scholarly journals School testing culture and teacher satisfaction

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
William C. Smith ◽  
Jessica Holloway
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Satisfaction ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Pool Data ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Indirect Relationship ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Teachers, as frontline providers of education, are increasingly targets of accountability reforms. Such reforms often narrowly define ‘teacher quality’ around performative terms. Past research suggests holding teachers to account for student performance measures (i.e. test scores) damages their job satisfaction, including increasing stress and burnout. This article examines whether the relationship between test-based accountability and teacher satisfaction can be, in part, explained by the emphasis of student test scores in teacher appraisals. Although historically used for formative purposes, recent research demonstrates that across a large range of countries, nearly all teachers work in a system where their appraisal is based, in part, on students’ test scores. Using data from the 2013 Teaching and Learning International Survey, we pool data from 33 countries to evaluate the direct and indirect effect of school testing culture on teacher satisfaction. Results suggest that there is a direct relationship between the intensity of the testing culture and the satisfaction of teachers, as well as an indirect relationship with test score emphasis in teacher appraisals suppressing potential positive effects of appraisals on teacher satisfaction.

Placement testing: One test, two tests, three tests? How many tests are sufficient?

2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 453-471
Author(s):  
Kathryn Hille ◽  
Yeonsuk Cho
Keyword(s):  
Student Performance ◽  
Test Scores ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Placement Testing ◽  
Writing Test ◽  
Placement Decisions ◽  
Accurate Indication ◽  
Placement Accuracy ◽  
Study Context ◽  
The Relationship

Accurate placement within levels of an ESL program is crucial for optimal teaching and learning. Commercially available tests are commonly used for placement, but their effectiveness has been found to vary. This study uses data from the Ohio Program of Intensive English (OPIE) at Ohio University to examine the value of two commercially available tests (the TOEFL ITP and the Michigan EPT) and a locally developed writing test for accurate placement decisions. Placement accuracy was measured in terms of the relationship between test scores and (1) appropriate placement levels for individual students according to their teachers, and (2) student performance in the classes. Findings support the continued use of multiple measures for more accurate placement decisions in the study context. However, the relationship between test scores and student performance, measured by students’ grades in the actual course levels and their success in advancing to a higher course level as additional indicators of the extent to which placement tests provide an accurate indication, was weak when analyzed through multiple regression and cross-tabulation, suggesting that factors other than initial proficiency are primarily determinative of student success when students have been accurately placed.

Math coaches, specialists, and student achievement: Learning from the data

2020 ◽  
Vol 102 (3) ◽  
pp. 42-45
Author(s):  
Kristin E. Harbour ◽  
Evthokia Stephanie Saclarides
Keyword(s):  
Student Achievement ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Elementary Mathematics ◽  
National Assessment ◽  
Mathematics Coaches ◽  
Professional Development Model ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Practical Implications

To support continuous professional development model in the teaching and learning of mathematics, many districts and schools have begun hiring elementary mathematics coaches and/or specialists (MCSs). However, limited large-scale empirical research exists that determines how the use of MCSs affect student learning and achievement. Kristin E. Harbour and Evthokia Stephanie Saclarides begin to fill in this gap by using data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress to explore the relationship between the presence and responsibilities of elementary MCSs and 4th-grade student achievement in mathematics. Based on their findings, they share practical implications for districts and administrators to consider.

Patterns and Volatility in State Funding for Higher Education, 1951–2006

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (6) ◽  
pp. 1-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Delaney ◽  
William R. Doyle
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Past Research ◽  
State Funding ◽  
Higher Education Funding ◽  
State Budget ◽  
State Budgets ◽  
Higher Education Leaders ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Over Time

Background Numerous studies have addressed the determinants of higher education appropriations. Extending prior studies that only consider the relationship between higher education and one other state budget category, Delaney and Doyle develop and test an empirical model of the relationship between higher education and all other budget categories. Delaney and Doyle propose that higher education takes the form of a balance wheel in state budgets. They find that higher education is cut more than other budget categories in bad budget years and given larger increases in good budget years. Although previous work advances understanding of how states budget for higher education, it is limited in the length of time considered. Purpose This study makes two important contributions to the literature. First, it documents changes in the amount of volatility in state funding for higher education. Second, it identifies patterns in the volatility, and does so over a longer time period than has been investigated in past research, using data that spans over a half century (1951–2006). Research Design This study uses a unique panel dataset spanning the period from 1951 to 2006 to quantitatively document changes in the extent of volatility in state funding for higher education. It also identifies and tests for patterns of volatility. Findings We find that the level of volatility in state budgeting for higher education has changed over time. We also find evidence of linear (incremental), quadratic (countercyclical), and cubic (balance wheel) patterns of volatility at different points in time. Recommendations Our findings indicate that the role of higher education in state budgets is not static and has varied over time. In policy discussions about higher education funding, we think it is important to consider both absolute funding levels and the amount of volatility in funding. We recommend that higher education leaders discuss not only funding levels with their state legislatures, but also discuss volatility in funding patterns. States and higher education have operated under different funding relationships in the past; therefore, it seems possible that policymakers and higher education officials could change their current funding relationship to conform to a pattern that better serves the needs of the state, institutions, and students.

scholarly journals Improving Teaching and Learning in Physical Education: Using a Developmental Continuum and Eliminating Traditional Grading / Unapređenje procesa nastave i učenja u fizičkom vaspitanju: Upotreba razvojnog kontinuuma i eliminisanje tradicionalnog ocjenjivanja

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian J Haug ◽  
Mila Fischer
Keyword(s):  
Physical Education ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Traditional Grading ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Risk Takers ◽  
Differentiated Learning ◽  
Physical Skills ◽  
The Relationship

Assessment methods and the ownership of learning in Physical Education remain, in most cases, as highly traditional practices which do not fully allow students to be active and enthusiastic participants in the process of learning physical skills and health related knowledge. This study focuses on the improvements of student accountability and ownership for learning in Physical Education classes when traditional grading is removed and a year-level-only curriculum is replaced with a developmental learning continuum. The context of this study is to identify the relationship between student motivation, interest in learning, and the accountability to reach set goals when grade rewards are replaced with clear descriptions of student performance and development along a schema of skills and knowledge in PE. The research of our project will determine that the modifications made to the process of teaching and learning has improved the learning experience of our test subjects. The study has proven that when traditional grading is removed and students have the opportunity for true differentiated learning, they demonstrate far more intrinsic motivation in their learning. The students have taken grater ownership over their development and have become more accountable for their own process of learning. To truly unlock the potential of each child, we educators need to support our students to be risk takers who are inquiring and reflective.

scholarly journals Does Focus Improve Performance in Elective Surgery? A Study of Obesity Surgery in Sweden

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (18) ◽  
pp. 6682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Svarts ◽  
Luca Urciuoli ◽  
Anders Thorell ◽  
Mats Engwall
Keyword(s):  
Obesity Surgery ◽  
Elective Surgery ◽  
Patient Characteristics ◽  
Multilevel Regression ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Procedural Volume ◽  
Improved Outcomes ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

Recent studies have found positive effects from hospital focus on both quality and cost. Some studies indicate that certain patient segments benefit from focus, while others have worse outcomes in focused hospital departments. The aim of this study was to establish the relationship between hospital focus and performance in elective surgery. We studied obesity surgery procedures performed in Sweden in 2016 (5152 patients), using data from the Scandinavian Obesity Surgery Registry (SOReg) complemented by a survey of all clinics that performed obesity surgery. We examined focus at two levels of the organization: hospital level and department level. We hypothesized that higher proportions of obesity surgery patients in the hospital, and higher proportions of obesity surgery procedures in the department, would be associated with better performance. These hypotheses were tested using multilevel regression analysis, while controlling for patient characteristics and procedural volume. We found that focus was associated with improved outcomes in terms of reduced complications and shorter procedure times. These positive relationships were present at both hospital and department level, but the effect was larger at the department level. The findings imply that focus is a viable strategy to improve quality and reduce costs for patients undergoing elective surgery. For these patients, general hospitals should consider implementing organizationally separate units for patients undergoing elective surgery.

scholarly journals Relationship Stability and Supply Chain Performance for SMEs: From Internal, Supplier, and Customer Integration Perspectives

Mathematics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 1902
Author(s):  
Tsu-Ming Yeh ◽  
Fan-Yun Pai ◽  
Liang-Chuan Wu
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Uncertainty ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Supply Chain Integration ◽  
Supply Chain Performance ◽  
Relationship Stability ◽  
Moderation Effect ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The Relationship

This study examined the relationship between supply integration and relationship stability and the relationship between relationship stability and performance; furthermore, the moderation effect of environmental uncertainty on supply chain integration and relationship stability was analyzed. The subjects are typical small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries that focus on niche markets to compete with large-scale manufacturers. Questionnaires were distributed to manufacturers to collect empirical data; in total, 566 valid samples were gathered. The results indicate that supply chain integration has positive effects on relational stability and that relational stability has positive effects on supply chain performance. Relational stability is a mediator between supply chain integration and supply chain performance. The contingency effects of environmental uncertainty on the relationships between internal integration and relational stability were determined in this research. This research framework extended past research on supply chain management; part of the research explored the relationship between supply chain integration and different measures of supply chain performance, as well as whether uncertainty affects supply chain integration and supply chain performance.

scholarly journals Conflicted Religionists: Measuring political backlash

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sean Bock
Keyword(s):  
Church Attendance ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Political Orientation ◽  
Considerable Proportion ◽  
Exact Matching ◽  
Nationally Representative ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Matching Techniques ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Political Backlash

Over the past few decades, a steadily increasing number of people have identified as “nonreligious.” Scholars have suggested that this trend is in part due to attitude conflict within churches, where a political backlash of sorts has driven religionists away from their affiliations. While past research has largely focused on drawing descriptive patterns of those who have already disaffiliated from churches, there has been less of an effort to measure those religionists who experience attitude conflict with their churches—I call these individuals conflicted religionists. Using data from the Baylor Religion Survey (Wave II, 2007), a nationally representative sample, I expand the political backlash model and provide a novel measure of conflict by (1) measuring conflict on two specific and important issues: same-sex marriage and abortion, (2) identifying the socio-demographic makeup and magnitude of conflicted religionists, and by (3) measuring the association between attitude conflict and church attendance. Overall, the results show that a considerable proportion of religionists are indeed conflicted. Results from multivariate analyses suggest that political orientation is a clear and important predictor of attitude conflict. Moreover, Evangelicals stand out as being especially unlikely to conflict, even after other variables are controlled. Finally, using Coarsened Exact Matching techniques, I show that conflicted religion is associated with significantly lower church attendance. This paper provides the first known attempt to measure attitude conflict in churches and takes initial steps toward understanding the relationship between conflict and religious participation. Broader implications for the study of religion, politics, and social change are discussed.

Environmental proactivity and firm performance: a fuzzy-set analysis

2015 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 648-667 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaja Primc ◽  
Tomaž Čater
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Firm Performance ◽  
Fuzzy Set ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High Performing ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore causal complexity in the relationship between environmental proactivity and firm performance. Using data collected from 27 Australian firms and controlling for the organizational life cycle, type of industry and external contingencies, the study empirically examines environmental proactivity in high-performing firms from polluting industries. Design/methodology/approach – The data were analyzed using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis. Findings – In general, the results of the analysis imply that environmental proactivity is not always associated with high firm performance, and that environmental proactivity is not as important as the other causal conditions for high-performing firms in highly polluting industries. Research limitations/implications – The study addresses the relationship between environmental and firm performance more holistically by including a number of the firm’s external and internal factors identified as important in past research. Second, it offers a new perspective on the relationship with its systematic comparative analysis of complex cases. Next, it identifies different combinations of conditions (paths) leading to a high firm performance and, finally, the core complementary model allows an exploration of which factors are essential and which are less important or even irrelevant to high-performing firms. Practical implications – Based on the findings, firms from highly polluting industries can determine in which circumstances, if any, the adoption of environmental proactivity will result in a positive firm performance. Originality/value – The study is valuable because it contains a rich set of measures of the firm’s external and internal environment, thus allowing a more holistic examination of the relationship between environmental proactivity and firm performance.

scholarly journals Teacher characteristics and student performance: An analysis using hierarchical linear modelling

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Armstrong
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Teacher Characteristics ◽  
Subject Knowledge ◽  
Hierarchical Linear Modelling ◽  
Linear Modelling ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Teacher Age ◽  
The Relationship

This research makes use of hierarchical linear modelling to investigate which teacher characteristics are significantly associated with student performance. Using data from the SACMEQ III study of 2007, an interesting and potentially important finding is that younger teachers are better able to improve the mean mathematics performance of their students. Furthermore, younger teachers themselves perform better on subject tests than do their older counterparts. Identical models are run for Sub Saharan countries bordering on South Africa, as well for Kenya and the strong relationship between teacher age and student performance is not observed. Similarly, the model is run for South Africa using data from SACMEQ II (conducted in 2002) and the relationship between teacher age and student performance is also not observed. It must be noted that South African teachers were not tested in SACMEQ II so it was not possible to observe differences in subject knowledge amongst teachers in different cohorts and it was not possible to control for teachers’ level of subject knowledge when observing the relationship between teacher age and student performance. Changes in teacher education n in the late 1990s and early 2000s may explain the differences in the performance of younger teachers relative to their older counterparts observed in the later dataset.

scholarly journals La incidencia del liderazgo y el clima escolar en la satisfacción laboral de los docentes en América Latina

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Martínez-Garrido
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Classroom Climate ◽  
Teacher Satisfaction ◽  
Educational Effectiveness ◽  
Management Support ◽  
America Latina ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Latin American Countries

The research on Educational Effectiveness has identified teachers' work satisfaction as a key element for the development of effective teaching. However, rather the number of studies analyzing the effect of teachers' job satisfaction on student performance, there is less research available to understand how teacher satisfaction is developed and what it depends on. The objective of this research is to know the relationship between teacher's job satisfaction, school management and climate. To achieve our aim, we conduct a multilevel analysis of the information provided by the teachers of 5,733 schools in 15 Latin American countries participating in UNESCO's Third Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (TERCE). Our results show that the work environment, the classroom climate and management support to teachers are the variables that have most impact on the level of job satisfaction of teachers in Latin America.

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