Getting to Scale: Ideas, Opportunities, and Resources in the Early Diffusion of the Charter Management Organization, 1999–2006

2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (9) ◽  
pp. 1-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rand Quinn ◽  
Carrie R. Oelberger ◽  
Debra Meyerson

Background/Context The concept of scale has gained purchase across social sectors in recent years as organizational leaders and funders seek to maximize the impact of promising social innovations. Purpose/Objective We apply insights from recent scholarship on ideas as mechanisms for change to explain how the idea of “getting to scale” intersected with political opportunities and human and financial resources in the early diffusion of the charter management organization (CMO). Research Design As the birthplace and a political locus of the CMO form, California is an ideal vantage point from which to understand the early years of the form's diffusion. We conducted interviews with California CMO and non-CMO leaders, principals, and funders. Our interviews were designed to understand when and why CMO leaders thought about growth, the challenges and opportunities associated with growth, organizational goals and strategic priorities, and whether and how funders shaped CMO development and plans. In addition, we constructed a school-level panel dataset for the 1991–92 to 2006–07 school years using data from the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data and the California Department of Education. We included charter organizational form, enrollment, and school founding and closure years. We also joined multiple Foundation Center datasets to create a grant-level dataset for the years 1999 to 2006 that includes grant amount, grant type, recipient, and funder. Finally, we conducted participant and nonpar-ticipant observations at CMO board meetings, foundation staff meetings and presentations, and charter school conferences and meetings. Findings/Results Understood and framed as the vehicle for getting to scale, the CMO form drew a disproportionate share of private philanthropy dollars, appealed to a new class of professionals from outside of education, and was successfully distinguished from alternative charter forms, all of which contributed to its early diffusion. Conclusions/Recommendations We develop a fuller understanding of the charter school movement, describing how the diffusion of the CMO form displaced ideas about school-level autonomy and decentralization in favor of ideas about getting to scale and tipping the system. The study also offers insight to scholars analyzing current and past efforts at educational reform by emphasizing the roles played by ideas, opportunities, and resources.

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 287-293
Author(s):  
Jenny Pearce ◽  
Chris Miller

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify and share learning about safeguarding children under Covid-19 drawn from a series of webinars held by the Association of Safeguarding Partners (www.theASP.org.uk). The learning is relevant for health, police, local authority and other relevant safeguarding agencies and includes sharing information about both the challenges and opportunities presented during the Covid-19 pandemic. By creating a webinar lead community of learning, lessons can be drawn that will help safeguard children during the remaining of the pandemic and during the release of lockdown as it emerges. Design/methodology/approach This paper summarises themes from discussions within three webinars run by The Association of Safeguarding Partners (TASP) (www.theASP.org.uk). Each webinar was attended by between 60 and 80 participants, sessions involving presentations and discussions on topics such as “managing safeguarding reviews at a distance”, “the impact on early years’ provision” and “how work with families and children has changed with remote working methods”. With the participants’ consent, webinars were recorded, and these can be viewed on www.theasp.co.uk. Webinars were supported by an on-line programme: “meeting sphere” capturing comments in a “chat” facility and providing capacity for participants to collectively code comments into themes. Findings Findings from the webinars note concerns about continuing and undetected abuse of children within and outside of the home; about the changing nature of criminal exploitation; and about the strains created by social distancing on children in families experiencing problems with poor mental health, drug and alcohol misuse and domestic abuse. Findings include some important lessons, including the discovery of innovative ways of working, the rapid collation of data across partnerships and about different methods of engaging with children, young people and families. Findings include suggestions about the impact of changes on the future safeguarding of children. Originality/value There is little published discussion of the implications of Covid-19 on practitioners working on safeguarding children. While some research is emerging, there have been few opportunities for practitioners to listen to emerging practice ideas under Covid-19 or to discuss in an informal context how to address the new and emerging problems in safeguarding children. This think piece contains original material from webinars held with safeguarding children practitioners and is valuable for those working to safeguard children during and post Covid-19.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Kim B. Wright ◽  
Samantha M. Shields ◽  
Katie Black ◽  
Manjari Banerjee ◽  
Hersh C. Waxman

In the present study, hierarchical linear modeling with random intercept models was used to estimate the impact school and teacher-level factors had on K-12 teachers’ perceptions of school influence, curricular and pedagogical autonomy, and job satisfaction in the early years of the Race to the Top Era. The main predictors investigated were whether students’ standardized test scores were used as a component of either a teacher’s formal teacher evaluation or compensation, as well as whether teachers worked in a Race to the Top state. Additional school- and teacher-level predictors included percentage minority teachers and students, urbanicity of the school, teacher grade band, years teaching experience, and annual base salary. The study’s findings include statistically significantly yet small, negative correlations between teaching in a RTTT Phase I or II state at the time of the survey and teachers’ perceptions of their school-level influence, curricular autonomy, and pedagogical autonomy. In addition, the use of SGM measures in teacher evaluation, compensation, or both, statistically significantly negatively predicted both teachers’ pedagogical and curricular autonomy, as well as job satisfaction. These findings are consistent with previous studies that found teachers’ classroom autonomy and job satisfaction to be lessened post-NCLB (Crocco & Costigan, 2007; Faulker & Cook, 2006; Huss & Eastep, 2011). 


2019 ◽  
Vol 118 (3) ◽  
pp. 158-169
Author(s):  
Dheera.V. R ◽  
Jayasree Krishnan

Organizations that are aiming to successfully implement change needs the support and acceptance of employees who are their key stakeholder. This study analyses the influence of Employees` attitude towards organization change. The research also aims at evaluating the influence of employees’ attitude towards commitment to organization and job after the introduction of change in the organization. The study was conducted among 300 employees who belonged to executive and managerial category from different star rated hotels in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India which are currently embracing organization changes. The findings indicate that employees of the study demonstrate a positive approach towards the change management in their organization. The observations also project that a positive approach by employees towards changes, is a very good indication for organizations to know that their workforce is committed towards the organizational goals. Hence with the support of change agents, adequate communications and by creating awareness about the need for change will result in sustainable growth in the organizations.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew S. Fox ◽  
Regina Lapate ◽  
Alexander J. Shackman ◽  
Richard J Davidson

Emotion is a core feature of the human condition, with profound consequences for health, wealth, and wellbeing. Over the past quarter-century, improved methods for manipulating and measuring different features of emotion have yielded steady advances in our scientific understanding emotional states, traits, and disorders. Yet, it is clear that most of the work remains undone. Here, we highlight key challenges facing the field of affective sciences. Addressing these challenges will provide critical opportunities not just for understanding the mind, but also for increasing the impact of the affective sciences on public health and well-being.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elvira Perez Vallejos ◽  
Liz Dowthwaite ◽  
Helen Creswich ◽  
Virginia Portillo ◽  
Ansgar Koene ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND Algorithms rule the online environments and are essential for performing data processing, filtering, personalisation and other tasks. Research has shown that children and young people make up a significant proportion of Internet users, however little attention has been given to their experiences of algorithmically-mediated online platforms, or the impact of them on their mental health and well-being. The algorithms that govern online platforms are often obfuscated by a lack of transparency in their online Terms and Conditions and user agreements. This lack of transparency speaks to the need for protecting the most vulnerable users from potential online harms. OBJECTIVE To capture young people's experiences when being online and perceived impact on their well-being. METHODS In this paper, we draw on qualitative and quantitative data from a total of 260 children and young people who took part in a ‘Youth Jury’ to bring their opinions to the forefront, elicit discussion of their experiences of using online platforms, and perceived psychosocial impact on users. RESULTS The results of the study revealed the young people’s positive as well as negative experiences of using online platforms. Benefits such as being convenient and providing entertainment and personalised search results were identified. However, the data also reveals participants’ concerns for their privacy, safety and trust when online, which can have a significant impact on their well-being. CONCLUSIONS We conclude by making recommendations that online platforms acknowledge and enact on their responsibility to protect the privacy of their young users, recognising the significant developmental milestones that this group experience during these early years, and the impact that technology may have on them. We argue that governments need to incorporate policies that require technologists and others to embed the safeguarding of users’ well-being within the core of the design of Internet products and services to improve the user experiences and psychological well-being of all, but especially those of children and young people. CLINICALTRIAL N/A


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 18-28
Author(s):  
Najim Ussiph ◽  
Hamidu Kwame Seidu

A quasi experiment with interview was adopted to study the aptness of using 3D animations as an instructional method to introduce programming concepts to students at the Senior High School level. This research work was conducted with 100 students of Akroso Senior High School in the Birim central municipality of the eastern region of Ghana who were generally programming novice. Programming concepts considered included programming environments, loops, functions sequential and conditional execution of programs. A paired t-test carried out on the results of the performance test presents a p-value of 0.008 indicative of a numerically significant difference between the mean marks of participants during the experiments that used 3D animation method as against the experiments that used the text base method. Results from the interview showed that the instructional method used had impact on the performance of the learners. The use of 3D animation method presented programming concepts in a form that the learners can understand, motivates them to pursue programming related courses at a higher level and also impacts positively on their performance.


2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-74 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venkataraman M. Iyer ◽  
Dasaratha V. Rama

Audited financial statements can be viewed as the product of negotiations between a company's management and its auditor. Relative power of these two parties is a major factor that determines the outcome of the negotiation. This study examines the impact of auditor tenure, importance of a client to an audit partner, nonaudit purchases, and prior audit firm experience of client personnel on client perceptions about their ability to persuade the auditor in the context of an accounting disagreement. We obtained responses to a survey from 124 CPAs in industry who are employed as CEOs, CFOs, controllers, or treasurers. Our results indicate that respondents from companies with short auditor tenures were somewhat more likely to indicate that they could persuade the auditor to accept their (client's) position in case of a disagreement. This finding is consistent with the argument that auditors are susceptible to influence in the early years as they are still in the process of recouping start-up costs, but is not consistent with concerns expressed by legislators and others that long auditor tenures will adversely affect audit quality. Respondents who believed their business was more important for the audit partner were also more likely to believe that they could persuade the auditor. However, the purchase of nonaudit services and prior audit experience were not related to client's perceptions about their ability to persuade the auditor.


Emerging technologies have always played an important role in armed conflict. From the crossbow to cyber capabilities, technology that could be weaponized to create an advantage over an adversary has inevitably found its way into military arsenals for use in armed conflict. The weaponization of emerging technologies, however, raises challenging legal issues with respect to the law of armed conflict. As States continue to develop and exploit new technologies, how will the law of armed conflict address the use of these technologies on the battlefield? Is existing law sufficient to regulate new technologies, such as cyber capabilities, autonomous weapons systems, and artificial intelligence? Have emerging technologies fundamentally altered the way we should understand concepts such as law-of-war precautions and the principle of distinction? How can we ensure compliance and accountability in light of technological advancement? This book explores these critical questions while highlighting the legal challenges—and opportunities—presented by the use of emerging technologies on the battlefield.


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