301,249 results on '"Quality Control"'
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2. An Overview of Quality Assurance in Higher Education: Concepts and Frameworks
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Kayyali, Mustafa
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To ensure that students obtain an effective and appropriate education, quality assurance in higher education is crucial. The primary concepts, structures, and procedures associated with quality assurance in higher education are extensively addressed in this paper. To improve student learning outcomes, institutional reputation, and overall accountability, it examines the changing landscape of higher education and the growing emphasis on quality. The introduction of the paper defines quality assurance in the context of higher education, emphasizing its complexity and the range of stakeholders it involves. It explores the numerous quality dimensions--both academic and non-academic--and their importance in promoting a well-rounded educational experience. The paper then addresses the essential tenets and strategies that support quality assurance. It looks at internal quality control approaches that enable institutions to regularly review and enhance their educational practices, such as faculty development, curriculum design, and self-assessment. To further promote openness, comparability, and accountability across higher education institutions, external quality assurance, including accreditation, benchmarking, and regulatory frameworks, is being investigated as well. The paper also explores international perspectives on quality assurance in higher education, emphasizing regional differences and global initiatives. It looks at how standards-setting organizations, professional groups, and quality control organizations influence policies and encourage institutional cooperation. To improve processes for making decisions and ensure constant enhancement, the paper also examines the role of data analysis, assessment instruments, and quality indicators. The paper also seeks to provide scholars, policymakers, administrators, and practitioners with a firm foundation to comprehend the concepts, theories, and techniques involved in quality assurance in higher education. It is a useful tool for promoting quality in higher education institutions around the world, encouraging discussion, and influencing decision-making processes.
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- 2023
3. State Preschool in a Mixed Delivery System: Lessons from Five States
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Learning Policy Institute, National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER), Garver, Karin, Weisenfeld, G. G., Connors-Tadros, Lori, Hodges, Katherine, Melnick, Hanna, and Plasencia, Sara
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Most states in the United States operate their public preschool programs in a mixed delivery system that serves children in local education agencies (LEAs) as well as non-LEA settings, such as Head Start agencies, child care centers, private schools, and family child care homes. To inform state preschool administrators and policymakers as they refine their mixed delivery systems, this report describes the mixed delivery systems of five states that have taken different approaches to supporting providers across settings. The five states discussed in this report include: (1) Alabama; (2) Michigan; (3) New Jersey; (4) New York; and (5) West Virginia. This report answers the following questions: (1) What is the landscape of mixed delivery in select states' preschool programs? (2) How are state preschool contracts awarded, and what supports are provided to non-LEAs to participate? and (3) What are quality requirements, and who monitors and is ultimately responsible for program quality?
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- 2023
4. Risk Management Maturity Enhancement in Healthcare through the Application of Quality Management Principles
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Veronika Bucke, Darius Ružele, Juozas Ruževicius, and Raimondas Buckus
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The importance of adequate risk management is growing, whereas quality management unifies all managerial processes to direct and manage activities toward the achievement of organisational goals. The goal of this study is to validate the relevance of the link between the application of quality management principles and risk management maturity. This paper constitutes a critical literature review and an analysis of the latest scientific articles, published in international databases, and other scientific sources over a period of 15 years. In summary, organisation can attain a higher level of risk management maturity through the synergistic application of all seven quality management principles. The findings practically are beneficial for all types of organisations that seek to successfully implement risk management processes.
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- 2024
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5. Quality in Preschools through Systematic Quality Work - A Principal's Perspective
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Ingela Bäckström, Pernilla Ingelsson, Anna Mårtensson, and Kristen M. Snyder
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Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore existing and desired methodologies for systematic quality work to promote quality in preschools from the principal's perspective. Design/methodology/approach: A collaborative approach was used in this research project, and principals were asked to complete portfolio assignments. Their answers to those portfolio assignments were analysed by the research team and subsequently compared to total quality management values. Findings: Existing and desired methodologies for systematic quality work are presented and sorted into 13 and 17 groups, respectively. The principals desire four times more methodologies than they are presently using to promote systematic quality work, and the results show that they must extend their methodologies to support TQM values. Research limitations/implications: This research is based on answers collected from 18 principals in one municipality in Sweden. Practical implications: The use of the cornerstone model provides a framework to illustrate the application of TQM in preschools. Originality/value: Principals struggle to find time for systemic quality work. The presented results can be used to work systematically with quality in preschools and other organizations.
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- 2024
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6. Fuzzy Data Definitions Distort Fair Comparability of Universities in University Rankings: Results from Italy and Belgium on the 'Times Higher Education' Ranking
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Hanne Poelmans, Luciana Sacchetti, Sadia Vancauwenbergh, and Stefano Piazza
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World university rankings have had an impact on academic competition worldwide. The comparability of ranking results depends on how data is collected within each university. When data concepts are interpreted differently, data variety is introduced and ranking results cannot be used in a meaningful manner. In this case study, the effect of semantic harmonisation of the data concepts of the "Times Higher Education" World University Ranking is evaluated. Based on two independent initiatives, in Italy and in Belgium, the data and results of this ranking before and after interuniversity harmonisation of data collection are compared. This study demonstrates that, despite the data definitions provided by the ranking organisation, the data concepts 'academic staff' and 'students' are interpreted differently within each university. These differences can affect how universities are positioned relative to each other in ranking tables. A profound level of semantic harmonisation is then required to ensure semantically comparable data.
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- 2024
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7. Study and Career Counsellors: The Hub of Swedish Adult Education
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Karolina Muhrman and Per Andersson
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This article explores how the Swedish policy of municipal adult education (MAE) is interpreted, translated, and enacted in study and career counselling. The data consists of semi-structured interviews with adult education leaders and study and career counsellors. Swedish MAE is characterised by extensive marketisation, with many different providers, which makes the education system complex. The findings show that a study and career counsellor is characterised as a key person for both the students and the organisation, with a role as a marketer and 'map reader' for applicants, in addition to responsibilities in admissions, the validation and mapping of students' knowledge, and quality work. The counsellor becomes a hub in a system that applicants and students find difficult to navigate and fulfils a vital function in the marketing of adult education and quality work. Thus, this complex system requires more resources for counselling to function to the benefit of the individual student. However, there is no clear regulation for how counselling should be organised, which means that counselling is organised in different ways in different municipalities with different providers. This in turn means that the availability of adequate counselling may depend on the municipality in which you live.
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- 2024
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8. Is Accreditation, Like a Colonoscopy, Good for You?
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Kazemi, Ellie
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Accreditation is typically a voluntary process that involves a thorough evaluation of an organization's policies, procedures, and practices. Much like a colonoscopy, the evaluation process probes deep and can be uncomfortable. With the discomfort, time, cost, and effort it takes to undergo evaluation for accreditation, the natural question is whether it is worth doing. In this paper, I will review the history of accreditation and the results of systematic literature reviews focused on the impact of accreditation. I will also discuss how accreditation may help provide quality control in behavior analysis and safeguard against service providers' behaviors being solely shaped by funding sources, such as insurance providers. Lastly, I will provide critical questions consumers can ask to assess accrediting bodies' transparency, objectivity, and fairness when they are seeking accreditation.
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- 2023
9. Generating High-Precision Feedback for Programming Syntax Errors Using Large Language Models
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Phung, Tung, Cambronero, José, Gulwani, Sumit, Kohn, Tobias, Majumdarm, Rupak, Singla, Adish, and Soares, Gustavo
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Large language models (LLMs), such as Codex, hold great promise in enhancing programming education by automatically generating feedback for students. We investigate using LLMs to generate feedback for fixing syntax errors in Python programs, a key scenario in introductory programming. More concretely, given a student's buggy program, our goal is to generate feedback comprising a fixed program along with a natural language explanation describing the errors/fixes, inspired by how a human tutor would give feedback. While using LLMs is promising, the critical challenge is to ensure high precision in the generated feedback, which is imperative before deploying such technology in classrooms. The main research question we study is: "Can we develop LLMs-based feedback generation techniques with a tunable precision parameter, giving educators quality control over the feedback that students receive?" To this end, we introduce PyFiXV, our technique to generate high-precision feedback powered by Codex. The key idea behind PyFiXV is to use a novel run-time validation mechanism to decide whether the generated feedback is suitable for sharing with the student; notably, this validation mechanism also provides a precision knob to educators. We perform an extensive evaluation using two real-world datasets of Python programs with syntax errors and show the efficacy of PyFiXV in generating high-precision feedback. [For the complete proceedings, see ED630829.]
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- 2023
10. Emerging from Content and Language Integrated Learning and English-Medium Instruction, is CLIL-ised EMI the Next Trend of Education?
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Hengzhi Hu
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Objectives: The text aims to present a comparison of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and English-Medium Instruction (EMI), followed by a discussion of CLIL-ised EMI, a new educational phenomenon, regarding its feasibility in content-based bilingual programmes. Method: The ideas presented in this paper are principally drawn from previous research and literature about CLIL and EMI, as well as from my personal experience with content-based bilingual education programmes. Results: Although CLIL and EMI differ in nature, CLIL-ised EMI supplements traditional EMI, which has a single objective of content learning, with special attention to students' needs, particularly their linguistic needs. It may pose challenges to teachers, especially in relation to their language-teaching activities. Conclusions: CLIL-ised EMI shows considerable feasibility in bilingual education and can overcome the linguistic challenges faced by students in content-based programmes. Implication for Practice: CLIL-ised EMI teachers are advised to be attentive to students' linguistic demands and engage in professional collaboration with language specialists to design and provide well planned language learning activities. Standardisation and quality control of bilingual programmes are also necessary at an institutional level.
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- 2023
11. Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2023-2028
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Office of Inspector General (ED)
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The U.S. Department of Education (Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years (FY) 2023 through 2028 represents the planned direction of the organization for FYs 2023-2028. It continues the 40-plus year commitment to the mission to promote the efficiency, effectiveness, and integrity of the Department's programs and operations, and to identify and help prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. It provides a framework for how the OIG can help the Department best meet its statutory mission, while delivering results and value to stakeholders--the Department, the Congress, and America's taxpayers and students. In the pages of this plan, the OIG goals are defined as well as the key strategies that will enable those goals to be reached and exceeded. The plan will allow the OIG to quickly address new or unforeseen challenges and capitalize on new opportunities to enhance and expand the work. This includes leveraging technology, tools, processes, and people. The OIG will use risk-based and impact-based project selection to ensure the work provides the greatest value to stakeholders. Analytic resources to detect, deter, and disrupt new and emerging threats to Department programs, operations, and funding will be optimized. The enterprise risk management program will be matured by integrating relevant risk management strategies into operations and activities and ensuring accountability over critical areas. In addition, the OIG will continue to keep stakeholders apprised of the work by regularly providing information on priorities, work products, issues, and results. Finally, the plan prioritizes the most important asset--OIG staff. OIG will continue to implement activities that develop a highly-skilled and diverse workforce; foster an inclusive, equitable, and accessible workplace; and establish the OIG as a premier oversight entity within the Federal government. [For "Five-Year Strategic Plan, Fiscal Years 2018-2022," see ED620770.]
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- 2022
12. Critical Success Factors for Lean Six Sigma in Business School: A View from the Lecturers
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Kowang, Tan Owee, Peidi, Lim, Yew, Lim Kim, Hee, Ong Choon, Fei, Goh Chin, and Kadir, Baharudin
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Lean is a process improvement approach to improve organization's efficiency by identifying and eliminate non-value-added activities, while Six Sigma is a methodology focused on reduction of process variation. The integration of both, namely Lean Six Sigma (LSS) drives organization on waste elimination, variation reduction and value creation, which ultimately enhancing organizational performance. LSS has been viewed by prior scholars as one of effective approach for business improvement regardless of manufacturing or services industry. However, the research of LSS in education sector, particularly for business school is relatively lacking. Hence, this research aimed to identify the critical success factors (CSFs) for LSS within a business school in Malaysia. The research also aimed to explore the relationship between the LSS, CSFs, and organization performance. There were six CSFs identified from literature review, while organization performance is assessed via the concept of system theory. The research was quantitative based with the lecturers in the business school as the targeted population. Questionnaire was distributed based on stratified sampling plan with 69 responded. Descriptive and Pearson correlation analysis result revealed that lecturers within the business school perceived that all the six LSS CSFs as "very important", and strongly correlated with organization performance, except CSF "project selection and prioritization". As implication, finding from this research suggested that the adaption of LSS between manufacturing and education sectors shared the commonality in term of CSF. However, the business school should look into project proposal from the lecturers' perspective as an alternate source of process improvement opportunity.
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- 2022
13. Improvement of Metacognitive and Critical Thinking Skills through Development of the a 'Teaching Factory Based on Troubleshooting' (TEFA-T) Model in Automotive Vocational Learning
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Maksum, Hasan, Yuvenda, Dori, and Purwanto, Wawan
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The purpose of this research was to ascertain whether there had been any improvement in students' metacognitive and critical thinking skills through the development of the 'Teaching Factory Based on Troubleshooting' (TEFA-T) model in automotive vocational learning. The research had both quantitative and qualitative components and applied the 4D procedures, viz define, design, develop and disseminate. The subjects for the control and experimental groups were 32 students, and each was each group used an effectiveness test. The results showed that the TEFA-T learning model carried out the novelty value of the model syntax using the following activity steps: (1) identifying product problems, (2) defining the product problems, (3) generating and selecting several alternative solutions, (4) designing solving techniques, (5) ordering work contracts, (6) designing a product work schedule, (7) executing orders, (8) quality control, and (9) assessment. The test results showed that the TEFA-T Learning Model is valid using the Aiken'V formula and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Structure Equation Modeling (SEM), with a Chi-Square and x2 /df values of 219.76 and 0.8292, used to determine the model fit test (goodness-of-fit models). Furthermore, the practicality test declared it "Very Practical" with an average score of 4.56 and an Achievement of 90.02%. In conclusion, using the TEFA-T learning model to improve students' academic achievement, metacognitive, and critical thinking skills appeared to be effective (Sig. 2- tailed value is less than 0.05).
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- 2022
14. A Proposed Framework for Peer Reviews
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Ginsberg, Sarah M. and Visconti, Colleen F.
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Journal manuscripts are peer reviewed with the hopes that the peer review will facilitate an editor's decision regarding the disposition of the article and that the feedback will be helpful to the authors in improving their manuscript. However peer reviews may not achieve these goals if they lack sufficient analysis and feedback. This article presents a domains of language for peer review (DoLPR) framework to improve depth and quality of peer reviews conducted on journal manuscripts. The framework was developed in hopes of improving the quality of peer reviews.
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- 2022
15. Investigating the Electronic Examinations' Quality from Faculty Members' and Students' Experiences and Perspective
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Badawi, Maria Altaib and Elhussien, Faiza Abdalla
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The current qualitative and quantitative study methods intend to investigate the quality of electronic examinations and the obstacles of changing the examinations' process from the participants' experiences and perspectives. The study generates feedback to enhance the adoption and improvement of the e. examination process. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, electronic exams help much during the education interruption. The study employed two tools to answer the study's central question: "To what extent did teachers and students reflect on the quality of electronic examinations' criteria?" They Were distributed among (n=165) undergraduates and (n=24) faculty members during 2020/2021. Findings from the e. questionnaire's SPSS and interview's content analyses indicated that most participants were satisfied with the e. exams' flexibility, ease of use, clarity, fairness in grading, and feasibility in time, efforts, and money. Concerning challenges, few undergraduates complained about the Network problems, e. cheating, and the number of attempts to answer e. exams. Few faculty members have complained that some questions require different preparation methods, e. exams increase students' scores without much effort. On the other hand, it opened the door for malpractices. To conclude, the results revealed that e. examinations are of high quality; they were responsible for undergraduates' high performance, saved effort and time more than the in-class exams. The study recommends future research exploring families, especially parents, about their experience with kids regarding the quality of online examinations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, research is needed to address how teachers deal with the validity and reliability of the electronic exams.
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- 2022
16. Qualitative Indicators in the E-Learning Environment
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International Association for Development of the Information Society (IADIS), Biškupic, Ivana Ogrizek, Lopatic, Josip, and Zorica, Mihaela Banek
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Through preliminary analysis of the e-learning platforms authors have tested the presumption that during pandemics the quality of online teaching and accessibility of learning materials in online environment has increased. Relevant literature for the time period of pandemic points out numerous problems in teaching, but on the other hand technical and pedagogical advances in e-learning process for all stakeholders. The research has been consisted of the quantitative indicators analysis within the e-learning system for the time period of several academic years (before and during the pandemic) and based on the survey on students EQF level 7 who already had some previous experience in e-learning at higher education level before situation with pandemic. The results indicate that students perceived very little increase in the quantity and quality of the learning materials. The research indicated a need for wider and further institutional support for teachers and students. The institutional support should encourage teachers in their motivation for achieving quality in e-learning performance regarding instructional design and also by building up their digital competences. The results have also pointed the fact that the models from the traditional environment, such as Course Quality Management model should be adapted and integrated in the e-learning environment in order to maintain quality assurance in e-learning performance.
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- 2022
17. Model Adequacy Checking for Applying Harmonic Regression to Assessment Quality Control. Research Report. ETS RR-21-13
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Qian, Jiahe and Li, Shuhong
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In recent years, harmonic regression models have been applied to implement quality control for educational assessment data consisting of multiple administrations and displaying seasonality. As with other types of regression models, it is imperative that model adequacy checking and model fit be appropriately conducted. However, there has been no literature on how to perform a comprehensive model adequacy evaluation when applying harmonic regression models to sequential data with seasonality in the educational assessment field. This paper is intended to fill this gap with an illustration of real data from an English language assessment. Two types of cross-validation, leave-one-out and out-of-sample, were designed to measure prediction errors and check model validation. Three types of R-squared (R[superscript 2], R[superscript 2][subscript adj], and R[superscript 2][subscript pred]) and various residual diagnostics were applied to check model adequacy and model fitting.
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- 2021
18. Using the Independent Monitoring for Quality Program to Examine Longitudinal Outcomes for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
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Tichá, Renáta, Pettingell, Sandra L., Lemanowicz, James, Feinstein, Celia S., Bershadsky, Julie, Houseworth, James, and Zhang, Alicia Q.
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The purpose of this study is to lay a foundation for illustrating the importance of longitudinal data collection by sharing the results of the Independent Monitoring for Quality (IM4Q) program in Pennsylvania designed to collect data over time on the quality of services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. In this article, we report on the history and characteristics of the IM4Q program, describe the key variables of interest, and highlight the trends in the key variables over 3 years of data collection (2013, 2016, and 2019). The descriptive results indicate mixed trends for the three areas of focus: comparable rates of people employed in community-based settings, less support-related choice, and better everyday choice-making outcomes.
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- 2023
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19. Empowering Flight Exercise: Teaching Students the Design, Underlying Processes, and Organizational Outcomes of Empowering Work Systems
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Gardner, Timothy M. and Romney, Alexander C.
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Employee empowerment yields positive outcomes for employees, managers, and organizations. Yet, too many employees feel disempowered at work, and managers, while wanting to empower employees, often do not know how. Contributing to this state of affairs is the lack of published, high-fidelity exercises explicitly designed to instruct students on how empowerment "feels," how empowerment "works," and how to practically empower others. In this article, we outline a 90-minute face-to-face classroom exercise that integrates the structural and psychological empowerment perspectives enabling students to "feel" empowerment or disempowerment and see the productivity and quality benefits of an empowered workforce, and teaches students how to empower others at work. While participating in the exercise, students simulate working in an airplane manufacturing organization, working either in an empowered work environment or a traditional hierarchical work environment. The exercise provides instructors with an important classroom tool to instruct students about the importance of empowerment, trust, and performance in organizational life.
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- 2023
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20. Methodology for Early Childhood Education and Care Research: Premises and Principles of Scientific Knowledge Building. SpringerBriefs in Education
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Pramling, Niklas and Pramling, Niklas
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This book concisely explores the distinguishing features of scientific knowledge and research in early childhood education and care (ECEC). It has a dual-level focus of containing and relating the concrete practices of conducting research with the more fundamental conceptual discussions around research -- the Bildung of the researcher. The book introduces and succinctly explains the concepts of methodology, theoretical knowledge about method, and how all parts of conducting research are informed by theory. The interrelation of these concepts, and many premises of research, are often regarded as assumed knowledge. In this book, premises of research are explicated and discussed, as well as methods on how to engage in informed dialogue. This introductory text explicates many features of scientific knowing and knowledge building in ECEC that tend to be presumed rather than clarified. It will be important in furthering the professional development of PhD students, Master's students, supervisors, and researchers.
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- 2023
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21. Understanding Doctoral Progress Assessment in the Arts and Humanities
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Sillence, Matthew
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This study examines the early-stage progress assessment for doctoral candidates at a British university through the perceptions of academic staff who acted as assessors. It was conducted in response to staff concerns about changes to the process that shortened the timescale for candidates to prepare and present their research for peer review. As well as having an impact on doctoral supervisors, there were implications for researcher developers and 'third space' professionals who supported candidates with research skills training. The findings of four in-depth interviews with assessors in the arts and humanities are discussed in the form of a reflective, 'structured debriefing'. The results of these reflections form recommendations for practice that highlight the importance of conceptual frameworks for doctoral assessment, and the interpretations of criteria at institutional, disciplinary and individual levels. These could be emphasised by academic supervisors and third space professionals supporting doctoral candidates through this milestone.
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- 2023
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22. Sealing the Gaps: Enhancing Quality Control in Business School Dissertations
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Kumar, Atul, Gawande, Amol, Agarwal, Akash, Kale, Shailendrakumar, Brar, Vinaydeep, and Raibagkar, Shirish
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Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify and address significant quality gaps present in business school dissertations in India. Dissertations, an integral and a special component of the overall business school learning process, acquaint students with the practical business world. Design/methodology/approach: The authors benchmarked the dissertation processes of business schools in India against those of reputed business schools in Germany, France, Sweden and Australia. Using a survey questionnaire, the authors checked whether business schools in India followed international processes and, if not, what could be done to adopt such processes. A sample of 367 business schools was studied to obtain reasonable evidence. Findings: There were major quality issues in the dissertation process across business schools in India. Serious groundwork preparation issues were identified, such as an absence of research proposals. Most business schools also reported that there were no rubrics for dissertation evaluation, resulting in high subjectivity in the evaluation process. Supervisor interactions and control over the progress of the dissertation were also found to be very weak. As a result, the authors conclude that dissertations from business schools in India have major gaps in quality. Originality/value: This is a novel study that examines the quality assurance of business school dissertations. It highlights major quality concerns surrounding the business school dissertation process and suggests measures to address quality issues. The study's implications apply to business schools in all developing countries and not just India.
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- 2023
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23. Ensuring Comparability of Qualifications through Moderation: Implications for Australia's VET Sector
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Gillis, Shelley
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Maintaining the quality and comparability of qualifications has become a major priority for vocational education and training (VET) systems world-wide, especially for those countries which have decentralised assessment and reporting systems. In the absence of external examinations, one policy solution to align the assessment standards of different providers is the introduction of assessment moderation. Yet there has been little, if any, research conducted in VET that has examined different approaches to moderation for quality control purposes. By drawing on lessons learnt in a range of settings (i.e. schools, vocational and higher education), this paper identifies the optimal conditions for undertaking social, external and statistical moderation approaches to quality control. It also identifies a range of potential system level factors that could hinder implementation within the context of the Australian VET sector.
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- 2023
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24. Did Quality of Education Exist during the COVID-19 Pandemic? A Study of Integrated Total Quality Management of High Schools in Aceh, Indonesia
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Nasir Usman, Murniati Abdurrahman, Niswanto, Ulfah Irani Zakaria, and Yunisrina Qismullah Yusuf
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Aceh grappled with political conflict with the Indonesian government from 1973 to 2005, which coincided with the devastating impact of the mega earthquake and tsunami on December 26, 2004. Subsequently, the province faced the global outbreak of COVID-19 in 2019. Therefore, a thorough evaluation of the education quality of the youth in this province by considering the various complex challenges they encounter over time is warranted. This study sought to describe the implementation of integrated total quality management and explore the correlation and relationship among customer satisfaction, leadership, and control/evaluation regarding the quality of online teaching and learning (QOLT) within senior high schools in Aceh Province, Indonesia, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Approximately 200 participants completed online survey questionnaires for data collection. The findings revealed that all independent variables (customer satisfaction, leadership, and control/evaluation) significantly influenced QOLT. However, a weak relationship existed between customer satisfaction and control/evaluation, and the correlation between leadership and control/evaluation was less pronounced. Overall, this study highlights the importance of integrated total quality management in enhancing QOLT in Aceh Province during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings contribute to the understanding of the factors that impact education quality and can inform strategies for improving the effectiveness of the education system in similar contexts.
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- 2023
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25. Perspectives on Quality and Supporting Quality Improvement from Early Childhood Technical Assistants Working with Family Child Care Educators
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Alison Hooper, Myae Han, Martha Buell, and Rena Hallam
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Onsite, individualized support for early care and education providers has emerged as an effective strategy for supporting quality improvement. We explored how Technical Assistants (TAs) working with family child care (FCC) educators in a voluntary Quality Rating and Improvement System perceive FCC quality and the challenges they face in supporting quality improvement. We conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews with 11 TAs providing support to FCC educators. Transcripts were analyzed using open coding to identify categories related to quality and quality improvement. TAs identified numerous components of FCC program quality that inform their work and two main challenges they face related to supporting quality improvement. Results suggest TAs may benefit from additional training and ongoing support to help them meet FCC educators' specific quality improvement needs and view FCC quality through a strength- based lens. These results can inform how TAs and other specialists are prepared and supported to work with FCC educators and how quality improvement supports can be tailored to the unique context of FCC.
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- 2023
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26. Advanced Manufacturing Training Needs in Northeast Iowa
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Taylor M. Reth
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The gap between skilled workers needed and skilled workers available increased since the start of the fourth industrial revolution. Employees now need different knowledge, skills, and abilities to enter the workforce and stay current with new technologies than they did in the past. One way this knowledge gap and skilled worker shortage could be decreased was by providing the correct training at the local community college. This research provided a method for community colleges to determine current job demand by Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) code in their region through the collection of data from online job search engines. The advanced manufacturing CIP codes with the highest occupational demand in Northeast Iowa Community College's (NICC) district were found to be machine shop technology/assistant, tool and die technology/technician, operations management and supervision, and quality control technology/technician. This research determined that there is a knowledge gap between what the local manufacturing industry desired employees to know and what was being taught at NICC for all CIP codes analyzed even though NICC was teaching multiple major topics desired by industry. The programs least aligned with industry needs were found to be warehousing management, operations management, and CAD with zero to 30 percent of major topics desired by industry being taught for each program. One method to improve curriculum at community colleges is to offer a core curriculum for advanced manufacturing which would provide students with the basic skills needed in multiple manufacturing careers. Job postings in the top 10 CIP codes representing the highest demand job postings of the region were analyzed for recurring desired competencies. There were seven universal competencies identified across the 10 CIP codes analyzed in this research. These included soft skills, communication skills, computer skills, safety, algebra/trigonometry, lifting equipment, and problem solving. The CAD, CNC, machine shop technology, tool and die, and quality control CIP codes had competencies that were more closely related to each other, representing advanced manufacturing. Five advanced manufacturing CIP codes resulted in eight universal competencies including soft skills, communication skills, computer skills, problem solving, machine trades print reading, precision measurement, algebra/trigonometry, and quality control. Five advanced manufacturing CIP codes were utilized to guide the development of a 15 credit core curriculum that addressed all eight universal competencies under the advanced manufacturing CIP codes. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]
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- 2023
27. Quality Management of Mathematics Manipulative Products to Support Students' Higher Order Thinking Skills
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Hidayah, Isti, Isnarto, Masrukan, Asikin, Mohammad, and Margunani
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The Indonesian 2013 curriculum requires the learning process to provide opportunities for the students to develop their higher order thinking skills. Many studies believe that the use of manipulatives are effective to foster it. However, we found that the manipulatives only available for the classroom use, while the students need to also exercise using individual manipulatives outside the class. This study aims to explain the production quality management of individual manipulatives such that they can be highly accessible for students. This study was a development research consisted of eight steps -- manipulatives identification, product design, preparation, production, simulation and expert validation, limited testing and revisions, packaging, and marketing. In the simulation and validation stage, 55 teachers and 60 principals were involved as the participants, while during the testing, we involved 92 junior high school students and 58 children. The results suggested that we have successfully produced 14 types of individual manipulatives ready to sell. Moreover, the participants also gave positive responses -- at an average of 94% -- that the individual manipulatives could support the development of higher-order thinking skills.
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- 2021
28. Say No to Reinventing the Wheel: How Other Countries Can Build on the Norwegian Model of State-Financed OER to Create More Inclusive Upper Secondary Schools
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Müller, Frank J.
- Abstract
The article shows in which areas other countries can benefit from the work of the Norwegian platform NDLA (ndla.no). This assessment is based on interviews with 13 representatives of the platform, three cooperation partners and one representative of Norwegian textbook publishers. The experiences described refer to a large-scale Open Educational Resources (OER) platform for upper secondary education, which was founded in 2006. The contents and experiences of the interviews were categorised into four areas: creation process, consumption, context based decisions and peer-production. The openness of the colleagues through the interviews conducted allows--for the first time--insights into the structures, strategies and considerations of NDLA. In conclusion, the special potential of such a state funded OER platform for inclusive education and which aspects might be relevant for higher education is shown.
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- 2021
29. Non-Profit Islamic Institutions and Quality Management Systems in Malaysia
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Mokhtar, Mohd Sadiq Mohd and Ahmad, Fadzila Azni
- Abstract
This paper presents a narrative review of arguments made by researchers regarding the applicability of western and Japanese quality management systems by non-profit Islamic institutions. This review approach was employed after undertaking a literature search for selected articles based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. The focus of narrative reviews in this study is to identify common themes across researches regarding non-profit Islamic institutions and quality management systems in Malaysia that can then be used to identify commonalities and critical differences among included documents. Following electronic searches of Scopus and Google Scholar sites, nine studies on quality management systems related to non-profit Islamic institutions were identified and subjected to a detailed narrative literature review. Findings reveal that the quality management systems discussed by researchers vary and there are researchers who rejected the idea of implementing western and Japanese quality management systems and instead implemented the Islamic Quality Management system, which was developed in Malaysia. This study intends to contribute to the quality of management and non-profit institution management literature with the proposition of adopting quality management systems by the management of non-profit Islamic institutions.
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- 2021
30. Report to Congress on Head Start Monitoring, Fiscal Year 2021
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Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF) (ACF/DHHS), Office of Head Start (OHS)
- Abstract
The Head Start Act mandates that each Head Start recipient receive a monitoring review at least once every 3 years; each newly designated recipient be reviewed after the completion of its first year (and then at least once every 3 years thereafter); and all recipients that "fail to meet the standards" receive Follow-up reviews. Reviewers knowledgeable about Head Start conducted fiscal year (FY) 2021 reviews, with Review Leads (RLs) leading teams of reviewers, where appropriate. Each review was guided by the standardized methodology and the Monitoring Protocols, which guide reviewers' on-site activities in assessing program performance and compliance. This report presents a summary of the findings of fiscal year (FY) 2021 Head Start monitoring reviews, fulfilling the reporting requirement in section 641A(f) of the Head Start Act, as amended in 2007. It highlights the enhancements made to the FY 2021 monitoring review system, summarizes recipient review outcomes, and describes the types of findings most commonly identified in FY 2021. On September 24, 2020, OHS suspended on-site reviews due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and public health emergency, and the COVID-19-related travel and social distancing restrictions. Reviews that were scheduled to be conducted virtually (e.g., Focus Area 1 (FA1)) were minimally impacted. However, Focus Area 2 (FA2) reviews that are typically scheduled to be conducted onsite were scheduled to be conducted virtually in FY 2021. Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS®) reviews were suspended for FY 2021. [For the 2020 report, see ED633470.]
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- 2021
31. National Public Control System in Higher Education: The Bologna Process
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Ryabova, Elena and Cherkasova, Tatyana
- Abstract
This study aims to assess the work of supervisory and control authorities in the field of education, as well as to create public control mechanisms for monitoring their activities and the quality of higher education. The research is based on the sociological data obtained by interviewing the members of civil society and the representatives of the education system. The methodological basis of the research is a systematic, comprehensive, structural-functional, institutional approach to the consideration of the public control in the education system. A permanent network of expert organizations should form for education quality. Control and supervisory authorities in the field of education should work more closely with the representatives of civil society. This can be performed through the organization of public councils within the control and supervisory authorities, and in higher educational institutions. The changes in the organization and implementation of public control in higher educational institutions are needed, namely: development of clear and objective procedures for assessing the quality of public university educational services; eliminating unnecessary formalities and bureaucracy in higher education during testing; ensuring greater transparency and accessibility of the results of the state audit to familiarize the public with the reports via the Internet. State regulatory authorities should evaluate not only the educational process, but also the educational activities of higher educational institutions.
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- 2020
32. Reluctant Privatization: Assessing the Higher Education Context and Policy Formation in Nepal
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Wagle, Udaya
- Abstract
The higher education system in Nepal has witnessed major achievements and challenges in the past few decades. This paper takes stock of the way the system has evolved and is now mismanaged, with a particular attention to the overall structure, financial management, quality control, and human resources that are central to fulfilling its societal promise. Given that these challenges have been a by-product of an evolving process of policy formation drawing from both global forces and local contexts, this analysis explains how the country has arrived at the current policy of "reluctant privatization" using path dependence and Advocacy Coalition Framework. Whereas the Government of Nepal is at a crossroads in reforming higher education, the insights from this analysis help students, researchers, and policymakers better understand the stakes involved and the potential fault lines that have occurred in its evolving historical context.
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- 2022
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33. Quality Enhancement Cell and Quality Standards in Pakistan: Document Analysis of the Manual for Self-Assessment
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Ramzan, Amna and Khan, Ayaz Muhammad
- Abstract
We are living in the age of quality competition, in marketing term, everything only persists until sustains its quality. If something elapsing its quality is meant to ending its existence from the world gradually. The idea of quality education is challenged and comprehended from numerous aspects. During the past decade, the number of higher education institutions (HEIs) in Pakistan has increased and the need for quality education is increased. Keeping in view the needs of the society the alarming question is the quality improvement of these HEIs. In the long run, the quality of education depends upon the teachers' qualities who are serving as nation builders in the system. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is working as a regulator of Degree Awarding Institutions (DAIs) in Pakistan. All regulated & accredited DAIs by HEC Pakistan are evaluating, improving and sustaining their quality through internal quality body Quality Enhancement Cells (QECs). All universities sustaining their internal quality through the operationalized mechanism of QEC are structured by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA). The leading aim of the existing paper was to analyze the content concerning the quality assurance process of Higher Education (HE) in Pakistan. This study was conducted under the interpretive paradigm and evaluative content analysis was applied. The selected document was Self-assessment Manual used by Quality Enhancement Cells for the quality assurance of DAIs in Pakistan. Through thematic analysis, seven themes ("Curriculum," "Facilities," "Labs," "Students support," "Faculty," "Institutional support" & "Process control") were noted. Furthermore, it was assessed the QEC manual, mechanism and all its performance are measuring the quality of all disciplines with the same brush. By hanging all quality keys at the same grid (Manual), Teacher Education Programs (TEPs) are indirectly sustained in the standings of quality improvement in Pakistan. It was concluded that quality means meeting the predetermined standards and noted six themes during qualitative analysis was based on the Self-Assessment Manual used by QECs in DAIs in Pakistan.
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- 2020
34. K-12 Education: Education Needs to Address Significant Quality Issues with Its Restraint and Seclusion Data. Report to Congressional Committees. GAO-20-345
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US Government Accountability Office and Nowicki, Jacqueline
- Abstract
Every 2 years, Education requires nearly all school districts to report incidents of restraint and seclusion. Generally, restraint is restricting a student's ability to move, and seclusion is confining them alone in a space they cannot leave. The House Committee on Appropriations' explanatory statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018 included a provision for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to evaluate the Civil Rights Data Collection's (CRDC's) restraint and seclusion data. This report examines (1) the effectiveness of CRDC data quality control procedures; (2) selected districts' interpretation of CRDC's restraint and seclusion definitions; and (3) selected districts' use of data. GAO analyzed CRDC's quality control processes for school year 2015-16, and interviewed officials from seven stakeholder groups and over 50 school and district officials in three states. GAO selected states, districts, and schools to obtain a range of perspectives on using restraint and seclusion data and interpreting CRDC definitions of restraint and seclusion. Selection criteria included changes in reported incidents year to year and laws requiring districts to report incidents to states.
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- 2020
35. New Meridian Technical Report 2018-2019
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New Meridian
- Abstract
The purpose of this report is to describe the technical qualities of the 2018-2019 operational administration of the English language arts/literacy (ELA/L) and mathematics summative assessments in grades 3 through 8 and high school. The ELA/L assessments focus on reading and comprehending a range of sufficiently complex texts independently and writing effectively when analyzing text. The ELA/L assessments contain literary and informational texts; each passage set has four to eight brief comprehension and vocabulary questions. The mathematics assessments contain tasks that measure a combination of conceptual understanding, applications, skills, and procedures. Mathematics constructed-response items consist of tasks designed to assess a student's ability to use mathematics to solve real-life problems. In both content areas, students also demonstrate their acquired skills and knowledge by answering selected-response items and fill-in-the-blank questions. The summative assessments are designed to achieve several purposes. First, the tests are intended to provide evidence to determine whether students are on track for college- and career-readiness. Second, the tests are structured to access the full range of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and measure the total breadth of student performance. Finally, the tests are designed to provide data to help inform classroom instruction, student interventions, and professional development. This technical report includes the following topics: (1) background and purpose of the assessments; (2) test development of items and forms; (3) test administration, security, and scoring; (4) classical item analyses and differential item functioning; (5) reliability and validity of scores; (6) item response theory (IRT) calibration and scaling; (7) performance level setting; (8) student characteristics; (9) development of the score reporting scales and student performance; (10) student growth measures; and (11) quality control procedures. [For "New Meridian Technical Report 2018-2019: Alternate Blueprint," see ED604242.]
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- 2020
36. New Meridian Technical Report 2018-2019: Alternate Blueprint
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New Meridian
- Abstract
The purpose of this report is to describe the technical qualities of the 2018-2019 operational administration of the English language arts/literacy (ELA/L) and mathematics assessments in grades 3 through 8 and high school. New Meridian, in coordination with multiple states and vendors, developed an alternate form of the summative assessment to meet the needs for shorter testing times desired by several states. Through extensive research and guidance from the Technical Advisory Committee, the alternate blueprint was available in spring 2019. The ELA/L assessments focus on reading and comprehending a range of sufficiently complex texts independently and writing effectively when analyzing text. The mathematics assessments contain tasks that measure a combination of conceptual understanding, applications, skills, and procedures. Mathematics constructed-response items consist of tasks designed to assess a student's ability to use mathematics to solve real-life problems. In both content areas, students also demonstrate their acquired skills and knowledge by answering selected-response items and fill-in-the-blank questions. The summative assessments are designed to achieve several purposes. First, the tests are intended to provide evidence to determine whether students are on track for college- and career-readiness. Second, the tests are structured to access the full range of Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and measure the total breadth of student performance. Finally, the tests are designed to provide data to help inform classroom instruction, student interventions, and professional development. This technical report includes the following topics: (1) background and purpose of the assessments; (2) test development of items and forms; (3) test administration, security, and scoring; (4) student characteristics; (5) classical item analyses and differential item functioning; (6) reliability and validity of scores; (7) item response theory (IRT) calibration and scaling; (8) performance level setting; (9) development of the score reporting scales and student performance; (10) student growth measures; and (11) quality control procedures. [For "New Meridian Technical Report 2018-2019," see ED604241.]
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- 2020
37. Quality Control Measures and Student Output in University of Uyo and University of Calabar
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Iroegbu, Ekaette Emenike and Etudor-Eyo, Eno
- Abstract
The study examines the nature of relationship between quality control measures and student output in University of Uyo and University of Calabar. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The correlational research design was used for the study. The population comprised 2,967 teaching staff and 11,635 students from University of Uyo and University of Calabar. Simple random sampling technique was used to select 642 teaching staff and 1,232 students from the sampled schools. Two instruments, one being researchers-developed instrument titled "Quality Control Questionnaire (QCQ)" and a documentary analysis checklist titled "Student Output Checklist (SOC)" were used for data collection. The instruments used for data collection were face validated by three experts. The reliability co-efficient of QCQ was determined using the Cronbach Alpha Analysis and a reliability index of 0.81 was obtained. The r-value of Pearson Product Moment Correlation (PPMC) coefficient was used to answer the research questions, while PPMC was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study revealed that the quality control on student intake and student engagement significantly relates to student output in University of Uyo and University of Calabar. It was therefore concluded that the quality of student output in University of Uyo and University of Calabar is influenced by quality control variables. Based on the findings of this study, it is therefore recommended amongst others that, universities' admission regulatory body should ensure that all prospective students vying for admission have good grades in their O'levels and Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). Furthermore, all candidates should also be admitted based on merit in order to ensure quality student output.
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- 2020
38. Professional Military Education: Programs Are Accredited, but Additional Information Is Needed to Assess Effectiveness. Report to Congressional Addressees. GAO-20-323
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US Government Accountability Office and Farrell, Brenda S.
- Abstract
The Conference Report accompanying the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 included a provision for the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to evaluate Department of Defense (DOD) Professional Military Education (PME) and JPME institutions. This report examines the extent to which: (1) the military services' PME programs have met civilian and Joint PME (JPME) accreditation requirements, (2) The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) has assessed the effectiveness of the military services' PME programs, and (3) The Under Secretary of Defense (USD) (Comptroller) has monitored the military services' PME program budget data. GAO analyzed applicable laws and policy, analyzed accreditation and budget information, and interviewed officials from the military services' intermediate- and senior-level resident PME programs.
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- 2020
39. Developing a Pedagogical Method to Design Interactive Learning Objects for Teaching Data Mining
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Montoya, Diana, Vargas, Jorge Eduardo Hincapie, Sanchez Giraldo, Jonathan, and Hincapié, Natalia Correa
- Abstract
This article presents the design of a pedagogical method to produce interactive learning objects that allow users to learn about new statistical process control techniques, such as Data Mining, in order to address the curricular needs of college students enrolled in academic programs related to quality engineering. Acquiring skills in this type of tools enables students to have a more competitive profile to work at different organizations.
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- 2020
40. Avoiding Publishing in Predatory Journals: An Evaluation Algorithm
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Berisha Qehaja, Albana
- Abstract
Academics and scholars need to publish their research results. In addition, they are required to publish scientific papers to prove their research commitment and to achieve certain academic titles in higher education institutions. Globally, there are many scientific journals of well-known publishing houses/universities, which offer opportunities to publish scientific work. One of the recent topics in academic circles is the increasing number of invitations to publish articles via quick procedures, without going through the adequate review process. This phenomenon is threatening academic integrity, as these publishers/journals aim at financial benefits and not contributing to scientific development and progress. There is a gap in the knowledge of the scientific researchers regarding the journal selection to publish their work. Some of them are still unintentionally publishing in such journals, mainly as a lack of information about them. The main purpose of this study is awareness-raising, warning, and guidance of scientific researchers, particularly young researchers by providing information on how to avoid submitting manuscripts in these journals. To achieve this, we have consulted the recent literature and practices of different countries, summarized the most used tools/methods to identify predatory publishers and journals, and lastly, we have developed a guiding algorithm for evaluating them.
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- 2020
41. On-Line Quality Management a Precursor for Improving E-Learning Adoption in Midwifery Schools in Uganda
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Bigirwa, June Patrick, Ndawula, Stephen, and Naluwemba, Esther Frances
- Abstract
E-learning pedagogy is used in many health training institutions in Uganda, However, despite the high investment, e-learning adoption is still low. This study aimed at ascertaining the relevance of on-line quality management in improve e-learning adoption in midwifery schools in Uganda. It used an explanatory sequential mixed methods design to ascertain if online quality management was significant at improving e-learning adoption and the on-line quality traits which would be implemented by midwifery schools to improve e-learning adoption. Data collection was conducted in two phases, the first entailed quantitative data collection and analysis to determine if on-line quality management was significant to e-learning adoption. The second embraced a qualitative data collection and analysis to ascertain the detailed traits of on-line quality management relevant to e-learning adoption. Linear regression analysis established on-line quality management had influence on e-learning adoption (p=0.000). On-line quality management accounted for 55.5% of the variance in e-learning adoption with a strong positive statistically significant relationship, and its salient traits included; Compact Disc, Read-Only-Memory materials meets the expectation of users, collaborative improvement of on-line quality, Learning Management System meets expectations of users, providing the best on-line experience, e-learning program being described as an excellent on-line learning experience, and guidelines for improving on-line quality. Midwifery schools therefore have to focus on the six most relevant traits of on-line quality management if they are to improve e-learning adoption.
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- 2020
42. Improving Quality Management in Higher Education Institutions in Developing Countries through Strategic Planning
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Mensah, Justice
- Abstract
The objective of the paper was to provide an overview of strategic planning and how a Strategic Plan (SP) can be developed and implemented effectively in Higher Education Institution (HEIs) in developing countries for continuous quality improvement. Related literature was reviewed and analysed using the narrative synthesis approach. It was established from the review that a SP serves as a framework for determining the quality path a HEI should chart to achieve its desired future. Advantages of strategic planning include; providing opportunity for relevant constituencies to participate in institutional governance, synchronising plans towards achieving institutional goals; prioritising for efficient allocation of resources, and engaging stakeholders for collective ownership of institutional agenda. SPs are developed based on internal and external environmental scan for institutional strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats; and aligned with institutional mission, vision, values, and goals. Issues for consideration in strategic planning may include academic (teaching, research, and extension) matters, institutional governance, finance, infrastructure, Information and Communication Technology, human resource, institutional advancement and internationalisation. Challenges in planning and implementation of SPs in HEIs in developing countries include resource constraints, inadequate expertise and commitment, as well as resistance to change. For effective implementation of a SP, there should be an implementation plan that details who should do what at what time and with which resources. Successful strategic planning and implementation of the Plan depend on commitment of and collaboration among qualified planners, implementers, monitors, evaluators and other relevant stakeholders.
- Published
- 2020
43. Use Drives Quality: Considering Data Quality Issues in California's Pursuit of a Cradle-to-Career Data System. Policy Brief
- Author
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California State University, Sacramento. Education Insights Center and Moore, Colleen
- Abstract
The Education Insights Center produced a series of reports culminating in recommendations for the structure and governance of a preschool through higher education and into the workforce (known as a P20W data system). This brief follows up on that series, with a focus on data quality; the brief was informed by the author's experience using California's existing education and workforce data systems to conduct research, as well as conversations with 14 researchers and other experts who have significant experience using those data to conduct research, to develop data tools for educators and the public, and for operational purposes. [This report is an addendum to the series: California Education Policy, Student Data, and the Quest to Improve Student Progress.]
- Published
- 2020
44. Reliability and Validity of International Large-Scale Assessment: Understanding IEA's Comparative Studies of Student Achievement. IEA Research for Education. Volume 10
- Author
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International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) (Netherlands), Wagemaker, Hans, Wagemaker, Hans, and International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) (Netherlands)
- Abstract
Although International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement-pioneered international large-scale assessment (ILSA) of education is now a well-established science, non-practitioners and many users often substantially misunderstand how large-scale assessments are conducted, what questions and challenges they are designed to address, and how technologies have evolved to achieve their stated goals. This book focuses on the work of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), with a particular emphasis on the methodologies and technologies that IEA employs to address issues related to the validity and reliability (quality) of its data. It outlines how IEA studies are conducted, from developing the research questions to constructing study frameworks, to designing the instruments (assessment materials, background questionnaires, and manuals), establishing the important aspects when conducting a study, and reporting on the results. This book shows the rigor of these scientific endeavors and the quality control mechanisms that are required to ensure high quality data and high quality study reports. It also reveals how ILSAs in education have evolved. [For Volume 9, see ED601925.]
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- 2020
45. 2019-2020 Florida Adult Education Assessment Technical Assistance Paper
- Author
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Florida Department of Education, Division of Career and Adult Education
- Abstract
This technical assistance paper provides policy and guidance to individuals with test administration responsibilities in adult education programs. The Florida assessment policies and guidelines presented in this paper are appropriate for state and federal reporting. Therefore, guidance and procedures regarding the selection and use of appropriate student assessment are also included. Additionally, the following important information for adult education programs is reviewed: (1) The definition of key terms and acronyms; (2) Selection of appropriate assessments by student and program type; (3) Appropriate student placement into program and instructional level; (4) Verification of student learning gains, Educational Functioning Level, and/or program completion; (5) Accommodations for students with disabilities and other special needs; (6) Assessment procedures for Distance Education; and and (7) Training for all staff who administer the standardized assessments. [For the "2018-2019 Florida Adult Education Assessment Technical Assistance Paper," see ED600582.]
- Published
- 2020
46. Report to Congress on Head Start Monitoring, Fiscal Year 2020
- Author
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Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF) (ACF/DHHS), Office of Head Start (OHS)
- Abstract
The Head Start Act mandates that each Head Start grantee receive a monitoring review at least once every 3 years; each newly designated grantee be reviewed after the completion of its first year (and then at least once every 3 years thereafter); and all grantees that "fail to meet the standards" receive Follow-up reviews. Reviewers knowledgeable about Head Start conducted fiscal year (FY) 2020 reviews, with Review Leads (RLs) leading teams of reviewers, where appropriate. Each review was guided by the standardized methodology and the Monitoring Protocols, which guide reviewers' on-site activities in assessing program performance and compliance. This report presents a summary of the findings of fiscal year (FY) 2020 Head Start monitoring reviews, fulfilling the reporting requirement in section 641A(f) of the Head Start Act, as amended in 2007. It highlights the enhancements made to the FY 2020 monitoring review system, summarizes grantee review outcomes, and describes the types of findings most commonly identified in FY 2020. [For the 2019 report, see ED633469.]
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- 2020
47. Testing: Methodology and Quality Indicators
- Author
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Zubanova, Svetlana, Bodrova, Tatyana, and Kruchkovich, Sofia
- Abstract
Testing is a modern high-quality method of knowledge check. Informatization which began in the late XX-early XXI century contributed to the growth of various tests. However, the inclusion of tests in the educational process is at a slower pace. This is largely due to the lack of a methodological basis for test development. It is proved that the test control methodology is an interdisciplinary theory that combines the achievements of pedagogy, psychology, measurement theory, quality theory, statistics, mathematics, organization and management theory. The article describes the principle of the testing methodology; the type and kinds of tests are determined, as well as the methodological principles for high-quality text creation. The criteria are described that must be met by tests: relations with education and training, objectivity, systematicity and comprehensive nature, relevance, the relationship of increasing difficulty content and form, and test optimality.
- Published
- 2020
48. Examining the Calibration Process for Raters of the 'GRE'® General Test. ETS GRE® Board Research Report. GRE®-19-01. Research Report Series. ETS RR-19-09
- Author
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Wendler, Cathy, Glazer, Nancy, and Cline, Frederick
- Abstract
One of the challenges in scoring constructed-response (CR) items and tasks is ensuring that rater drift does not occur during or across scoring windows. Rater drift reflects changes in how raters interpret and use established scoring criteria to assign essay scores. Calibration is a process used to help control rater drift and, as such, serves as a type of quality control during CR scoring. Calibration sets are designed to provide sufficient evidence that raters have understood and internalized the rubrics and can score accurately across all score points of the score scale. This study examined the calibration process used to qualify raters to score essays from the "GRE"® Analytical Writing measure. A total of 46 experienced raters participated in the study, and each rater scored up to 630 essays from 1 of 2 essay prompt types. Two research questions were evaluated: "Does calibration influence scoring accuracy?" and "Does reducing the frequency of calibration impact scoring accuracy?" While the distribution of score points represented by the essays used in the study did not necessarily reflect what raters see during operational scoring, results suggest that the influence of calibration on Day 1 remains with raters through at least 3 scoring days. Results further suggest that scoring accuracy may be moderated by prompt type. Nevertheless, study results indicate that daily calibration for GRE prompt types may not be necessary and that reducing the frequency of calibration is unlikely to reduce scoring accuracy.
- Published
- 2019
49. Risk Sharing: How to Hold Colleges Accountable for the Education They Provide. Issue Brief
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Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and Akers, Beth
- Abstract
College has become a risky proposition for students as well as taxpayers. Fewer than six in 10 students who start a degree will ever finish, which means that they won't see a return on the money they've spent to attend--and if they took out a loan from the federal government, they might be left with unaffordable debt. In the latter case, the government's loan safety nets will bail them out. Colleges, it seems, are the only players who can't lose in the $1.9 trillion-per-year business of higher education. There is a system in place to hold colleges accountable for the services they provide, but that system is failing students and taxpayers. This issue brief analyzes how the federal government can better measure college quality in order to police access to its student aid. There are three recommendations: (1) use risk sharing to ensure that colleges compensate taxpayers for their students' use of the government's loan safety nets; (2) use a measure of the student loan repayment rate, rather than accreditation, to determine whether colleges are eligible for federal aid; and (3) use targeted grants and scholarships to ensure that disadvantaged students can enroll in colleges that might otherwise be wary of these students' ability to repay their loans.
- Published
- 2019
50. Hands-On Laboratory Class for Biopharmaceutical pDNA Quality Control
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Sousa, Ângela, Almeida, Ana Margarida, Valente, Joana, Queiroz, João, and Sousa, Fani
- Abstract
Biopharmaceuticals are gaining high relevance in the pharmaceutical industry and market, due to their specific design for many therapeutic conditions and ability to restore biological functions. As a matter of fact, gene therapy products have been studied and developed in the past several years, and more recently, they arouse real interest as promising alternatives for the establishment of rapid, efficient, and safe treatments for incurable diseases and pandemics. Plasmid DNA (pDNA) is a nonviral vector with great potential in gene therapy due to its biosafety, standard manufacturing, and reduced production cost. Among the different pDNA topologies, the supercoiled (sc) isoform is considered a structure with a higher therapeutic effect. Thus, the production and purification of such a biomolecule must be controlled by suitable analytical methods in order to guarantee the fulfillment of the criteria established by regulatory agencies regarding the purity and homogeneity of sc pDNA for therapeutic applications. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the quality control methods are fast, precise, and specific for the assessment of the target biomolecule. Thus, in the laboratory experiment of a pharmaceutical biotechnology class, a commercial CIMac DEAE pDNA analytical column is used by students for the assessment of the purity level and recovery yield of sc pDNA obtained by recombinant production and a histamine monolith-based purification process. This laboratory class allows students of the Biotechnology or Pharmaceutical Sciences Master degrees to understand the global biotechnological process involved in sc pDNA production and the quality control methods necessary to validate these products for safe therapeutic administration.
- Published
- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
51. Designed, Conducted and Implemented Training Module for Key Employees in Biotechnology Industry
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Kumar, Amit
- Abstract
In Biotechnology industry, training is the only way to nourish the scientific and technical skills of the key employees. There are numerous ways to train the employees through theoretical and practical knowledge-based training modules for Inhouse training, On-job training, task-specific training, hands-on training, external training, refresh training, combined Inhouse and On-job training, etc. The Training Cycle is a part of training that plays a crucial role in designing, conducting, and implementing exclusive and customized training modules. It contains various steps, such as identifying deficiencies, designing inputs and outputs, and identifying the learning strategy and effectiveness of the training module, and should be evaluated through a simple grading method. Based on the available literature, trainees can improve their subject knowledge through successive training sessions. In the pandemic spreading of COVID-19, the author has an opinion on how to design and execute their training modules effectively for upgrading the scientific and technical skills of key employees in biotechnology industries like production and quality control departments. Therefore, it is suggested that they may design, conduct, and implement their developed and customized training modules for the key employees of the production and quality control departments of any biotech industry. The industries can use these training modules effectively, as described in this article. It can also be a versatile tool for developing exclusive, customized, and effective training modules.
- Published
- 2022
52. Risk Management Application in South African Power Utility Construction Projects
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Kgosietsile, Modisakoma J., Makhanya, Bheki B.S, and Pretorius, Jan Harm C.
- Abstract
South Africa's largest electricity producer has embarked on mega investments to build new power stations. This paper reports on the risk management maturity level, and risk management processes. The research adopted the survey research method and self-administrated questions to collect primary data. The investigation targeted the total population of 100 engineers, technical managers, safety officers and quality officers. The researchers collected a total of 44 useful responses. The research established that the overall risk management maturity at the intermediate level. The risk response planning and risk monitoring were identified as processes that need improvement. The risk factors in the South African power utility construction projects were a lack of pre-planning, the level of contractor's performance, community unrest, labour unrest, safety incidents, defective work and poor risk management skills. The paper has both theoretical and practical implications despite the limitations associated with the study design.
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- 2022
- Full Text
- View/download PDF
53. Historicizing Korean Teacher Professionalism and the Making of a Professional Confucian Teacher
- Author
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Kim, Ji-Hye
- Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to historicize the traveling idea of teacher professionalism in the context of South Korea and to investigate how the idea is culturally translated and negotiated together with the traditional notion of a teacher. In doing so, this paper problematizes the modern idea of 'teachers as professionals' and its translation through the idea of territorialization. The investigation on the modern episteme of teachers revealed the colonialization of modernization as scientization. In doing so, multiple classifications and ordering practices occurred in the making of professional teachers as a particular kind of people were discussed. Simultaneously, the study also made clear that the traditional episteme has not disappeared nor simply westernized. Rather, the result showed that the modern understanding of a teacher was re-territorialized with traditional episteme and it created new subjectivities of Korean teachers as professional Confucian teachers.
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- 2022
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54. For Concurrent Enrollment, Collaboration, Not Alignment, Is the Better Story
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Scarbrough, Burke
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Purpose: As concurrent enrollment (CE) programs continue to expand in the USA, a growing share of English teaching at the first-year university level is taking place in secondary schools. Though much of the discourse surrounding CE courses relates to quality control, the purpose of this paper is to argue for a reconsideration of the terms by which these courses are valued, calling for a shift from alignment to collaboration as the crucial work for participating English teachers. Design/methodology/approach: This essay responds to scholarship and primary source documents related to CE programs in light of the author's experience as liaison for a CE literature course at a Midwestern regional university in the USA. Findings: An ethic of alignment pervades discourse about CE programs. The quality control promised by this "alignment story" presupposes a stable university course to be aligned with and the emulation of college faculty pedagogy as the high-priority intellectual labor. This alignment story is undermined by the variation within and between on-campus and high school iterations of the literature course. Rather than justifying an alignment ethic, this variation continually renews important questions about what constitutes college-level engagement with literature and how to best help students achieve it in a particular setting. These questions call for deliberation among a community of English teachers, not alignment of one constituency to another. Originality/value: This essay builds on previous scholarship about the importance of alignment and the opportunity for collaboration in CE by exploring how an emphasis on the former misrecognizes the importance of the latter.
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- 2022
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55. Enhancing MSW Field Education Using Rapid Cycle Quality Improvement: Feasibility and Acceptability of an Online Weekly Feedback Tool and Process
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Liechty, Janet M., Parker, Vanessa L., and Keck, Anna-Sigrid
- Abstract
Rapid Cycle Quality Improvement (RCQI) is often required for behavioral health work force training and evaluation projects supported by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The RCQI process is well established within healthcare but under-utilized in academia to improve teaching and learning. We created and piloted the Friday Feedback (FF) survey tool as part of a HRSA funded training program for weekly completion by MSW interns. Across two semesters of full-time field education, a cohort of 15 MSW students completed 281 weekly FF surveys. Students reported activities such as number of patients seen, observations about integration of behavioral and physical health, patient successes and challenges, and time spent working on interdisciplinary teams. Cumulatively, students reported working with 2,425 patients/clients and in frequent close collaboration with other health professions. A review team comprised of faculty and staff met weekly to discuss students' FF data and create response plans to promote student learning. The RCQI process was feasible and acceptable to students and the team. It created a feedback loop to improve students' field experiences, enhanced the curriculum, and enabled effective monitoring and rapid response from team to students. Benefits and challenges of this RCQI approach to enhance field education along with lessons learned for wider adoption are discussed.
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- 2022
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56. Excellence, Equity and Efficiency in Educational Psychology Service Delivery: A Journey
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Owen, Liz, Craig, Lesley, Barrett, Whitney, and Hannay, Sam
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Excellence, equity and efficiency are key drivers for improvement in Scotland's education sector, including educational psychology. This paper discusses and evaluates the decisions taken by one Scottish Educational Psychology Service towards achieving the key outcomes of excellence, equity and efficiency through a redesign of their service delivery model. Evidence is presented regarding the impact of this journey towards achieving these key outcomes, and reflections made about the mechanisms which facilitated this process of organisational change and service redesign.
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- 2022
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57. Lean Six Sigma Leadership in Higher Education
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Alwarsh, Ahoud A.
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Lean Six Sigma (LSS), which is a strategy that effectively solve problems in the manufacturing and services sectors, is claimed to be a vital strategy that could improve business, solve problems, and upgrade the quality level for education setting. Antony (2014) argues that "higher education institutes (HEI) can deploy both Lean and Six Sigma methodologies to improve their business processes" (p. 258). This dissertation explores educational leaders' and teachers' perspectives on deploying LSS in higher education. The qualitative data was collected from interviews and university documents: archival records, staff handbook, website, and annual reports. The finding indicated that: educational leaders and teachers believe the culture and leadership structure at Higher Education at the University of Ohio (UO) is very different from the culture and leadership structure that are needed for LSS implementation. The HE culture needs to move from culture of individuality to a LSS teamwork structure. Furthermore, the changes have to be negotiated with faculties before any approval; this is very different from LSS leadership structure of making changes. Besides, leadership in HE from the participants point of view focused on items more than people development unlike LSS leadership. Moreover, the top leaders at UO are not the one who initiated the current LSS projects and workshops, the process is more like bottom up. The UO top leaders are supportive to new change initiatives, and they allow the LSS leaders and faculty to practice LSS, however, the LSS faculty and leaders agree that there is no clear discussion about embracing LSS system. The top leaders did not communicate a vision of LSS system even though they support all LSS projects initiatives. These leaders and faculty said the UO is not ready for LSS implementation because of several reasons one of these is lack resources such as LSS training that set for Higher Education.
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- 2022
58. Quality Control? How School Performance Varies within American Cities
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Manhattan Institute for Policy Research and Winters, Marcus A.
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Urban public school districts in the U.S. vary in quality. Educational policies, distribution of resources, and the challenges that students bring to the classroom differ substantially across localities. Little surprise, then, that academic outcomes--such as high school graduation rates and average school performance on standardized tests--fluctuate widely, too. This paper quantifies such variation in elementary and middle school quality within 68 of the largest U.S. public school districts, which collectively serve about 7.8 million students. It also examines whether cities that see students with certain demographics (specifically, low-income and nonwhite) concentrated in certain schools experience higher variation in school quality. The findings, especially those in the comprehensive Appendix table, can serve as a guide for parents, as well as an admonition to school officials in cities where quality is consistently low or where the quality gap between the best and worst schools is wide.
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- 2019
59. Bureaucracy and Internationalization in Higher Education in Mexico: Fatal Impacts
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Didou Aupetit, Sylvie
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This paper analyses to what extent mechanisms of quality control and results-based financing hinder innovative programmes. Focusing on one precise example, the paper will demonstrate how bureaucratic schemes that prioritise the production of evidence of compliance force higher education institution (HEIs) to adapt their internationalization programmes to government policy requirements as a matter of routine, and to pay less attention to meaningful activities such as knowledge production and the development of networks. Because of the conditions of its implementation, internationalization has become merely instrumental and limited in scope, which weakens its sustainability. The question of how to internationalize such that programmes of mobility, exchange, joint research, networks, and collaborative degrees incentivize projects of institutional development, innovation, and social responsibility, has become a secondary concern.
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- 2019
60. State K12 Instructional Materials Leadership Trends Snapshot
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State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA)
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This report summarizes current state policies and practices in the selection and implementation of digital instructional materials. It is based on the 2019 updates to the Digital Instructional Materials Acquisition Policies for States (DMAPS) online portal. Since its inception in 2015, DMAPS has been updated annually and expanded to include new topic areas. This trends snapshot includes details regarding: (1) digital learning policies and practices including state digital learning plans and standards; (2) state definitions for personalized learning; (3) policies and practices related to instructional materials acquisition, procurement and implementation; (4) professional learning opportunities states are providing teachers around the selection, creation and implementation of digital instructional materials; and (5) accessibility policies and practices. [For a related report, see "Navigating the Digital Shift 2019: Equitable Opportunities for All Learners" (ED599408).]
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- 2019
61. PARCC Final Technical Report for 2018 Administration
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Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and Pearson
- Abstract
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is a state-led consortium designed to create next-generation assessments that, compared to traditional K-12 assessments, more accurately measure student progress toward college and career readiness. The PARCC assessments are aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and were administered operationally for the first time in the 2014-2015 academic year. PARCC comprises assessments in both English Language Arts/Literacy (ELA/L) and Mathematics in grades 3 to 8 and high school. The information provided in this technical report is intended for use by those who evaluate tests, interpret scores, or use test results in making educational decisions. It is assumed that the reader has technical knowledge of test construction and measurement procedures, as stated in "Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing" (American Educational Research Association [AERA], American Psychological Association [APA], & National Council on Measurement in Education [NCME], 2014). The purpose of this technical report is to describe the first operational administration of the PARCC assessments and includes the following topics: (1) Background and purpose of the assessments; (2) Test development of items and forms; (3) Test administration, security, and scoring; (4) Test taker characteristics; (5) Classical item analyses and differential item functioning; (6) Reliability and validity of scores; (7) Item response theory (IRT) calibration and scaling; (8) Performance level setting; (9) Development of the score reporting scales and student performance; (10) student growth measures; and (11) Quality control procedures.
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- 2019
62. Dynamic Multi Agent System for Revising E-Learning Content Material
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Elghibari, Fatiha, Elouahbi, Rachid, and El Khoukhi, Fatima
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The growth of the information and communication technologies has led to the appearance of new concepts, approach and disciplines. For learners, an e-learning system constitutes rich window to the knowledge. It presents a varied training, including different content material format (video, text, interactive content...) and diverse methods. In order to keep learners' attention, e-learning system must provide good content's quality, including revised material and updated methods. In this perspective, we have implemented multi-agent system composed of three sort of agents ensuring a permanent revision to the e-learning content. The first one is called Checker Agent (CA). It checks the educational resources, and detects the outdated ones so as to be treated. The second agent is named Search Agent (SA). The task of this one is to look for recent contents and new teaching methods. Whereas, the third agent is called Updater Agent (UA). Its function consists on inserting the retrieved updates corresponding to each content. The communication between these agents is ensured by an XML files. In this paper, we have proposed an implementation of the first part of our system. Namely, the checking process of e-learning curriculum by implementing the CA algorithm. And the integration process by implementing the UA algorithm. As result, the tests and experimentations done in this context have proved the effectiveness of the proposed solution, and revealed positive results both in term of learning process and learners' feedback.
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- 2019
63. Reconfiguring Localization Quality Assessment for Video Games
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Wibowo, Agung Prasetyo, Nababan, M. R., Santosa, Riyadi, and Kristina, Diah
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Studies conducted on localization quality assessment (LQA) on video games from interdisciplinary perspectives, dominantly employ studies on media, demarcating it from their derivative concerns like environmental issues. We argue that LQA on video games requires reconstruction from eco-criticism perspectives, because electronic waste (E-waste) of video games has been a serious concern since the legalization of European Union 2003 on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. Analysing the uplift in file size and extra power consumption exposed from purposively selected twenty game titles, this article proposes the possibilities to construct eco-criticism based LQA. Video game localization scholars and practitioners could benefit from the proposed LQA to appraise possible environmental issues emerging from the localization process.
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- 2019
64. NORDSCI International Conference Proceedings: Education and Language Edition (Athens, Greece, August 19, 2019). Book 1. Volume 2
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NORDSCI
- Abstract
This volume includes two sections of the 2019 NORDSCI international conference proceedings: (1) Education and Educational Research; and (2) Language and Linguistics. Education and Educational Research includes 11 papers covering scientific topics in the full spectrum of education, including history, sociology and economy of education, educational policy, strategy and technologies. This section also covers pedagogy and special education. Language and Linguistics includes 11 papers covering scientific topics related to theoretical, literary and historical linguistics, as well as stylistics and philology.
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- 2019
65. Report to Congress on Head Start Monitoring, Fiscal Year 2019
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Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF) (ACF/DHHS), Office of Head Start (OHS)
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The Head Start Act mandates that each Head Start grantee receive a monitoring review at least once every 3 years; each newly designated grantee be reviewed after the completion of its first year (and then at least once every 3 years thereafter); and all grantees that "fail to meet the standards" receive Follow-up reviews. Reviewers knowledgeable about Head Start conducted fiscal year (FY) 2019 reviews, with Review Leads (RLs) leading teams of reviewers, where appropriate. Each review was guided by the standardized methodology and the Monitoring Protocols, which guide reviewers' onsite activities in assessing program performance and compliance. This report presents a summary of the findings of fiscal year (FY) 2019 Head Start monitoring reviews, fulfilling the reporting requirement in Section 641A(f) of the Head Start Act, as amended in 2007. It highlights the enhancements made to the FY 2019 monitoring review system, summarizes grantee review outcomes, and describes the types of findings most commonly identified in FY 2019. [For the 2018 report, see ED633365.]
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- 2019
66. Principles & Standards for Quality Charter School Authorizing, 2018 Edition
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National Association of Charter School Authorizers
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The "Principles & Standards for Quality Charter School Authorizing," first established in 2004, reflect the lessons learned by experienced authorizers. This foundational resource for National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) has been used to guide authorizing practices across the country and is referenced in state statutes. It focuses on the ends that authorizers should aim to attain in creating and upholding high expectations for the schools they charter while recognizing there are many means of getting there. The Principles articulate a set of beliefs about quality charter school authorizing. The Standards identify core authorizer responsibilities and describe how the principles are upheld within each responsibility. Consult this resource often as a guide to understanding and fulfilling the critical responsibilities of charter school authorizers. [For the previous edition, see ED580966.]
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- 2018
67. Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Operations and Quality Control in School Accountability Systems
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Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO)
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Since the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) in December 2015, state education agencies (SEAs) have invested much time, effort, and resources into designing their accountability systems so that they reflect the state's vision and priorities and are in compliance with federal statute. Over the course of the past year, each state has submitted its consolidated ESSA plan to the United States Department of Education (ED) and has either completed or will be completing the approval process (see https://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplan17/index.html). The purpose of this brief is to outline considerations for the operationalization and quality control of a state accountability system. It describes a framework that states can use to guide the development of their accountability implementation plan and put guardrails in place to validate the various outcomes of the accountability system. Please note that while the context for this brief is the implementation of each state's ESSA-based accountability system, the principles and practices apply broadly to other types of assessment and accountability systems.
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- 2018
68. What Is Good Service Quality? Day Service Staff's Perspectives about What It Looks Like and How It Should Be Monitored
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McEwen, Jade, Bigby, Christine, and Douglas, Jacinta
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Background: Australian disability services must comply with quality standards defined by federal government. Standards are abstract, focus on paperwork and rarely describe what good service quality looks like in practice. This research explored frontline day service staff's perceptions of good service quality to identify ways that it may be better monitored. Methods: Using a constructivist grounded theory methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 9 frontline staff from 3-day services. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed for themes using constant comparison and line-by-line coding. Results: Five categories of good practice were identified: collaborative hands-on leadership, well-planned services, respect for people with intellectual disabilities and their carers, a culture of continuous improvement and professionalization of the support worker role. Conclusions: Results align with research undertaken in accommodation services for people with intellectual disabilities, suggesting commonalities in frontline staff's perceptions of quality in both day and accommodation services.
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- 2021
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69. An Examination of Recording Accuracy and Precision from Eye Tracking Data from Toddlerhood to Adulthood
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Dalrymple, Kirsten A., Manner, Marie D., Harmelink, Katherine A., Teska, Elayne P., and Ellison, Jed T.
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The quantitative assessment of eye tracking data quality is critical for ensuring accuracy and precision of gaze position measurements. However, researchers often report the eye tracker's optimal manufacturer's specifications rather than empirical data about the accuracy and precision of the eye tracking data being presented. Indeed, a recent report indicates that less than half of eye tracking researchers surveyed take the eye tracker's accuracy into account when determining areas of interest for analysis, an oversight that could impact the validity of reported results and conclusions. Accordingly, we designed a calibration verification protocol to augment independent quality assessment of eye tracking data and examined whether accuracy and precision varied between three age groups of participants. We also examined the degree to which our externally quantified quality assurance metrics aligned with those reported by the manufacturer. We collected data in standard laboratory conditions to demonstrate our method, to illustrate how data quality can vary with participant age, and to give a simple example of the degree to which data quality can differ from manufacturer reported values. In the sample data we collected, accuracy for adults was within the range advertised by the manufacturer, but for school-aged children, accuracy and precision measures were outside this range. Data from toddlers were less accurate and less precise than data from adults. Based on an "a priori" inclusion criterion, we determined that we could exclude approximately 20% of toddler participants for poor calibration quality quantified using our calibration assessment protocol. We recommend implementing and reporting quality assessment protocols for any eye tracking tasks with participants of any age or developmental ability. We conclude with general observations about our data, recommendations for what factors to consider when establishing data inclusion criteria, and suggestions for stimulus design that can help accommodate variability in calibration. The methods outlined here may be particularly useful for developmental psychologists who use eye tracking as a tool, but who are not experts in eye tracking "per se." The calibration verification stimuli and data processing scripts that we developed, along with step-by-step instructions, are freely available for other researchers.
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- 2018
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70. PARCC Final Technical Report for 2017 Administration
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Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and Pearson
- Abstract
The purpose of this technical report is to describe the third operational administration of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) assessments in the 2016-2017 academic year. PARCC is a state-led consortium creating next-generation assessments that, compared to traditional K-12 assessments, more accurately measures student progress toward college and career readiness. The PARCC assessments are aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and were administered operationally for the first time in the 2014-2015 academic year. PARCC comprises assessments in both English language arts/literacy (ELA/L) and mathematics in grades 3 through 8 and high school. The information provided in this technical report is intended for use by those who evaluate tests, interpret scores, or use test results in making educational decisions. It is assumed that the reader has technical knowledge of test construction and measurement procedures, as stated in Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (American Educational Research Association [AERA], American Psychological Association [APA], and National Council on Measurement in Education [NCME], 2014). The purpose of this technical report is to describe the third operational administration of the PARCC assessments in the 2016-2017 academic year and includes the following topics: (1) background and purpose of the assessments; (2) test development of items and forms; (3) test administration, security, and scoring; (4) test taker characteristics; (5) classical item analyses and differential item functioning; (6) reliability and validity of scores; (7) item response theory (IRT) calibration and scaling; (8) performance level setting; (9) development of the score reporting scales and student performance; (10) student growth measures; and (11) quality control procedures.
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- 2018
71. Data Use 'Multi-State' Spotlight: Using Data Fidelity Tools to Improve Data Quality. Transforming State Systems to Improve Outcomes for Children with Disabilities
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National Center for Systemic Improvement at WestEd, Ruedel, Kristin, Nelson, Gena, and Bailey, Tessie
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To evaluate interim progress toward the State-identified Measurable Result (SIMR), states require access to high-quality data from local education agencies (LEAs) and early intervention service providers. In a review of 2017 Phase III State Systemic Improvement Plans (SSIP), 43 Part C states noted limitations or concerns related to data and specifically data quality. Meanwhile, 36 Part B states reported efforts to address fidelity by providing a method for collection and use of data regarding practice implementation. In turn, concerns about the quality of local data create barriers to effectively evaluating the implementation of the SSIP and progress toward the SIMR. Increasing fidelity to the data collection process can improve data quality. This spotlight shares how three states used three different approaches to data fidelity tools to improve data quality. It concludes with recommendations for states facing similar challenges. [This resource was developed in collaboration with Christy Scott, Greg Feldmann, and Nick Whynott.]
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- 2018
72. A New Approach to Defining and Measuring Family Engagement in Early Childhood Education Programs
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Sabol, Terri J., Sommer, Teresa Eckrich, Sanchez, Amy, and Busby, Andrea Kinghorn
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Almost every state-level Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) in the country includes family engagement as an indicator of early childhood education quality. Yet, most QRIS measure family engagement using a uniform, narrow set of parent involvement activities at the center. We propose an alternative approach that emphasizes a range of direct services for parents, including: (1) parenting classes, (2) family support services, (3) social capital activities, and (4) human capital services. In our proposed rating systems, states would assess how well centers address the highest ranked needs of families and employ evidence-based practices across one or more of the center-selected direct parent service categories. We explore the feasibility of this approach through a qualitative study (n = 14 centers) and case examples. We discuss how this new rating system could be used to monitor quality and as a tool for program improvement to support child development.
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- 2018
73. Report to Congress on Head Start Monitoring, Fiscal Year 2018
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Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF) (ACF/DHHS), Office of Head Start (OHS)
- Abstract
This report presents a summary of the findings of fiscal year (FY) 2018 Head Start monitoring reviews, fulfilling the reporting requirement in Section 641A(f) of the Head Start Act. It highlights the enhancements made to the FY 2018 monitoring review system, summarizes grantee review outcomes, and describes the types of findings most commonly identified in FY 2018. In September 2016, the Office of Head Start (OHS) issued the first holistic revision and complete reorganization of the Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS) since their original publication in 1975. OHS significantly modified the FY 2017 review schedule to provide opportunities for the Head Start community to implement the new HSPPS and for OHS to refine its system to monitor the new HSPPS. OHS implemented the new aligned monitoring system in FY 2018. The revised Aligned Monitoring System (AMS 2.0) was designed to monitor the newly implemented HSPPS, streamline the monitoring process, and reduce grantee burden of having multiple review events from multiple agencies. AMS 2.0 retained some components from its original design, including CLASS®, Special, and Follow-up reviews, which were implemented with procedures identical to those implemented in the original AMS. AMS 2.0 also introduced two new review types: Focus Area One and Focus Area Two. [For the 2017 report, see ED600423.]
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- 2018
74. American Institutional Review Boards: Safeguards or Censorship?
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Hottenstein, Kristi N.
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The United States is a world leader in biomedical clinical research. America's existing human subject research regulations structure affords sizable protections for the ethical treatment of research volunteers. Early initiatives such as the Belmont Report were specific to federally funded research. Over the past several decades guidelines such as the Belmont Report, along with more stringent policies, have been applied to non-federally funded research and research in the social sciences, and have branched out over areas, which many argue, they were not initially intended. Institutional review boards were codified to protect human subjects, an ethical and noble concern, but arguably these regulations were hastened both in response to a highly publicized research experiment and political considerations. This article explores the creation of the American IRB [institutional review boards] system through the lens of John Kingdon's Multiple Streams Theory and examines critical viewpoints surrounding a longstanding inquisition over whether human subject research regulations are safeguards or censorship.
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- 2018
75. Taking on the Challenge: Building a Strong Foundation for Early Learning. Early Learning Challenge Summary Report
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Early Learning Challenge Technical Assistance (ELC TA), Department of Education (ED), Administration for Children and Families (DHHS), Applied Engineering Management Corporation (AEM), Caron, B., Kendall, R., Wilson, G., and Hash. M.
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The Early Learning Challenge (ELC) program awarded more than $1 billion in four-year grants to 20 States to implement comprehensive and cohesive high-quality early learning systems that support young children with high needs and their families. A key lever in making these improvements was the enhancement of States' Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS). A QRIS is designed to measure, rate, and dissemination information about the quality of the early learning and development programs that participate in the QRIS. Through ELC, States worked across agencies to improve, or in some cases, reinvent their QRIS. This report summarizes the progress ELC States made since the program began in 2012. It includes selected examples of key initiatives States undertook to create a comprehensive system of high-quality programs for young children and their families. Specifically, it looks at States' efforts to refine their QRIS; examine progress elements (including early learning standards, screenings, and assessment systems); engage and support families; support the early learning workforce; enhance early childhood data systems; and foster community connections. The content was drawn from States' ELC Annual and Final Performance Reports. As a result of the efforts States have undertaken, it can now be said that more children with high needs are enrolled in high-quality programs and more programs participate in the States' QRIS. States made progress in developing and strengthening their comprehensive early learning and development systems. States used the ELC program to make advancements and drive positive changes in their early learning and development systems, often in the face of significant challenges. Other States are benefiting from these experiences and lessons as they work on improving their own systems.
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- 2017
76. Report to the Legislature: Preliminary
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Washington State Department of Early Learning (DEL)
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The Washington State Department of Early Learning (DEL), in collaboration with the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS), submits this preliminary report to detail quality control measures in the Working Connections Child Care (WCCC) program. This report highlights existing quality control measures and efforts in reducing overpayments due to unintentional errors. Additionally, this report describes the procurement of an electronic attendance tracking system which is intended to enhance quality control measures already underway for WCCC. DEL has also developed other measures to identify and address program violations in child care subsidy programs to mitigate the potential for fraud.
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- 2017
77. Internal versus External Assessment in Vocational Qualifications: A Commentary on the Government's Reforms in England
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Vitello, Sylvia and Williamson, Joanna
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The distinction between external assessment and internal assessment underpins a major reform to vocational qualifications underway in England. To be approved by the Department for Education, vocational qualifications must now include a minimum proportion of external assessment, regardless of subject. This paper discusses the nature and implications of this constraint on qualification design. First, it clarifies the meaning of external assessment and the key arguments underpinning the reform. Second, it evaluates the use and implementation of this blanket rule. The final section discusses the nature of internal assessment in more detail, highlighting its heterogeneity and potential advantages over external assessment.
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- 2017
78. The Effects of Accountability Incentives in Early Childhood Education. CEPA Working Paper No. 17-10
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Center for Education Policy Analysis (CEPA) at Stanford University, Bassok, Daphna, Dee, Thomas S., and Latham, Scott
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In an effort to enhance the quality of early childhood education (ECE) at scale, nearly all U.S. states have recently adopted Quality Rating and Improvement Systems (QRIS). These accountability systems give providers and parents information on program quality and create both reputational and financial incentives for program improvement. However, we know little about whether these accountability reforms operate as theorized. This study provides the first empirical evidence on this question using data from North Carolina, a state with a mature QRIS. Using a regression discontinuity design, we examine how quasi-random assignment to a lower quality rating influenced subsequent outcomes of ECE programs. We find that programs responded to a lower quality rating with comparative performance gains, including improvement on a multi-faceted measure of classroom quality. Programs quasi-randomly assigned to a lower star rating also experienced enrollment declines, which is consistent with the hypothesis that parents responded to information about program quality by selectively enrolling away from programs with lower ratings. These effects were concentrated among programs that faced higher levels of competition from nearby providers.
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- 2017
79. Reducing and Eliminating Disproportionate Impact: Technical Assistance Guide for Local Educational Agencies and Schools to Address Disproportionality in School Discipline
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Maryland State Department of Education
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Disproportionate rates of suspensions and expulsions among racial/ethnic groups are a local, state, and national concern. Maryland has made significant progress in decreasing the use of exclusionary discipline, but there is substantial work left to do to move toward equity. Maryland has cut the use of exclusionary discipline practices by half in the last decade, from 8.7 to 4.3 percent since the 2005-2006 school year. However, when Maryland discipline data is disaggregated by student group, it becomes apparent that the experience of individual student groups varies widely. According to 2015-2016 data, 8.1 percent of African-American students and 9.9 percent of students with disabilities in Maryland received an out-of-school suspension or expulsion, compared to just 2.3 percent of white students and 3.6 percent of students without disabilities. It was review of data such as this that sparked reform in the area of equitable discipline and caused the Maryland State Board of Education (MSBE) to direct the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) to develop a method to analyze local school system discipline data. Data indicators can help school climate or leadership teams identify racial/ethnic disproportionality in school discipline practices. The purpose of this guide is to help educators understand the MSDE's method for analyzing out-of-school suspension and expulsion data to determine whether school discipline practices have a disproportionate impact on students of color and students with disabilities. This guide outlines a process for examining disproportionality within schools, as well as root cause analysis to help systems and schools identify areas of need on which to focus to reduce and eliminate disproportionality in schools. The guide is a part of a statewide effort to reform school discipline and ensures that policies and practices related to student conduct foster appropriate behavior create a positive school climate, and safe environments. In addition, this guide is a framework for Maryland schools and systems to use in analyzing discipline-related policies and practices that may lead to disproportionality.
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- 2017
80. Developmental Screening Activities in Early Learning Challenge States. State TA Resources
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Early Learning Challenge Technical Assistance (ELC TA), Department of Education (ED), Administration for Children and Families (DHHS), and Applied Engineering Management Corporation (AEM)
- Abstract
This resource was prepared in response to a request for examples of developmental screening activities in Early Learning Challenge (ELC) States. This information will be helpful to States as they consider how to identify and address health, behavioral, and developmental needs of children with high needs. To address this request, ELC TA reviewed the "2015 Progress Update Report" for the 20 Phase 1, 2 and 3 ELC States and the "2016 Annual Performance Report" (APR) data from the Phase 2 and Phase 3 ELC States and the "2016 Final Performance Report" (FPR) data from the Phase 1 ELC States. These reports were submitted to the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services for review in the spring of 2017. Of the 20 ELC States, eight States (California, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, and Vermont) chose to address developmental screening as part of their overall State plan and reported on performance measure (C)(3)(d): "Leveraging Existing Resources (other than RTT-ELC funds") to Increase the Number of Children with High Needs who are Screened Using Developmental and Behavioral Screening Measures." Eight additional ELC States (Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin) included information in their annual and final reports on their efforts to support developmental screening even though they did not specifically address performance measure (C)(3)(d) in their grant applications. This summary includes information about States' developmental screening activities in the following areas: professional development and staffing, legislation and licensing regulations, collaboration, data linkages electronic access to screenings and screening data, screening tools, referrals, marketing, and State Quality Rating and Improvement System (QRIS) components.
- Published
- 2017
81. Use of Control Charts and Scientific Critical Thinking in Experimental Laboratory Courses: How They Help Students to Detect and Solve Systematic Errors
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Sanchez, Juan M.
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Systematic errors are unfortunately common in analyses performed by students in teaching laboratories. Quality control (QC) tools are required to detect and solve bias in laboratory analyses. However, although QC has become routine in real-world laboratories, it is still rarely applied in teaching laboratories. For this reason, systematic errors in students' results remain unknown in many cases. In this study, the use of control charts and critical thinking methodologies are applied in laboratory lessons to show students how the control charts can be used to detect and correct systematic biases in analyses. Students practice how to evaluate out-of-control results by applying scientific critical thinking procedures based on knowledge acquired in previous subjects, aiming to find the source of the bias detected, solve it, and apply rectifying measures to improve the operational procedure. With the proposed methodology, students understand the importance of control charts in demonstrating the quality and validity of the data obtained. During the academic years applying this methodology, the most common source of bias was found to be related to an incorrect application of basic laboratory skills, which shows that these skills need to be learned and, most importantly, put into practice over the whole period of student training and cannot be taken for granted once they have been taught in the early stages of their curricula. The learning outcomes were assessed through an exercise that requires students to evaluate results obtained in the laboratory in previous years. It was found that the majority of students (97.6%) were able to detect a bias, find the source, and solve the error.
- Published
- 2021
- Full Text
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82. 'Our Quality Is a Little Bit Different': How Family Childcare Providers Who Participate in a Quality Rating and Improvement System and Receive Childcare Subsidy Define Quality
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Hooper, Alison, Hallam, Rena, and Skrobot, Christine
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This research uses focus group methodology to examine how a specific subset of family childcare providers--those participating in a voluntary quality rating and improvement system and serving a high percentage of children receiving childcare subsidy--define quality. The study builds on the limited existing research about family childcare quality, especially research focused on understanding quality from the perspective of the childcare provider. A total of 28 family childcare providers participated in three focus groups where they were asked to define quality and to describe high- and low-quality programs. Qualitative analysis revealed four themes: relationships, supporting children's learning, the physical and temporal environment, and personal professionalism. These results can inform how quality improvement initiatives and professional development systems support and engage family childcare providers.
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- 2021
- Full Text
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83. An Experimental Evaluation of a Teaching Approach for Statistical Process Control in Computer Courses
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Furtado, Julio, Oliveira, Sandro Ronaldo Bezerra, and Chaves, Rafael Oliveira
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In organizations that are seeking a high degree of maturity, it is necessary to achieve a statistical control of software processes and to know their behavior and operational performance. The approach adopted for the research involves reading articles and experience performance reports, practical cases, discussion, the use of games and simulators, practical projects, and reflection by students on the knowledge learned and activities carried out. The evaluation was conducted with undergraduates enrolled in a Computer Science Bachelor's degree programme, who were divided into a control group and an experimental group. At the end, the two groups carried out a practical project to evaluate the learning effectiveness reached by the students. The results of the study suggest that there was a difference in the effectiveness of the learning resulting from the teaching approach and traditional instruction. The authors observed a mean gain of 30.06% in the experimental group, which is evidence of this rise in the learning effectiveness.
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- 2021
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84. A Knowledge-Based Model on Quality Management System Compliance Assessment for Maritime Higher Education Institutions
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Pehlivan, Davut and Cicek, Kadir
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A quality management system is an essential and mandatory instrument for maritime higher education institutions mandated by the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification, and Watchkeeping for Seafarers. To design an effective quality management system, it is strongly recommended to take the most comprehensive model of the quality system such as ISO 9001 quality management system. This paper proposes a knowledge-based model for assessing the compliance level of the quality management system of maritime higher education institutions with respect to ISO 9001:2015 to provide meaningful information to design an effective quality management system, to identify potential gaps and required improvement points in the quality management system. In the proposed model, fuzzy axiomatic design is selected as a suitable research methodology. The obtained results provide a decision aid for the relevant executives in maritime institutions who design a quality management system integrated with ISO 9001:2015 guidelines.
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- 2021
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85. Assessing Administrative Service Quality in Higher Education: Development of an Attribute-Based Framework (HEADSQUAL) in a Brazilian University
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Steppacher, Damian, Cannarozzo Tinoco, Maria Auxiliadora, Caten, Carla Schewengber ten, and Marcon, Arthur
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This paper proposed a valid and reliable perceived quality assessment framework of administrative services in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in the Brazilian context. The method was in two main stages: (i) map a set of quality attributes and dimensions for administrative services in HEI, (ii) build and test the perceived quality assessment framework and data collection instrument of the administrative services in a HEI. The theoretical contributions of this manuscript were the differentiated scope with a focus on administrative services in HEI, since most of the previous research addresses the area of education (final service), and the development of a specific framework for assessing administrative service quality. The managerial implication highlight was that this study can be reapplied to other HEI to improve existing services quality assessment and control instruments. Adopting the proposed structure, the HEI could promote improvements in administrative services quality and advance in the quest for excellence.
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- 2021
- Full Text
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86. Developing a School Evaluation Framework to Drive School Improvement. OECD Education Policy Perspectives. No. 26
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Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) (France)
- Abstract
Kazakhstan has made tremendous progress in ensuring universal access to primary and lower-secondary education. Nevertheless, results international surveys reveal that almost two-thirds of students from Kazakhstan complete schooling without mastering the basic skills needed to be successful, and that student achievement is increasingly inequitable. This policy perspective provides Kazakhstan with recommendations about how to strengthen its school evaluation system in order to improve the learning outcomes of all students. It is part of a larger OECD review of Kazakhstan that is published as four policy perspectives, each examining a key policy issue.
- Published
- 2020
- Full Text
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87. Leadership for Family Child Care: The Promise of Staffed Family Child Care Networks. Research Notes
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McCormick Center for Early Childhood Leadership at National Louis University
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The number of family child care (FCC) providers in the U.S. is declining at an alarming rate. From 2011 to 2017, there was a 35% decrease in FCC homes (National Center on Early Childhood Quality Assurance, 2019). Considering the substantial portion of child care that is represented in home-based child care (HBCC), a heightened level of concern is warranted and more research is needed. One approach for supporting FCC providers is through staffed family child care networks (SFCCNs). Juliet Bromer and Toni Porter recently published Mapping the Family Child Care Network Landscape: Findings from the National Study of Family Child Care Networks (2019). The report provides findings about the organizational characteristics, services offered to family child care providers, staffing and supervision, and evaluation/quality assessment of SFCCNs. This article summarizes the methodology and results from the study and discusses implications of the findings.
- Published
- 2019
88. Working toward a Definition of Infant/Toddler Curricula: Intentionally Furthering the Development of Individual Children within Responsive Relationships. OPRE Report 2017-15
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Administration for Children and Families (DHHS), Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE), Child Trends, ICF International, Chazan-Cohen, Rachel, Zaslow, Martha, Raikes, Helen H., Elicker, James, Paulsell, Diane, Dean, Allyson, and Kriener-Althen, Kerry
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This brief is an effort to explore the meaning of the word "curriculum" when applied to working with infants and toddlers. The idea for the brief emerged from the early childhood community--specifically two groups of applied researchers funded by the Administration for Children and Families, INQUIRE and NITR. [See insert box on page 12 for more information on these groups]. These groups were getting questions from state policy makers and practitioners about the meaning of the term "empirically based curricula for infants and toddlers," a requirement for many accountability systems. Questions included concerns about how to conceptualize curriculum in the context of working with infants and toddlers--especially how to incorporate this concept in a way that provides sufficient focus on individualization and the supportive and responsive relationships that are the hallmark of infant/toddler care and education. There was concern that use of a curriculum would by definition be developmentally inappropriate for infants and toddlers. There were also questions about how stakeholders should verify the use of a curriculum for this age group. This brief begins a discussion about the meaning of the term when applied to early education and care programs serving families with infants and toddlers, and focuses especially on how the concept of a curriculum can be incorporated into and used in programs in a way that is developmentally appropriate for this age range. In this brief, the authors aim to provide background and guidance to policy makers and practitioners in the context of this new emphasis on curricula for programs serving infants and toddlers. The authors first look to existing definitions of curricula for infants and toddlers to identify key elements that should be considered (see Tables 1, 2, and 3 in the appendix). They then examine how one might verify the use of a curriculum (see Table 4 in the appendix). This is not a review of existing published curricula. The authors intend this information to be useful to those providing group care and education services in home-based and center-based settings, including to Early Head Start and Migrant and Seasonal Head Start programs, although some of the strategies for verifying curricula use may differ across setting types.
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- 2017
89. Quality in Early Years Settings and Children's School Achievement. CEP Discussion Paper No. 1468
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London School of Economics and Political Science (United Kingdom), Centre for Economic Performance (CEP), Blanden, Jo, Hansen, Kirstine, and McNally, Sandra
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Childcare quality is often thought to be important for influencing children's subsequent attainment at school. The English Government regulates the quality of early education by setting minimum levels of qualifications for workers and grading settings based on a national Inspectorate (OfSTED). This paper uses administrative data on over two million children to relate performance on national teacher assessments at ages 5 and 7 to the quality characteristics of the nursery they attended before starting school. Results show that staff qualifications and childcare quality ratings have a weak association with teacher assessments at school, based on comparing children who attended different nurseries but attended the same primary school. Our results suggest that although children's outcomes are related to the nursery they attend, which nurseries are good cannot be predicted by staff qualifications and OfSTED ratings; the measures of quality that Government has focused on. Supplementary tables are appended. [This paper was produced as part of the Centre for Economic Performance's Education and Skills Programme.]
- Published
- 2017
90. PARCC Final Technical Report for 2016 Administration
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Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) and Pearson
- Abstract
The Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) is a state-led consortium designed to create next-generation assessments that, compared to traditional K-12 assessments, more accurately measure student progress toward college and career readiness. The PARCC assessments are aligned to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) and were administered operationally for the first time in the 2014-2015 academic year. PARCC comprises assessments in both English Language Arts/Literacy (ELA/L) and Mathematics in grades 3 to 8 and high school. The information provided in this technical report is intended for use by those who evaluate tests, interpret scores, or use test results in making educational decisions. It is assumed that the reader has technical knowledge of test construction and measurement procedures, as stated in "Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing" (American Educational Research Association [AERA], American Psychological Association [APA], & National Council on Measurement in Education [NCME], 2014). The purpose of this technical report is to describe the second operational administration of the PARCC assessments in the 2015-2016 academic year and includes the following topics: (1) Background and purpose of the assessments; (2) Test development of items and forms; (3) Test administration, security, and scoring; (4) Test taker characteristics; (5) Classical item analyses and differential item functioning; (6) Reliability and validity of scores; (7) Item response theory (IRT) calibration and scaling; (8) Performance level setting; (9) Development of the score reporting scales and student performance; and (10) Quality control procedures.
- Published
- 2017
91. Quality Control and Improvements Mechanism of Study Field--Focused on Professional Study Field
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Vondra, Zdenek
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Quality control mechanism that allows long term improvements of a study field or a study program is necessary for good functioning of educational institution or department in actual nature of competitive universities' environment. This paper focuses on quality control mechanisms in general and more closely on professional study fields. The professional study fields have been settled in Czech higher education by approving the amendment to the Higher Education Act. This brings new need for control and improvement mechanisms based more on connection to industry practice than on academic publications. The aim of this paper is to explain the importance of gathering information from contact with study field's stakeholders. These information lead to form appropriate improvements implemented on time. In the case study, there are presented examples of gathered findings and how they are being handled. They include the student's expectations that underrate theory although it is needed for basic insight to the industry. The students are also motivated to start their own business. What this paper brings is the proposed continuous development mechanism that helped to improve the bachelors study field Multimedia in Economic Practice and also the general recommendations that should help to any other study field.
- Published
- 2017
92. Creating and Working with Control Charts in Excel
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Schikora, Paul F.
- Abstract
With the growth in distance education offerings, instructors who now teach quantitative material via the web have been faced with many challenges. Foremost has been the need to develop appropriate methods for teaching such material to students who are not physically in the classroom. Methodologies that have traditionally been taught in a highly interactive mode in the classroom must now be presented effectively in a far more asynchronous environment. Tutorials and detailed handouts are one way to accomplish this. We present a written tutorial for creating quality control charts using Excel. The tutorial guides students through the process of creating X-bar and R charts in such a way as to reinforce the theoretical basis of quality control already taught. Students apply their knowledge in hands-on activity, learn how to improve Excel's default charts to create visually effective control charts, and learn to reuse/recycle their work to easily create additional charts for different sets of problem data.
- Published
- 2017
93. Monitoring Score Change Patterns to Support 'TOEIC'® Listening and Reading Test Quality. Research Report. ETS RR-17-54
- Author
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Wei, Youhua and Low, Albert
- Abstract
In most large-scale programs of tests that aid in making high-stakes decisions, such as the "TOEIC"® family of products and service, it is not unusual for a significant portion of test takers to retake the test at multiple times.The study reported here used multilevel growth modeling to explore the score change patterns of nearly 20,000 TOEIC Listening and Reading test takers who repeated the test six times during a 4-year period. The study revealed that (a) on average, repeaters' scores increased with each subsequent testing; (b) repeaters' score increases were larger for initial retests than for later ones; (c) test takers' educational backgrounds were related to their initial scores but not to their score increases; and (d) test takers' gender was related both to initial scores and to score increases. The results suggest that multilevel growth modeling analysis has potential for evaluating and monitoring test performance across administrations by exploring repeaters' score change patterns over time.The study also provided empirical evidence for the reliability and validity of TOEIC scores.
- Published
- 2017
94. Building an Efficient and Effective Test Management System in an ODL Institution
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Yusof, Safiah Md, Lim, Tick Meng, Png, Leo, Khatab, Zainuriyah Abd, and Singh, Harvinder Kaur Dharam
- Abstract
Open University Malaysia (OUM) is progressively moving towards implementing assessment on demand and online assessment. This move is deemed necessary for OUM to continue to be the leading provider of flexible learning. OUM serves a very large number of students each semester and these students are vastly distributed throughout the country. As the number of learners keeps growing, the task of managing and administering examinations every semester has become increasingly laborious, time consuming and costly. In trying to deal with this situation and improve the assessment processes, OUM has embarked on the development and employment of a test management system. This test management system is named OUM QBank. The initial objectives of QBank development were aimed at enabling the systematic classification and storage of test items, as well as the auto-generation of test papers based on the required criteria. However, it was later agreed that the QBank should be a more comprehensive test management system that manages not just all assessment items but also includes the features to facilitate quality control and flexibility of use. These include the functionality to perform item analyses and also online examination. This paper identifies the key elements and the important theoretical basis in ensuring the design and development of an effective and efficient system.
- Published
- 2017
95. The Evolving Codification of Teachers' Work: Policy, Politics and the Consequences of Pursuing Quality Control in Initial Teacher Education
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Knight, Ben
- Abstract
This paper documents the evolution of attempts to codify and standardise teachers' work in England with particular attention to how this phenomenon has impacted the Initial Teacher Education (ITE) sector. In recent decades the teaching profession in England has undergone various iterations of competency criteria, culminating with the current policy, the Teachers' Standards (TS) (DfE, 2011). Discussion focuses largely on the most rapid period in the evolution of competency-based approaches from 1997 to the present, analysing aspects of the political landscape which have precipitated this rise. Two key themes evident in, and precipitated by, the Teachers' Standards policy initiative are discussed: i) the political necessity for a reductionist view of teaching and learning and ii), the centrality of the teacher. It concludes by imagining how, taking these themes into account, the policy could evolve to become more useful to both teachers and pupils.
- Published
- 2017
96. Report to Congress on Head Start Monitoring, Fiscal Year 2017
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Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF) (ACF/DHHS), Office of Head Start (OHS)
- Abstract
This report presents a summary of the findings of fiscal year (FY) 2017 Head Start monitoring reviews, fulfilling the reporting requirement in Section 641A(f) of the Head Start Act. It highlights the enhancements made to the FY 2017 monitoring review system, summarizes grantee review outcomes, and describes the types of findings most commonly identified in FY 2017. In September 2016, the Office of Head Start (OHS) issued the first holistic revision and complete reorganization of the Head Start Program Performance Standards (HSPPS) since their original publication in 1975. OHS significantly modified the FY 2017 review schedule to provide opportunities for the Head Start community to implement the new HSPPS and for OHS to refine its system to monitor the new HSPPS. In FY 2017, OHS reduced the number of monitoring events experienced by individual grantees. OHS focused monitoring events on CLASS®, beginning in October 2016, and Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment, and Attendance (ERSEA), beginning in January 2017. Grantees scheduled for these events received notification of their upcoming review via letter. OHS also conducted a review of Early Head Start-Child Care Partnership (EHS-CCP) grantees new to Early Head Start. The four goals for the EHS-CCP reviews were: (1) Conduct site visits to determine how the grantee and its partners are working together to plan and provide high-quality services; (2) Evaluate the benefits of partnership funding; (3) Determine whether there is a need for additional technical assistance or a more in-depth review; and (4) Determine the fiscal oversight and integrity of partnership funds. [For the 2016 report, see ED594736.]
- Published
- 2017
97. Are We All Speaking the Same Language? Understanding 'Quality' in the VET Sector. Occasional Paper
- Author
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National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) (Australia) and Griffin, Tabatha
- Abstract
Quality in vocational education and training (VET) is a perennial topic of interest, attracting much attention from participants, providers, funders, regulators and public commentators. Quality is as much subjectively in the "eye of the beholder" as it is objectively assessed through hard data, measures and surveys. This paper summarises the quality of the VET system in Australia from the lens point of the eye of the beholder. It considers the perspectives of five key stakeholder groups: learners, employers/industry, providers, government and regulators. The paper explores, from the perspective of each of these groups, what is important in regards to the VET system, what constitutes and promotes a good-quality VET system, and what are the enablers and barriers to having a system that meets their expectations. The paper then examines the usefulness of the measures of quality currently available, as well as approaches that might be more effective. Key messages include: (1) Quality is context- and purpose-specific and means different things to the five stakeholder groups; (2) These multiple perspectives on quality operate at differing levels -- at the training program, at employment outcomes and at higher systemic levels; (3) Effective, fair and prompt regulation is foundational and essential in removing poor quality training from the system; and (4) A number of enabling factors have the potential to either support or detract from VET quality. These factors may impact both objective measures and subjective views of quality.
- Published
- 2017
98. Decision Regulation Impact Statement for Changes to the National Quality Framework
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Education Council (Australia)
- Abstract
The purpose of this Decision Regulation Impact Statement (Decision RIS) is to recommend preferred options for improving the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Education and Care. The Decision RIS follows the public release of the Consultation RIS and incorporates stakeholders' views and comments received during the ten week stakeholder consultation process from November 2014 to January 2015. The Decision RIS provides feedback on proposed options canvassed in the Consultation RIS throughout the abovementioned period. As such, the Decision RIS provides a 'point in time' analysis. This Decision RIS identifies the nature of the issues to be addressed and explains the rationale for the preferred options. It also assesses the costs and benefits of the options under consideration. This Decision RIS follows the guidelines of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in the Best Practice Regulation Guide. It has been approved for release by the COAG Education Council. [This Decision Regulation Impact Statement has been prepared with the assistance of Deloitte Access Economics.]
- Published
- 2017
99. Applying EALTA Guidelines as Baseline for the Foreign Language Proficiency Test in Turkey: The Case of YDS
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Kavakli, Nurdan and Arslan, Sezen
- Abstract
Within the scope of educational testing and assessment, setting standards and creating guidelines as a code of practice provide more prolific and sustainable outcomes. In this sense, internationally accepted and regionally accredited principles are suggested for standardization in language testing and assessment practices. Herein, ILTA guidelines for good practice proposed by International Language Testing Association (2007), ALTE code of practice by Association of Language Testers in Europe (1994), JLTA code of good testing practices by Japanese Language Testing Association (2002) and EALTA guidelines for good practice by European Association for Language Testing and Assessment (2006) can be cited. Amidst them, the EALTA guidelines have been adopted to 'frame a validity study' (Alderson, 2010: 63) for language testing and assessment practices. In this sense, due to the abundance of guidelines and principles, it is expected to see myriad of practices to be well-implemented and documented. However, documentation on aforementioned practical cases is rare with a few empirical studies conducted (Alderson & Banerjee, 2008; Alderson; 2010; De Jong & Zheng, 2011). Accordingly, in this paper, a practical case study on YDS (foreign language exam in Turkey) is applied regarding the EALTA guidelines with a special concern on the development of tests in national and/or institutional testing units or centers. It is, therefore, aimed to tackle the question whether YDS adheres the principles purported by EALTA with its probable high-stake consequences. Thus, the results have indicated that taking the EALTA guidelines in the course of the test development process as baseline promotes value-added language testing and assessment practices.
- Published
- 2017
100. All Welcome to Apply? 'Mystery Parent' Initiative Found to Be Cost Effective Diagnostic Tool for Charter Authorizers Concerned about Equity. Promising Practices
- Author
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National Center for Special Education in Charter Schools (NCSECS)
- Abstract
Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), all public schools must provide a free and appropriate public education to students with disabilities. As such, public charter schools must accept and educate students with disabilities and maintain open enrollment policies, which often include a fair lottery system. Schools must plan for the capacity to meet a range of special education and disability needs. Advising or implying to a parent of a student with a disability or an English language learner that enrollment is not allowed or that the school cannot provide the modifications or accommodations necessary to educate a student is discriminatory and illegal. "Counseling-out" is the practice of subtly, or not so subtly, counseling parents and inappropriately influencing them to not enroll their child in a school because of the student's disability or language and expected needs. Modeled after "mystery" or "secret shopper" services used in retail stores to evaluate customer service and quality control, authorizers in the District of Columbia (DC) and Massachusetts employed a similar tactic to examine how the front line charter school staff answers questions about enrollment. Specifically focused on the populations of students with disabilities and English language learners, and recognizing that parents of these two groups of students may present different scenarios when contacting schools about enrollment, services and needs, DC and Massachusetts elected to "test" the market with a defined Mystery Shopper/Parent Program. The report examines both programs and highlights its best practices.
- Published
- 2016
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