Internal review and self-evaluation — the chosen route to school improvement in ireland?     

Gerry. McNamara  Joe O'Hara 《Studies in Educational Evaluation》2005,31(4):183

In recent years there has been an intense debate in many countries concerning the best approach to improving schools. The various methods being tried might be reasonably seen as constituting a continuum ranging from strict external control and inspection at one end, to self-evaluation and internal regulation at the other. In practice, most education systems appear to be moving towards a combination of these methods, involving a degree of external monitors of internal self-evaluation mechanisms. This article analyses the gradual emergence in the Irish education system of such an accommodation. It charts the increased emphasis being placed upon school self-evaluation and argues that it does constitute the best way forward. However, it also highlights a major lacuna at the heart of the emerging system, namely the lack of firm data on which schools can really base effective improvement strategies.  相似文献   

Accounting for the Relationship Between Initial Status and Growth in Regression Models     

Sean Kelly  Feifei Ye 《Journal of Experimental Education》2017,85(3):353-375

Educational analysts studying achievement and other educational outcomes frequently encounter an association between initial status and growth, which has important implications for the analysis of covariate effects, including group differences in growth. As explicated by Allison (1990 Allison, P. D. (1990). Change scores as dependent variables in regression analyses. Sociological Methodology, 20, 93–114.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]), where only two time points of data are available, identifying a preferred model can be difficult or impossible. In this paper we extend Allison's inquiry by considering multiple sources of the association between initial status and growth simultaneously, including measurement error but also intrinsic associations between initial status and growth. We illustrate the potential trade-offs between the change-score model specifications (models without a control for initial status) and regressor-variable specifications (with a control for initial status) using simulated data.  相似文献   

Retrieval Practice Benefits Deductive Inference     

Luke G. Eglington  Sean H. K. Kang 《Educational Psychology Review》2018,30(1):215-228

Retrieval practice has been shown to benefit learning. However, the benefit has sometimes been attenuated with more complex materials that require integrating multiple units of information. Critically, Tran et al. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22, 135–140 (2015) found that retrieval practice improves sentence memory but not the drawing of inferences from the same sentences. In three experiments, we investigated whether this lack of benefit of retrieval practice for inferential ability was due to the presentation format of the material. Participants studied four sets of seven to nine related sentences by practicing retrieval for two sets and rereading the other two sets. A final test was given 2 days later. When sentences were presented one at a time during study/practice as in Tran et al., we found no effect of retrieval practice on a test requiring inferential reasoning. When sentences in a set were presented simultaneously during study/practice, retrieval practice in the form of fill-in-the-blank testing (experiments 1 and 2) and free recall (experiment 3) aided later deductive inference more than rereading. Our findings suggest that retrieval practice can improve deductive inference, but in order to optimize its utility, the format in which the material is presented during practice must not hinder relational processing of the individual sentences.  相似文献   

Writing flexibility in argumentative essays: a multidimensional analysis     

Allen  Laura K.  Likens  Aaron D.  McNamara  Danielle S. 《Reading and writing》2019,32(6):1607-1634

Reading and Writing - The assessment of argumentative writing generally includes analyses of the specific linguistic and rhetorical features contained in the individual essays produced by students....  相似文献   

Culturally responsive peacebuilding pedagogy: a case study of Fambul Tok Peace Clubs in conflict-affected Sierre Leone     

Sean Higgins 《International Studies in Sociology of Education》2019,28(2):127-145

Recent research on the peace-promoting agency of teachers in conflict-affected contexts has critiqued the dominance of a menu of curriculum initiatives circulated within aid organizations which ignore or dismiss indigenous cultural resources available within local communities. On the other hand, the turn to local culture in peacebuilding interventions has also been critiqued for idealizing the local. This paper presents a case study of the work of Fambul Tok Peace Clubs in conflict-affected Sierra Leone which aim to support teachers in drawing on local practices, rituals and symbols. Using an interpretative approach, alert to the meanings teachers ascribe to their pedagogical practices, it finds that teachers respond to local culture in multiple, sometimes contradictory ways. These range from celebration of indigenous practices as resources for conflict resolution that resonate with their pupils and communities to critique of their oppressive gender norms and inability to address structural drivers of conflict.  相似文献   

The Effect of Group Orientated Classroom Management Procedures on Individual Pupils     

E. McNamara  A. Harrop  F. Owen 《教育心理学》1987,7(3):157-168

Summary This study was designed to test the hypothesis that group orientated classroom management procedures may achieve their apparent success merely by raising still further the on‐task behaviour of non‐troublesome pupils. To this end, 1812‐13 year old pupils in a secondary school remedial class were observed and their individual levels of on‐task behaviour recorded. The class teacher's use of approval and disapproval was also noted.

Following the collection of baseline data, a modified, simple ‘rules, praise and ignoring’ intervention strategy was implemented, followed by a partial reversal to baseline conditions. Mean class on‐task behaviour was clearly shown to increase from 77% at baseline to 91% during intervention and this was maintained during the partial reversal. Moreover, it was shown that every pupil's on‐task behaviour increased, these increases varying between 3 and 33%, the pupils with the lowest baseline levels making the biggest gains.  相似文献   

Using <Emphasis Type="Italic">I am Moving,I am Learning</Emphasis> to Increase Quality Instruction in Head Start Classrooms     

Ishonté Allar  Emily Jones  Sean Bulger 《Early Childhood Education Journal》2018,46(1):93-102

Quality teacher-child interactions are characteristic of effective classrooms resulting in benefits for all children, but may be particularly important for children from low-income families. The purpose of this study was to explore the perception of Illinois Head Start teachers related to how I am Moving, I am Learning (IMIL) could improve the quality of their instruction as measured by the Classroom assessment scoring system (CLASS^®), an observation instrument used to assess the quality of teacher-child interactions across three broad domains and their supporting dimensions. While the study found that early childhood professionals perceive IMIL as a meaningful resource, additional research is needed to substantiate the preliminary findings as well as to guide training initiatives that would help Head Start professionals to make the connection between IMIL and the CLASS^®.  相似文献   

Accounting for Model Uncertainty in the Prediction of University Graduation Rates     

Cullen F. Goenner  Sean M. Snaith 《Research in higher education》2004,45(1):25-41

Empirical analysis requires researchers to choose which variables to use as controls in their models. Theory should dictate this choice, yet often in social science there are several theories that may suggest the inclusion or exclusion of certain variables as controls. The result of this is that researchers may use different variables in their models and come to disparate conclusions with respect to predicted effects and their statistical significance. In such cases one is uncertain of which particular set of regressors forms the model that represents the data. The approach used below accounts for uncertainty in variable selection by using Bayesian model averaging (BMA). Accounting for uncertainty, we demonstrate that BMA provides better out-of-sample prediction for university graduation rates than results based on alternative variable selection methods.  相似文献   

Why Are Partnerships Necessary for Computer Classroom Administration?     

Sean D. Williams 《Technical Communication Quarterly》2002,11(3):339-358

Computer classrooms (CCs) have been an important part of writing instruction since the mid 1980s, yet little scholarship concerns the roles that directors of computer classrooms play in maintaining these facilities. Based on a review of scholarship of CC administration and an informal survey of CC administrators, this article argues that CC directors walk a tightrope between the role of teacher and manager and that we need to focus on building partnerships to maintain our facilities, because we simply cannot do by ourselves everything that this complex role requires of us.  相似文献   

The Determinants of Students' Perceived Learning Outcomes and Satisfaction in University Online Education: An Empirical Investigation*   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Sean B. Eom  H. Joseph Wen  Nicholas Ashill 《Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education》2006,4(2):215-235

In this study, structural equation modeling is applied to examine the determinants of students' satisfaction and their perceived learning outcomes in the context of university online courses. Independent variables included in the study are course structure, instructor feedback, self‐motivation, learning style, interaction, and instructor facilitation as potential determinants of online learning. A total of 397 valid unduplicated responses from students who have completed at least one online course at a university in the Midwest were used to examine the structural model. The results indicated that all of the antecedent variables significantly affect students' satisfaction. Of the six antecedent variables hypothesized to affect the perceived learning outcomes, only instructor feedback and learning style are significant. The structural model results also reveal that user satisfaction is a significant predictor of learning outcomes. The findings suggest online education can be a superior mode of instruction if it is targeted to learners with specific learning styles (visual and read/write learning styles) and with timely, meaningful instructor feedback of various types.  相似文献