfer between regions, but teachers are considerably more likely to leave Appalachia than to transfer to it. Our results also indicate that Appalachian teachers are more likely to exit the profession. One implication of this evidence is that improvements to teacher quality in such isolated areas would require a focus on the home labor pool.  相似文献   

Comparison of the citation distribution and h-index between groups of different sizes     

Maja Pohar Perme  Janez Stare  Rok Žaucer  Matjaž Žaucer 《Journal of Informetrics》2012,6(4):712-720

Evaluating the performance of institutions with different resources is not easy, any citation distribution comparisons are strongly affected by the differences in the number of articles published. The paper introduces a method for comparing citation distributions of research groups that differ in size. The citation distribution of a larger group is reduced by a certain factor and compared with the original distribution of a smaller group. Expected values and tolerance intervals of the reduced set of citations are calculated. A comparison of both distributions can be conveniently viewed in a graph. The size-independent reduced Hirsch index – a function of reducing factor that allows the comparison of groups within a scientific field – is calculated in the same way. The method can be used for comparing groups or units differing in full-time equivalent, funding or the number of researchers, for comparing countries by population, gross domestic product, etc. It is shown that for the calculation of the reduced Hirsch index, the upper part of the original citation distribution is sufficient. The method is illustrated through several case comparisons.  相似文献   

A balanced scorecard-based model for evaluating e-learning and conventional pedagogical activities in nursing     

Tomaž Hovelja  Damjan Vavpotič 《Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education》2016,41(8):1254-1268

The evaluation of e-learning and conventional pedagogical activities in nursing programmes has focused either on a single pedagogical activity or the entire curriculum, and only on students’ or teachers’ perspective. The goal of this study was to design and test a novel approach for evaluation of e-learning and conventional pedagogical activities that considers students’, teachers’ and managers’ perspectives. A case study of the proposed approach was performed at a publicly funded nursing faculty with Slovenian and Italian students from 2009 to 2012. The case study was combined with focus group discussions, interviews, direct observation and survey. The proposed approach allows management to compare the value of different pedagogical activities through the students’, teachers’ and managers’ perspectives. The approach proved useful in the evaluation of pedagogical activities and provided valid arguments for long-term pedagogical process improvement.  相似文献   

Assessment validity and learning analytics as prerequisites for ensuring student-centred learning design     

Blaženka Divjak  Barbi Svetec  Damir Horvat  Nikola Kadoić 《British journal of educational technology : journal of the Council for Educational Technology》2023,54(1):313-334

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Material properties of historic parchment: A reference collection survey     

Alenka Možir  Irena Kralj Cigić  Marjan Marinšek 《文物保护研究》2014,59(3):136-149

Historic parchment is a complex biological material, and due to various methods of production or inks used, unknown environmental histories of objects and heterogeneous nature of animal skin, it represents a particular analytical challenge. Due to the number of variables it is likely that patterns in degradation of these historic objects can only be revealed by surveying the material properties of a significant number of real objects. In this work, a sacrificial collection of ca. 100 historic parchments (fifteenth to twentieth century) was characterized using a range of techniques available to conservation practitioners that can usefully be used to reliably and rapidly characterize parchment. We focused on micro-destructive methods, such as shrinkage temperature (T_s), as the most widely used indicator of parchment degradation. Lipid content, roughness, and ink pH were additionally measured, while a limited number of samples containing iron gall ink were also examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and SEM-EDX, to explore the distribution of ink components. Even in the absence of detailed environmental histories, it is possible to acknowledge the significance of the effect of iron gall ink and its acidity, and of lipids on parchment degradation, as measured using T_s. This research reports valuable reference data, while the collection remains accessible for further research.  相似文献   

Teacher behavior and student outcomes: Results of a European study     

Anastasia Panayiotou  Leonidas Kyriakides  Bert P. M. Creemers  Léan McMahon  Gudrun Vanlaar  Michael Pfeifer  Galini Rekalidou  Matevž Bren 《Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability》2014,26(1):73-93

This study investigates the extent to which the factors included in the dynamic model of educational effectiveness are associated with student achievement gains in six different European countries. At classroom level, the dynamic model refers to eight factors relating to teacher behavior in the classroom: orientation, structuring, questioning, teaching-modeling, application, management of time, teacher role in making classroom a learning environment, and classroom assessment. This paper presents results concerned with the impact of the teacher factors on student achievement. In each participating country (i.e., Belgium/Flanders, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Ireland, and Slovenia), a sample of at least 50 primary schools (n?=?334) was drawn. Written tests in mathematics and science were administered to all grade 4 students (n?=?10,742) at the beginning and at the end of the school year 2010–2011. Students were also asked to complete a questionnaire concerning the eight teacher factors of the dynamic model. Structural equation modeling techniques were used to test the construct validity of the student questionnaire. Both across and within country analyses revealed that student ratings are reliable and valid for measuring the functioning of the teacher factors included in the dynamic model. Multilevel analyses revealed that teacher factors are associated with student achievement gains in mathematics and science. Implications for the development of educational effectiveness research and for improving quality of teaching are drawn.  相似文献   

Attitudes towards science and views of nature of science among elementary school students in terms of gender,cultural background and grade level variables     

R. B. Toma  I. M. Greca  M. L. Orozco Gómez 《Research in Science & Technological Education》2013,31(4):492-515

Background: There is a growing interest in investigating attitudes towards science and views of Nature of Science among elementary grade students in terms of gender, cultural backgrounds, and grade level variables.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the attitudes toward science and views of Nature of Science among Spanish students, Spanish students of gypsy ethnicity and second-generation Spanish students with east-European heritage, and to determine if their attitudes are related to their views of Nature of Science.

Sample: Data for this study was gathered from seven elementary schools in Spain, forming a convenience sample of 149 students enrolled from 2nd to 5th grade.

Design and Methods: The Nature of Science Instrument (NOSI) and an adaptation of the Test of Science Related Attitudes scale (TOSRA) were used. Follow-up structured interviews were performed with 15 participants.

Results: Regarding gender, boys had better attitudes toward Science than girls but more naïve views of the empirical Nature of Science. In relation to cultural background, second generation Spanish students with east-European heritage reported significantly better attitudes toward Science than Spanish students and Spanish students of gypsy ethnicity. No differences in Nature of Science views were found. Concerning grade level, third graders had more positive attitudes toward Science than fifth and sixth graders and more informed views of the tentative Nature of Science. Finally, no relation between Nature of Science views and attitudes towards Science were identified.

Conclusion: This study stress the need to address the steady decline in positive attitude toward Science and to improve students’ views of Nature of Science from early elementary grades, and to use gender and culturally inclusive science teaching strategies.  相似文献   

Profiles of educators: József Eötvös (1813–71)     

István Mészarós  Charles McFadden  Vladimir Mužić  Olivier Reboul 《Prospects》1985,15(4):633-639

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(4) Hungary, 1970 The Organization of Hospital Libraries     

Anne Toma 《International Information and Library Review》2013,45(3):365-368

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