W. James Popham, David C. Berliner, Neal M. Kingston, Susan H. Fuhrman, Steven M. Ladd, Jeffrey Charbonneau and Madhabi Chatterji
Against a backdrop of high-stakes assessment policies in the USA, this paper explores the challenges, promises and the “state of the art” with regard to designing standardized…
Abstract
Purpose
Against a backdrop of high-stakes assessment policies in the USA, this paper explores the challenges, promises and the “state of the art” with regard to designing standardized achievement tests and educational assessment systems that are instructionally useful. Authors deliberate on the consequences of using inappropriately designed tests, and in particular tests that are insensitive to instruction, for teacher and/or school evaluation purposes.
Methodology/approach
The method used is a “moderated policy discussion”. The six invited commentaries represent voices of leading education scholars and measurement experts, juxtaposed against views of a prominent leader and nationally recognized teacher from two American education systems. The discussion is moderated with introductory and concluding remarks from the guest editor, and is excerpted from a recent blog published by Education Week. References and author biographies are presented at the end of the article.
Findings
In the education assessment profession, there is a promising movement toward more research and development on standardized assessment systems that are instructionally sensitive and useful for classroom teaching. However, the distinctions among different types of tests vis-à-vis their purposes are often unclear to policymakers, educators and other test users, leading to test misuses. The authors underscore issues related to validity, ethics and consequences when inappropriately designed tests are used in high-stakes policy contexts, offering recommendations for the design of instructionally sensitive tests and more comprehensive assessment systems that can serve a broader set of educational evaluation needs. As instructionally informative tests are developed and formalized, their psychometric quality and utility in school and teacher evaluation models must also be evaluated.
Originality/value
Featuring perspectives of scholars, measurement experts and educators “on the ground”, this article presents an open and balanced exchange of technical, applied and policy issues surrounding “instructionally sensitive” test design and use, along with other types of assessments needed to create comprehensive educational evaluation systems.
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Jennifer R. Morrison, Joseph M. Reilly and Steven M. Ross
The purpose of this paper is to examine how participants in diverse schools newly implement the Sanford Harmony social and emotional learning (SEL) program and perceive its…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how participants in diverse schools newly implement the Sanford Harmony social and emotional learning (SEL) program and perceive its benefits for students and overall school climate.
Design/methodology/approach
The current study employed a convergent parallel mixed-methods design with a sample of five elementary schools in the western USA. Measures included classroom observations, administrator interviews, teacher interviews and focus groups, student focus groups, and a teacher questionnaire.
Findings
Findings indicated expected variation in implementation across schools, although all participants reacted favorably to the program and, importantly, would recommend the program to others. Administrators, teachers and students all saw the value of the program, particularly in terms of student relationship building and improved school climate. Implementation challenges experienced by schools were consistent with research on diffusion of innovations.
Practical implications
The present study demonstrates the importance of effective professional development, continued support, collective decision making and intentional integration of the SEL program throughout a school to support robust implementation and ultimately achieve intended outcomes.
Originality/value
Researchers have yet to examine in-depth implementation of the Sanford Harmony program and how best to support scale-up and more intentional implementation in schools. As implementation fidelity is a key component of a program achieving intended outcomes, the findings from the present study contribute to the knowledge base of supporting SEL program implementation.
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Rebecca Wolf, Joseph M. Reilly and Steven M. Ross
This article informs school leaders and staffs about existing research findings on the use of data-driven decision-making in creating class rosters. Given that teachers are the…
Abstract
Purpose
This article informs school leaders and staffs about existing research findings on the use of data-driven decision-making in creating class rosters. Given that teachers are the most important school-based educational resource, decisions regarding the assignment of students to particular classes and teachers are highly impactful for student learning. Classroom compositions of peers can also influence student learning.
Design/methodology/approach
A literature review was conducted on the use of data-driven decision-making in the rostering process. The review addressed the merits of using various quantitative metrics in the rostering process.
Findings
Findings revealed that, despite often being purposeful about rostering, school leaders and staffs have generally not engaged in data-driven decision-making in creating class rosters. Using data-driven rostering may have benefits, such as limiting the questionable practice of assigning the least effective teachers in the school to the youngest or lowest performing students. School leaders and staffs may also work to minimize negative peer effects due to concentrating low-achieving, low-income, or disruptive students in any one class. Any data-driven system used in rostering, however, would need to be adequately complex to account for multiple influences on student learning. Based on the research reviewed, quantitative data alone may not be sufficient for effective rostering decisions.
Practical implications
Given the rich data available to school leaders and staffs, data-driven decision-making could inform rostering and contribute to more efficacious and equitable classroom assignments.
Originality/value
This article is the first to summarize relevant research across multiple bodies of literature on the opportunities for and challenges of using data-driven decision-making in creating class rosters.
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Craig S. Maher and Steven C. Deller
The intent of this research is determine the extent to which selfreported measures of fiscal condition are consistent with commonly identified measures of fiscal condition using…
Abstract
The intent of this research is determine the extent to which selfreported measures of fiscal condition are consistent with commonly identified measures of fiscal condition using secondary financial data. While the field of government finance has amassed a lengthy list of research on fiscal condition and fiscal stress assessment, there remains a gap in the research on the extent to which practitioners' perceptions of fiscal stress are consistent with such measures. Our results suggest that there is limited evidence of a relationship between self-reported and objective measures of fiscal condition
Edita Petrylaite and Michele Rusk
This paper aims to explore the learning styles of nascent entrepreneurs in developing their entrepreneurial marketing (EM) skills in teams while studying for the entrepreneurial…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore the learning styles of nascent entrepreneurs in developing their entrepreneurial marketing (EM) skills in teams while studying for the entrepreneurial business degree in one UK University. It advances the interlink between EM and entrepreneurial learning (EL) theories and demonstrates how working in teams assists in developing EM skills through EL in the educational context.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative case study adopts a thematic approach to analysing 9 audio-recorded workshops of 13 entrepreneurial students who work in teams to develop entrepreneurial ventures. Audio-recorded sessions were used to monitor the entrepreneurial and marketing behaviour of the young entrepreneurs and reveal the context and skills used in their learning process.
Findings
The findings show that the observed undergraduate entrepreneurial students develop their EM competence through collective, exploratory and exploitative, as well as supportive and individual learning. These learning styles intersect and prove to be effective in mastering both marketing and venture development skills in teampreneurial educational setting.
Originality/value
This case study demonstrates how the concepts of EM and EL are linked in both theory and practice. It makes suggestions on how entrepreneurial courses at the university could be further developed to assist the young entrepreneurs in effectively acquiring business knowledge and skills. This knowledge can also be implemented by small and large organisations to foster a co-creative collective learning environment leading to more innovations, experimentations and creative thinking.
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Liselot Bourgeois, Jef Van Meensel, Fleur Marchand and Steven Van Passel
This paper proposes a theoretical framework for the comprehensive study of business model (BM) change by taking different types of influencing factors and different levels of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper proposes a theoretical framework for the comprehensive study of business model (BM) change by taking different types of influencing factors and different levels of analysis into account (business, industry and macro-environment).
Design/methodology/approach
Evaluation of the added value of using the combination of three existing frameworks (the business model canvas (Osterwalder and Pigneur, 2010), Porter’s five forces framework (Porter, 1980) and PESTEL (Johnson et al., 2017)) based on semi-structured interviews with eight companies active in the European crop protection industry. The proposed theoretical framework was used to analyse several BM change situations as presented by the companies.
Findings
Our findings reveal that the study of BM change is improved when a third type of influencing factors is considered besides drivers and facilitating/hindering factors. This third type includes factors that shape cohesion between BM components or between the BM and its environment. Second, the interaction of different types of influencing factors at different levels of analysis should be considered, as this generates a comprehensive view of the BM change situation.
Originality/value
This paper meets the demand for a theoretical handle that results in improved and more comprehensive analysis of BM change. The proposed theoretical framework combines different types of internal (business) and external (industry and macro-environment) factors that shape a BM change and considers their interaction.
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Joseph Press, Paola Bellis, Tommaso Buganza, Silvia Magnanini, Abraham B. (Rami) Shani, Daniel Trabucchi, Roberto Verganti and Federico P. Zasa
Steven H. Appelbaum, Damien Louis, Dmitry Makarenko, Jasleena Saluja, Olga Meleshko and Sevag Kulbashian
When employees believe in and trust their management it motivates and encourages employees' participation in decision making which improves employees' efforts, benefits their job…
Abstract
Purpose
When employees believe in and trust their management it motivates and encourages employees' participation in decision making which improves employees' efforts, benefits their job satisfaction and commitment to work. All of these factors, in turn, contribute to a trustworthy manager‐employee relationship. While the literature supports this premise, there is little empirical evidence that patterns of causal inference in the relationship are clearly understood. This three part empirical case aims to focus on studying the relations between employee trust in management in a Quebec manufacturing company and their job satisfaction, intention to quit, level of employee participation in decision making and their commitment.
Design/methodology/approach
This empirical case will test five hypothesis regarding seven variables influencing the level of employee engagement and commitment, employee turnover, employee participation in decision making processes and job satisfaction.
Findings
The article finds that employee trust in management is an important determinant of their willingness to participate in decision making. Insufficient employee participation in decision making in turn leads to low level of employee job satisfaction and employee commitment. Lack of employee commitment and engagement affects the employee's intention to quit.
Research limitations/implications
The sample size of the office workers was not sufficient in order to have statistically significant results of the correlations between the variables for the production department employees, and for the office/administrative staff. This could have helped to determine the level of internal communication specifically, but also the level of all of the other variables for the two different groups of employees.
Practical implications
This article offers useful insights for management in relation to strengthening interpersonal trust within an organization and introducing employee empowerment practices.
Social implications
Owing to lack of trust in management, there will be high employee turnover. This in its turn will have a negative effect on both the performance of management and employees’ welfare, job satisfaction and commitment.
Originality/value
The findings provide empirical evidence to support theoretical models that link employee trust in management, participation in decision making, job satisfaction, commitment, turnover intentions and highlight the impact of these factors on organizational performance.